Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom(2019)
dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
The world's remotest school, one teacher, one yak.
Where to watch: Tubi (free with ads) and Amazon Prime Video per unSUB; rent/buy on Prime; other services listed on PlayPilot, unconfirmed. Verify.Letterboxd ↗
A young teacher in Bhutan, who dreams of going to Australia to be a singer, is posted to Lunana, the most remote school in the world, a village at the top of the Himalayas with no electricity. He arrives expecting to quit. The children, the villagers and a yak he did not ask for change his mind about what a classroom is. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature.
Why it’s here
The film is a quiet argument that school is a person in a room who is paying attention. What's punk is how little it has: no power, no textbooks, a blackboard made from a wall. What's pedagogical is that it shows a teacher being taught by the place and kids who are not behind, they are elsewhere. Pairs with Teacher (Ashton-Warner), How Children Learn and Summerhill School. Note: it is gentle and not at all rebellious in tone; Bhutan's monarchy and its history with its Nepali-speaking minority are not part of the story.
Where This Film Lives
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