Only Son, The

Family bonds can become unbreakable chains, both supporting and suffocating.

Pema and his sisters grew up away from their parents’ Nepalese village. He was raised in a children’s home, his sisters were adopted in the West. Now his parents want him to marry a local girl and return home. But he wants to study abroad and marry a girl of his own choice. So together, the siblings make the trek home. The resulting family reunion is underscored by Pema’s dilemma: does he obey his parents or not?

79’ / video / colour      

Original title: THE ONLY SON
Dir: Simonka de Jong
Prod: IDTV Docs
Co-prod: Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation (NL), Off World (BE), Elizabeth Mandel (USA)   
Sc: Simonka de Jong           
D.O.P.: Wiro Felix
Completed: November 2012       
Language: Dolpo dialect (Nepalese)/English/Dutch (English subtitles)   

Simonka de Jong:
First feature length documentary.
THE SILENT HISTORIAN (2011, short doc), PETS IN POTS (2008, short doc) Awards: UNICEF Award Vittorio Veneto FF, YVETTE (2007, short doc), A CZECH CHRISTMAS (2005, short doc) Awards: a.o. Special Jury Prize Crossroads of Europe Festival (Poland).

IDTV Docs
Ph: +31 20 314 3100
docs@idtv.nl
www.idtvdocs.nl

Sales: First Hand Films
Ph: +41 44 312 2060
stories@firsthandfilms.com
www.firsthandfilms.com