Shakti Pictures: Jumla shoot III ~ behind the scenes

The birth of Shakti PIctures

Shakti Pictures is a visual arts film company. Shakti means divine, creative power, often associated with female energy.

Shakti Pictures was formed in October 2010 in order to produce our inaugural project, Daughters of the Curved Moon (working title), a documentary set in the Himalayas of western Nepal. The film is about a community in Jumla; a portrait of a lifestyle and culture. We are looking at women's changing role in society in rural Nepal. The inspiration came from a group of village women who attended a training programme run by a local charity, Empowering Women of Nepal and the subsequent affect it had on them.

In November 2011 we completed the first segment of shooting. We returned in March 2012, February 2013 and August 2013 for further shoots, tracking the passage of time, how things are changing in the lives of our friends and in the community in Jumla. This blog is the story of our ongoing progress.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Jumla shoot III ~ behind the scenes

Urthu-Chautara, Jumla

shoot III

We have just completed another two weeks of shooting in Jumla, this time exclusively in the village of Urthu-Chautara where we have now become a familiar sight on the high street. The shoot has gone really well and this time, knowing everyone that much more, we have delved deeper into the lives of our friends in this intimate mountain community. We are so grateful to everyone in the village for their warm welcoming hospitality and for sharing their daily existence with us.

Sophie balancing on the edge of a roof

view of village from the hillside


Nisha with her mother Rusu and aunt Bishnu in the kitchen


Nisha and Soraj (his hair brought much joy to our shoot, occasionally being mistaken for a microphone)

Soraj very happy to have 'baby' (our nickname for the camera)


stand-off with a buffalo

the high street corner where it all happens...

...and a seemingly endless stream of donkeys

photo moment

Sophie found a camera assistant

Rusu wondering at our 'second sound' recorder complete with red fluffy wind shield

Khamani singing

We were bracing ourselves for the cold weather and the nights and mornings were pretty chilly when we arrived. However, it wasn't quite as cold as we were expecting and when the sun came out in the middle of the day, especially walking around with all our gear, the layers started coming off.

Sophie was thrilled at the newest addition to the team, Missy

Soph thought it would be fun to try our hands at beating grain - much to the bemusement of the villagers...

...and our amusement too

men's work - women are not allowed to plough the fields (they just do almost everything else)


more irresistibly cute (and grubby) kids to take pictures of...

and kids to shoot too

We stayed with Nisha's family. The way they fed us you would think we arrived looking undernourished. Certainly not the case by the end of two weeks with a nightly pre-dinner serving of potatoes!


Hai Kali (Nisha's bauju or sister-in-law)

tea/nap break at the end of the shoot - have we worn our our team?

at least we have ducks in a line

Now with another shoot in the metaphorical can, we have another (rather large) batch of footage to review and eventually translate and transcribe. This journey continues to be a lengthy process but we all feel very lucky to be sharing in this experience. We are making something not only beautiful, but we believe, important too.