ANONYMITY IS FREEDOM.ANONYMITY IS POWER.

ANONYMITY IS INTOXICATING.

A F I L M B Y K H Y E N T S E N O R B U

There is a forest where you do not have to be who you are, and where you can choose who you want to be. No one will remember. There will be nothing to forget. The past will be irrelevant, the present, indulgent and the future will wait. Time and space, make what you want of it. The Forest like the fire you seek for warmth, will draw you close. Some of us know when to pull back, some of us don’t. This is a story of those who know, and those who don’t. This is a story of today that began hema hema (long long ago)...

SYNOPSISSomewhere deep in a forest, there is a secret gathering every twelve years to celebrate anonymity. Masked, the men and women participate in ancient rituals and dances from the full moon to the new moon. The large group has been specifically chosen by old leader Agay, but his reasons remain mysterious. Having given up their identities, the chosen are playful and lascivious in the lush mountain nature.

But not all here is fun and games. There is harsh punishment for those who break the rules, those who succumb to the temptation of letting others know who they are or those who are too curious about others. Cliques form and invite deception, seduction and jealousy.

"Expressionless" attends this festival for the first time. Like a newborn, he stumbles clumsily through his first few days, but quickly adapts. When he spots "Red Wrathful", he becomes intoxicated with desire for her. A desire that will lead him down a dangerous path...

HEMA HEMA: SING ME A SONG WHILE I WAITHema Hema means “long, long ago”, and refers to the ancient custom of storytelling. Like many other cultures, Bhutanese also have this tradition of beginning stories in this way. I took the liberty of exaggerating a little and I continue the film's official title with “Sing Me a Song While I Wait” . There is a traditional Buddhist text that is sometimes sung with a tune. Those songs contain a step by step guide to what happens while you are dying, after you die, and until you are conceived. Since the film implies elements of this after-death experience, I took the liberty of some poetic license in this title.

COMMENTS FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR KHYENTSE NORBUHIDING IDENTITY

At one point I became fascinated by the world and culture of chat rooms, and how scary, rewarding, blissful, and depressing they can be. Chat rooms reveal how we human beings sometimes do and say things we wouldn’t dare do or say if people knew who was doing it, and also how – when our identity is concealed – we wouldn’t do what we’re conventionally expected to do. So in chat rooms, people often adopt characters and images that hide their identity, sometimes just for fun, sometimes trying very seriously to express who they think they really are, sometime to idealize someone else, or for any variety of reasons. A key theme of the film is based on what is quite a modern phenomenon in forms such as chat rooms.

FICTION OR REALITY?

The fundamental quest for control that comes from being anonymous goes on today, just as it has for generations past. And yet, in every situation, new times also bring changes of setting and attitude, including changes of style in dance, music and apparel. I decided to invent a fictitious story set in Bhutan to put the familiar experience of identity play into a ceremonial context in which everyone wears masks. The story itself is basically fiction, but, as we know, there is a very thin line between fiction and so-called reality. On the one hand, you can say at times the story is just my own fantasy. On the other hand, there actually are such masked festivals today in places like Venice and Rio, though probably not for as long as the 15 days in my film.

THE BARDO DANCEThere are some dance performances and movements in the film that are traditional. Those traditional elements depicted in the film are obviously incomplete and adapted for film purposes with considerable poetic license. There is a known “bardo dance” that still exists in Bhutan, and which portrays how beings can be tormented by their own illusions after they die. In that traditional bardo dance, the spectators don’t wear masks. The costumes and style are different from those in the film, and the dance takes many hours to perform – for which modern film-goers just don’t have appetite. So from that perspective I definitely took some liberties in the film.

THE INTERMEDIATE STATEBardo literally means “intermediate state”, though it is generally used more narrowly to describe the state of existence between death and rebirth. Both meanings are at play in the film. The Buddhist understanding is that we are supposedly functioning and existing within a gap or intermediate state all the time – in our present life between yesterday and tomorrow and between past and future, and in the larger sense between our last life and next life. On a more subtle level, each present moment exists between thoughts and consciousness of the past and thoughts and consciousness of the future.

But ironically the past is completely gone and the future has not yet arrived. So the constant strong sense of history and vision of the future that seem to condition our present gap or intermediate state are really a complete illusion. This persistent reference to past experience and future planning creates hope and fear, which in turn generate unfounded assumptions, grasping, clinging, aggression, and paranoia. That’s how we suffer in the bardo, as the film tries to show. And yet, if we study and understand these habitual patterns that characterize the intermediate state, and then meditate assiduously on this gap between past and future, the dedicated meditator can learn not to be swayed by hope and fear and to be free of assumptions, clinging, and paranoia.

USING ILLUSION TO FIND REALITYMany things we do, which seem like just momentary incidents, end up – either deliberately or unintentionally – creating a lot of consequences. So, unconsciously, the Buddhist understanding of cause, condition, and effect was probably very much in my head in making this film.

The Old Man represents those who think they are not masked. But that doesn’t necessarily mean those standing apart are innocent. Although the old man knows what is happening in that environment, he is equally a victim of both the known and the unknown. Likewise, those not participating in the ceremony are not necessarily free - simply because we human beings are always wearing a mask. In fact, we can’t really fit into society without a mask, and we often wear and identify with our masks so much that we forget our original face.

So I’d like to think this story is about people who put another mask on top of their already existing mask in order to try to find out what their true face actually is. It’s about using illusion to find reality. And yes, with courage and intelligence, that is possible.

The vast majority of masks were made especially for the film. But in the bardo dance I did use some original, traditional masks, like the Lord of Death mask that is actually entirely traditional.

The actors generally had no experience with masked dance or masked performance. In fact, most of my cast are not trained actors at all. Directing a masked cast presents very different challenges from most filmmaking. Even though I’m trying to tell a story, I was constrained not only by having virtually no dialogue,

but also by having no human facial expressions, since a mask always has only a single expression. It was especially challenging to depict human sensuality and desire without showing any facial expressions or reactions. I had to rely largely on movements and gestures to pick up the kind of bodily reactions. That made me realize how much I was accustomed to noticing facial reactions, since I’d never in my life had to pay so much attention to bodily reactions. That was a big lesson for me.

MASKS

MUSIC & CHOREOGRAPHYMost of the performers and musicians are actually farmers, while some are local spiritual practitioners. In fact, we had only one qualified performer who played the Bhutanese lute, and his particular part is very short.

Interestingly, the dance choreography ended up being done by our main actor, Tshering Dorji, who – by his very nature – can’t stop himself from singing and dancing, whether on or off the film set. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is singing somewhere at this very moment. So, unplanned and unintended as it was when we started, Tshering Dorji just naturally took off choreographing the dance scenes with complete enthusiasm, and I think with decent results.

THE EXTRAS

Our big scenes with numerous extras were populated by locals who not only had a genuine interest in being there, but felt like actual participants in what we were filming. That’s because they recognized that their scenes had to do with what actually appears to happen at the time of death and after death. So they saw their participation as having some real value and direct relevance to their lives rather than just as entertainment.

Interestingly, the crowd scenes weren’t actually that difficult. As in any film endeavour, there are always different levels of challenge and difficulty in every situation, just as there is always joy and satisfaction in dealing with those challenges.

NATURAL LIGHTThe story itself requires an actual rural, natural, forested setting that gives a sense of enigma and uncertainty that we certainly don’t want to spoil with too much equipment and special effects. In fact, rural Bhutanese have for generations, at least until very recently, had no electricity and used only natural light even when travelling at night. So our remote, rural participants felt very much at home using natural light for these night scenes.

This is a very low budget film which simply forced us to think in ways that avoid grand and expensive lighting equipment. There is also the artistic pursuit of wanting to do everything in as minimalist a way as possible.

KHYENTSE NORBUKhyentse Norbu, known as Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, is a Bhutanese Buddhist teacher and filmmaker. Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait is his fourth feature.

Born in 1961 in Khenpajong, East Bhutan, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche gained worldwide fame in 1999 with his first film The Cup. He is also the director of Travellers and Magicians (2003) and Vara: A Blessing (2013). His foray into films started when he was a consultant on Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (produced by Jeremy Thomas).

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and has studied with some of the greatest Tibetan masters, including the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the late Dudjom Rinpoche. In addition to his filmmaking, he supervises his traditional seat of Dzongsar Monastery in Eastern Tibet, colleges in India and Bhutan, and meditation centers in Australia, North America and the Far East.

MAIN CAST

Tshering Dorji as "Expressionless"Tshering Dorji has acted in several independent films, and is passionate about theatre and singing. He shares a deep connection with masks, and hopes that the connection will endure even in the Hema Hema afterlife. Sadon Lhamo as "Red Wrathful" Sadon Lhamo is the owner of a cup randomly autographed by Khyentse Norbu while both were in the air. Neither knew then that there would be an opportunity for their paths to cross again, this time on land. Sadon, the flight attendant, makes her debut as one of the principal characters.

Thinley Dorji as Agay (Old Man) Thinley Dorji is a former diplomat, and a nostalgist for his younger performances in school plays. The grateful first-time actor says devotion steered him in the direction of acting.

It's been a great experience to work with Khyentse Norbu since our first time working together on 'Little Buddha' in 1993 when he was Bertolucci's technical advisor. He showed his great knowledge of cinema history and technique, and I think he caught a cinema virus on that set. I was excited to support his future work as a writer/director, starting with the worldwide hit 'The Cup' to his latest film 'Hema Hema'. I feel Khyentse Rinpoche's cinema has truly evolved. 'Hema Hema' is compelling filmmaking, both sophisticated and primitive. It's a unique invitation to a secret world.Jeremy Thomas, executive producer

Tsong Tsong Ma ProductionsIn association with Dewathang Talkie Limited present

HEMA HEMA: SING ME A SONG WHILE I WAITa film by Khyentse Norbu

2016 – Bhutan – 96 minutes – sound Dolby Surround 5.1– ratio 1:2,35 - in Bhutanese MAIN CAST

Tshering Dorji ExpressionlessSadon Lhamo Red WrathfulThinley Dorji Old Man (Agay)Zhou Xun Young Woman in Club

MAIN CREW

director Khyentse Norbu screenplay Khyentse Norbudirector of photography Jigme Tenzingeditor Tian Zhuangzhuang, Li Gensound design Duu-Chih Tu, Wu Shu-Yaoproduction designer Emily Avery Yoshiko Crow original score Gary Azukx Dyson costumes Jamyang Chodenmasks Yeshey Jimba, Sophie Pushpa Perks production manager Tashi Tshering Drukpaline producer Pema Wangchuk producers Pawo Choyning Dorji, Sarah Chenexecutive producer Jeremy Thomas

PRODUCTION COMPANY CONTACTS Tsong Tsong Ma Productions Building no. 55 Flat no. 401, GK13 Norzin Lam Thimphu, Bhutan 17127190

As masked men and women participate in ancient rituals and dances in a hidden forest, their mysterious celebration of anonymity is tainted by desire, deception and danger... The new film from Bhutanese director Khyentse Norbu (THE CUP, TRAVELLERS AND MAGICIANS, VARA: A BLESSING). Executive produced by Jeremy Thomas (THE LAST EMPEROR, LITTLE BUDDHA).

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