Arun Bhattarai | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1985 |
| Alma mater | DocNomads |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
Arun Bhattarai is a Bhutanese documentary filmmaker. He is known for his work on projects such as The Next Guardian, Mountain Man, and Agent of Happiness . He is one of the few independent documentary directors working in Bhutan and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [1]
He has been collaborating with Hungarian filmmaker Dorottya Zurbó since they met while studying at the DocNomads Joint Master’s Program in Europe. [2] He is the founder of production company Sound Pictures. [3]
Bhattarai was born in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 1985. He graduated from the first edition of Docnomads Joint Masters for which he was awarded a full Erasmus Mundus scholarship in Lisbon, Budapest and Brussels in 2014. Bhattarai began his career as a television director for youth documentaries and television programs at the Bhutan Broadcasting Service, where he worked for five years. [4] [5]
In 2017, his debut feature film, The Next Guardian, co-directed with Dorottya Zurbó, had its world premiere at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). [6] [7] The film followed a small Bhutanese family at crossroads due to contrasting dreams of two generations. [8] It screened at numerous film festivals including True/False Film Fest, Zsigmond Vilmos Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary Award, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the San Francisco International Film Festival amongst others [9] [10] [11] [12]
In 2019, Bhattarai's upcoming short documentary, Mountain Man, exploring the life of Bhutan’s only glaciologist who is attempting to measure climate change in the Himalayas, won the Best Pitch Prize at the If/Then Global Short Pitch. [13] In November 2021, he received an International Documentary Association (IDA) grant for Mountain Man through its IDA+XRM Media Incubator program. [14] The following month, his one-minute film Snow Lion and The Glaciologis, won Best Documentary at the International Mobile Film Festival in Paris, receiving a production grant to support the editing of Mountain Man. [15] In 2022, he premiered Mountain Man at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). [16] In 2023, the film was screened at festivals including Doc Edge, [17] Chicago International Film Festival, where it received a Special Mention, [18] and Doc NYC, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. [19]
In 2024, Bhattarai's second feature film, Agent of Happiness , co-directed with Dorottya Zurbó, premiered in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, marking the first time a Bhutanese film had its world premiere at the festival. [20] The film received support from numerous labs and funding institutions throughout its development and post-production, including the National Film Institute - Hungary, Sundance Institute, Catapult Film Fund, deNovo Initiative, DMZ Docs Fund and dok.incubator INT workshop. [21] Bhattarai described it as the most challenging film he and Zurbó have worked on, noting the complexity of constructing a multicharacter narrative where multiple interconnected stories had to be woven together into a cohesive structure. [22] It screened at numerous film festivals including CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, DocsBarcelona, True/False Film Fest, Seattle International Film Festival, and San Francisco International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, amongst others. [23] It was also nominated for the International Documentary Association (IDA) awards. [24]
In 2024, Bhattarai served as a jury member for the Documentary Australia Award at the Sydney Film Festival. [25] He was also part of the Short Competition jury at the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival. [26]
In 2025, he served as a mentor at the inaugural Kathmandu Doc Lab, where he conducted workshops and mentored emerging documentary filmmakers. [27]
| Year | Film | Director | Cinematographer | Producer | Writer | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Next Guardian | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2022 | Mountain Man | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short | |
| 2023 | Silent Walls | No | Yes | No | No | Short | |
| 2025 | Agent of Happiness | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |