The Film: Highway to Dhampus
Heiress Elizabeth James is in the tabloids again. In an attempt to turn around her bad-girl image, she’s sent to a remote Nepalese orphanage to do charity work. Two disparate worlds collide when Elizabeth (English newcomer Rachel Hurd-Wood) is thrust into an unfamiliar world run by Laxmi, the headmistress of the small orphanage (Suesha Rana).
Elizabeth’s visit not only affects her life, but also the lives of her American photojournalist, a Nepali pilot and the orphanage headmistress. Amidst both hope and tragedy, the western-savvy bush pilot (Raj Ballav Koirala), and American photojournalist hired as chaperon (Gunner Wright) discover they too have reasons to change. As the lives of these four different worlds intersect, each learns what it means to be charitable, and to give.
This story falls between the difficult yet promising path we walk to live better, give more fully, and to love. With its lush cinematography set in the stunning Annapurna Mountains of Nepal, Highway to Dhampus is an elegant, emotionally rich exploration of the challenges and rewards in facing our deepest fears, coming to terms with our preconceptions of others, and the conflicts that arise when we’re placed in a world we don’t fully understand.
