Bön: Mustang to Menri

A film illuminating the interconnectedness of education, spiritual dedication, and persistence.

Synopsis

Our film tells the story of Asonam, a ten-year old boy from Mustang, who made a journey from his homeland, the ancient kingdom of Mustang (now part of Nepal) to Menri Monastery in Northern India.  There Asonam made the commitment to become a Geshe, equivalent to a PhD, and after 13 additional years of education in languages, philosophy, debate, and Bon traditions he achieved this goal. Decades after leaving his village, Asonam returns with the education, skill and will to answer a critically emerging need of the people of Mustang, those who follow Bon as well as those who follow other religious paths, by establishing a cultural center that will support and encourage the sustainability of their ancient and traditional heritage. 

Asonam’s life is interwoven with the story of Bon and the efforts of the 33rd Abbot of Menri, who built Menri Monastery in Northern India after the destruction of the old Menri monastery in Tibet.  This remarkable Abbot, as the head of an ancient lineage for over forty years, has orchestrated the preservation of Tibetan Bon culture and the education of thousands of monks, nuns and Bon children. He granted his approval and blessings with access to the monastery for this project.  

Filmed on location in Mustang, Nepal and Menri Monastery, India, the story illuminates the interconnectedness of education, commitment to service and spiritual dedication.  It communicates Bon’s story and unique place in history while illuminating how and why the work that monks do is important to the modern world. It is a universal message, one that reveals how inspired individuals can overcome challenges and adversity to order to have a positive impact on the world while giving back to the people, places and traditions that nurtured them. In the current age of wars and turmoil, this is a relevant and uplifting story of lasting traditions that are meaningful in the modern world with values that potentially can inspire us and help us transcend our global challenges.

Our interviews and footage include personal interviews with His Holiness, the Abbot of Menri, Geshe Asonam and Geshe Samdup, and special footage in monk’s rooms, classrooms, the debate courtyard, interviews with the nuns, the main temple and the morning water ceremony along with footage of the children in the orphanage, the medical clinic, the library and the media center.

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Awards

  • 2011 Mountain Film Festival

    Edmund Hillary Award

  • 2012 Berkeley Video & Film Festival

    Grand Festival Award in Documentary and Audience Favorite

  • 2012 Mexico Film Festival

    Silver Palm Award

  • 2013 ABQ Film & Media Experience

    Official Selection

  • 2012 Kathmandu International Media & Film Festival

    Official Selection

  • 2012 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, CA

    Critic’s Choice

  • 2011 American Anthropology Association Film and Media Festival

    Critic’s Choice

  • LunchMatters series, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, NYC

    Featured Film

Crew

  • Tad Fettig | Director

    Tad Fettig is an award-winning director & cameraman who documents social, environmental and spiritual issues, from Liberia’s civil war to Shipibo Shamans in Peru. He launched kontentreal with the award-winning series, E2: Design, Energy, and Transport, for PBS/Sundance Channel/international markets. He has directed and filmed projects for Sundance Channel, ECOIST and Discovery. Feature documentaries include Bon: Mustang to Menri, and Ausangate about Quechua life in Peru.

  • Rose Gordon | Producer

    Rose Gordon, previous owner of Front Row Video, focused on theater, dance and documentaries for New Mexican artists and craftswomen. She did video work on ecological and cultural sustainability for a village in Belize and video interviews with guests from Botswana, Lesotho, Cambodia and Russia. Rose received permission from the 33rd Menri Trizin to make this film and is a U.S. advisor/support person for the Mustang Culture and Education Center.

  • Andrea Heckman | Producer

    Andrea Heckman has a PhD in Anthropology/Art History and has worked in Peru for over 30 years where she was a Fulbright scholar. Her book, Woven Stories: Andean Textiles and Rituals, won the Collier Award from the Society for Visual Anthropology of the American Anthropology Association. Her award-winning documentaries include Ausangate, Crossing Bridges, Mountain Sanctuary, Bon: Mustang to Menri, and Woven Stories: Weaving Traditions of Northern NM.

  • Richard Allen | Editor

    Richard Allen has edited documentaries, broadcast commercials, and multi-media. He works on PBS and Discovery channel contract edits. While he is trained in film editing, he enjoys still and motion photography. He assisted production of Bon: Mustang to Menri in Nepal and India, shot still photos, and was the editor of the film.

  • Ken O'Neil | Associate Producer

    Ken O’Neil has a degree in communication engineering and was a founder of a publicly traded high tech film in California’s Silicon Valley. As an artist his paintings have been published in a book, Behind the Paint. He has worked was a production assistant, camera and editor on six award winning documentary films in seven countries from Greenland to Mexico.