ABOUT THIN ICE

Dolkar, a young Buddhist woman from Ladakh in the Himalayas wants to play ice hockey. She and her friends tries to make ice to skate on, get equipment and coaching. But the biggest problem is that the men in charge don’t think women ice hockey is important. Dolkar contacts the Muslim girls for support.

Dolkar is the only one in her family who has been given a chance to study. She studies at the Secmol School. The director of the boarding school supports the girls wish to play ice hockey. When the next year’s tournament is approaching the girls make a new attempt to enter. They have to solve problem by problem: Thin Ice, bad equipment, no coaching. Finally when they find the American coach Deb, they travel over the mountain to the Muslim village Kargil and create a joint team.

Side by side the Buddhist and Muslim girls challenge the men in charge. When they finally are allowed to take part in the competition, they still have to fight for their rights both on the ice and beside the rink. The men don’t like Dolkar and her team, so they change the rules and push the girls around. Due to the injustices there is chaos with boycott and new wild protests.

Dolkar is risking her education and reputation by leading the protests. But then she also becomes the important bridge between the Buddhist and the Muslim society in Ladakh.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Born in 1958. Håkan Berthas studied photography and film at the New York International Centre of Photography. He took a master in documentary at the Dramatic Institute in Stockholm. He have worked with photography (TV, film and stills) for the past twenty years and he have made several documentaries like; Nabila, Big Mike, Mika, Assyrian and Swedish Sorcerers. Nabila was nominated in Amsterdam, Strassbourgh, Berlin and Stockholm. Håkan Berthas have directed Thin Ice, produced by WG Film.

PRESSKIT

PRODUCTION INFO

Title: Thin Ice

Genre: Documentary

Production year: 2006

Length: 57 min

CREDITS

Director: Håkan Berthas

Producers: Fredrik Gertten, Margarete Jangård

Executive Producer: Fredrik Gertten

Editor: Stefan Sundlöf

With support from: The Swedish Film Institute – Hjalmar Palmgren, Film i Örebro, Norwegian Film Fund – Peter Böe, Nordic Film & TV Fund – Eva Færevaag

FESTIVALS

IDFA 2006

Docs Barcelona Spain 2007

Himalaya Film Festival Amsterdam 2007

One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Praha, The Czech Republic 2007

Chicago International Documentary Festival Chicago, USA 2007

Hot Docs Toronto 2007

Trento Film Festival Italy 2007