Director Dipesh Kharel
Country/Production Norway
Release 2006
Length 59 mins
Format Colour / DVD / PAL / All region
Location Nepal / Asia
Language Thami (English sub)
Collection NA
University Visual Cultural Studies, University of Tromsø
Prizes/Commendations Material Culture Film Prize 2007
Order No RAI-209.2007.61
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Alampu is a beautiful and exceedingly remote village in Nepal. The majority of the settlers there are Thami People, one of the indigenous groups of Nepal. More than 90 percent of them have been involved in the slate production at Alampu. This film includes technical details about slate production in the mountainside mine, and how the slate is worked prior to distribution. In the film we see the social relationships, co-operation between the miners, and the intimacy of the mining families. Strong women perform the tough and arduous work alongside the men. They have to carry heavy slate loads far to sell them. The film also describes the socio-cultural life of the village and its interaction with the environment. The activities of the men and women in the mine, as well as in the village, have an almost poetic dimension. (Material Culture and Archaeology Film Prize 2007)
