Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk

Roles: Director

Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk is a filmmaker from the small Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. At the age of 14, he was chosen to play the young Dalai Lama staring alongside Brad Pitt in the Hollywood film Seven Years in Tibet. Jamyang graduated from the University of Pune, India, with a BA in Social Legal Science. On his return to Bhutan, the local film industry was starting to grow and Bhutanese films were beginning to replace Bollywood movies, which was what mostly filled film theatres in Bhutan. Jamyang made his first film, Gyalsey: Legacy of a Prince (2011), which he wrote, directed and starred in, as is commonplace with Bhutanese films, where filmmakers are self-taught with no opportunities for formal training and limited resources. The film won the Bhutan National Film Award for Best Newcomer Actor in a dramatic feature film. A private screening was also held for the King and Queen of Bhutan. In 2017, Jamyang was selected for the AFiS programme at the Busan Asian Film School in South Korea where he began developing his second feature film, White Gold. He had the opportunity to pitch the film at Busan International Film Festival 2017. The film is currently in script development.