Mountains and makeshift cinemas don't deter Bhutan filmmakers

When Bhutan's top director Tshering Wangyel finishes a film, he and his staff take to the Himalayan countryside for months at a time armed with a projector, tent, screen and tickets.

Movie making in the isolated kingdom is strenuous business. Not only do you have to teach yourself the filmmaking basics, but you must lug a makeshift cinema from village to village to reach Bhutan's movie-loving population.

Despite the lack of infrastructure, Bhutan's 25-year-old industry is thriving, with audiences in one of the most remote countries on earth flocking to homegrown movies that have blended Bollywood with the traditional Buddhist teachings.

"Currently, it takes us a year to cover the country for screenings. I used to do it myself all the time; now I send my staff," Wangyel said in the capital, Thimphu.

"Last year, my boys took a car, a screen, a tent, a projector, tickets - they went from district to district, setting up a makeshift cinema in each venue or using school auditoriums."

Many of the industry's directors and actors also juggle their passion for cinema with day jobs as soldiers, monks, and even politicians. Wangyel began his career in government, but the avid Bollywood fan, who grew up in a country where Indian musicals were a staple, always had movies on his mind.

"I was living this mundane 9-to-5 life when I decided to make my first film: a love triangle about two college kids falling for the same girl," Wangyel said.