We invite original scholarly contributions for an edited comprehensive volume dedicated to
the histories, aesthetics, industries, and cultural politics of cinema in Bhutan. As Bhutanese
filmmaking gains increasing regional and global visibility—through both popular and festival
circuits—this volume seeks to offer the first sustained, interdisciplinary mapping of its
cinematic landscape.

Bhutanese cinema has developed distinctive narrative and visual idioms, evident in landmark
popular films such as The Cup and Travellers and Magicians, as well as in internationally
acclaimed works like Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom and The Monk and the Gun.
Filmmakers including Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Pawo Choyning Dorji,
Khyentse Norbu, and pioneers of the local industry such as Neten Chokling have played
crucial roles in shaping Bhutanese cinema’s thematic concerns—from Buddhism, ethics, and
happiness to migration, education, and political change.

We welcome contributions from film and media studies, cultural studies, anthropology,
history, religious studies, and Himalayan/area studies. Essays may be historical, theoretical,
textual, ethnographic, or practice-based. Submissions engaging vernacular concepts, local
languages, and Bhutan-specific epistemologies are especially encouraged.
Suggested themes include: histories of Bhutanese cinema; Buddhism and cosmology on
screen; popular cinema and audiences; documentary and ethnographic practices; gender and
representation; sound, music, and performance; transnational circulation and festivals; digital
media and emerging forms; archives, memory, and preservation.

Major filmmakers: Khyentse Norbu, Dechen Roder, Tashi Gyeltshen, Chand RC, Pawo
Choyning Dorji, Karma Dhendup, and Neten Chokling.

Interested contributors are invited to submit an abstract of 250-300 words along with a bio-
note by June 30, 2026.

Contact: asiacinema2026@gmail.com

Editors:

Dr. Jayjit Sarkar, Department of English, Raiganj University
Dr. Anik Sarkar, Department of English, Uttar Banga Maheshwari College, University of
North Bengal

Previous volumes by the Editors:
1. The Films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Liverpool University Press, 2024) 

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781837645138

2. The Routledge Handbook of Indian Indie Cinema (Taylor and Francis, 2025) 

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Indian-Indie-Cinema/...