The devastating flash floods recently witnessed in Nepal serve as a stark reminder of the extreme dangers posed by melting glaciers in the Himalayas. This peril is acutely felt in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, where global warming is rapidly transforming solid ice into unstable lakes, threatening catastrophic spills into river valleys.
Filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji, whose 2019 film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom earned Bhutan its first Oscar nomination, is deeply familiar with these threats. He recounts a fatal incident in the early '90s where a bursting glacial lake claimed 21 lives and affected hundreds of households, a story largely unheard due to the valley's remoteness and lack of media at the time.
Dorji brought his latest work, the short documentary A Song for the Snow Lion, to the Telluride Film Festival. This unique collaboration with celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma came about after Ma saw Lunana and reached out to Dorji.
"I told [Yo-Yo] that if he's interested, we could work on a short film," Dorji explained. "And my first question to him was, 'What is it that you want to tell the story about?' And he said, 'Global warming. I'm very concerned about the melting glaciers of the Himalayas.'"
Dorji shared Ma's concern for his homeland, feeling compelled to act when a figure of Ma's stature — a musician, humanitarian, and cultural ambassador — expressed such care.
In A Song for the Snow Lion, Ma performs alongside Bhutanese folk singer Kelden Lhamo, providing accompaniment for a song previously featured in Lunana. The lyrics, which speak of a yak herder and his beloved yak, beautifully illustrate the profound connection to nature and ice within Bhutanese culture: "You, who wander where the glaciers meet the clouds/Thirst quenched by celestial glacial waters nourished by the sershong flowers…"
Bhutan itself stands as a global leader in combating climate change, with harmony with nature enshrined as a national imperative.
"We are the only carbon negative country in the world," Dorji proudly states. "The constitution also says that forest coverage cannot be below 60 percent. And right now, it's at 72 percent. I was telling [Yo-Yo] that these values are passed down in Bhutan generation to generation, not through facts and figures and charts, but through folk tales, through songs that we sing."
While Bhutan's efforts are commendable, the nation acknowledges that global warming demands a coordinated international response. Despite urgent warnings from the UN, decisive action from many governments, including the U.S., remains elusive.
"That's why films are so important because I think that politics alone is not going to [do it]," Ma told Popcorn Wire. "No [single] nation is going to solve this, but people and stories will, because if we create the narrative — and this film I think creates a narrative that says, 'Wait a minute, we treasure interdependence. We're part of nature.' So actually, if all of us get together, then things can get solved, which goes beyond nation… which goes beyond economics, goes beyond politics. But it's about the common narrative that we all have to believe in."
The film's evocative title references a cherished folk legend about a mythical creature inhabiting Bhutan's icy peaks, symbolizing the profound loss associated with melting glaciers.
"Children are taught to respect and honor the glaciers because it is the home to the snow lions," Dorji explains. He recalls meeting children in the highlands during the making of Lunana who expressed worry about the snow lion losing its home due to melting glaciers, a testament to the power of this beautiful folk tale.
He elaborates on the symbolism: "The glacier symbolizes the purity of action and aspiration. And the snow lion actually represents the enlightened mind, the awakened mind that is pure, majestic, fearless like the snow lion… And right now in the world, the purity of action and aspiration is disappearing and with that the awakened mind."
The documentary culminates in a powerful final scene where Yo-Yo Ma and Kelden Lhamo perform "Yak Lebi Lhadar" high in the mountains. Dorji describes the challenging shoot at an astonishing 18,000 feet.
"We had literally only one morning to shoot that pivotal last scene… It was quite a challenge because I think a thousand and one things had to align perfectly for this to be possible."
Once conditions were suitable, Ma was flown to the remote site by helicopter, accompanied by a doctor due to the extreme altitude. "Every time I asked Yo-Yo, he said, 'I'm fine. I'm fine.' But the doctor was, 'No, he's not fine,'" Dorji recalls, highlighting the immense responsibility of ensuring the well-being of one of the world's greatest musicians. The team managed to capture the entire scene in a single take.
Ma, despite performing with the intensity of a Carnegie Hall concert, admits to the unseen challenges. "They had to monitor heart and oxygen levels, and if it dips below a certain level, you have to have oxygen," he shared, confirming he required oxygen a couple of times. He expressed gratitude for the crew's meticulous care.
The filming of this poignant scene was punctuated by a startling, unscripted moment: the sound of a glacier cracking.
"At the end, the moment he finished playing, the glacier cracked, and I thought that was very beautiful," Pawo reflects. "It's almost like the Snow Lion was acknowledging our offering and our presence, but at the same time, it was talking to us and showing us the reality, the truth of the reality, the situation here."