Drung Announces Selected Cohorts for the 2026 Filmmaking Mentorship Program

Drung Tibetan Filmmakers’ Collective is pleased to announce the two selected cohorts for the 2026 Drung Filmmaking Mentorship Program: Tenzin Tenkyong (Dharamshala, India) and Thupten Choedup (Bangalore, India).

Following a careful review process led by mentors Hiroshi Sunairi and Kunsang Kyirong, the two filmmakers were selected from a strong pool of applicants from across the Tibetan community. This year’s submissions reflected an inspiring level of sincerity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling. We were deeply impressed by the quality of work, thoughtfulness, and cinematic ambition present in each application, making the selection process especially difficult.

Over the coming months, the selected participants will work closely with the mentors to develop and complete original short films under the mentorship program.

Thupten Choedup will develop The Sweater, a short fiction film following a seven-year-old Tibetan boy arriving at a boarding school in exile after a difficult journey from Tibet. Holding onto a sweater stitched by his mother, the child navigates loneliness, memory, and separation during his first night away from home. Through quiet moments and fragments of memory, the film explores displacement, maternal love, and childhood resilience.

Tenzin Tenkyong will develop Three Homes, No Country, a contemplative short film set in a Tibetan settlement in India slowly changing as younger generations migrate abroad. Centered around a young Tibetan artist and his relationship with a woman preparing to leave for France, the project reflects on exile, memory, belonging, and the emotional realities of staying behind while communities disperse across borders.

Drung’s Filmmaking Mentorship Program was created to support emerging Tibetan filmmakers through guidance, collaboration, and artistic exchange. Each year, the program seeks to nurture new cinematic voices and encourage storytelling rooted in lived experiences, memory, and evolving Tibetan realities.

Previous participants of the mentorship program have gone on to develop and complete short films including Somewhere Between Homes, A Phone Call, Watermill, Jalyong, and The Quiet Solace of Sunset. A Phone Call by Kunchok Rabten received the Yak Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the 2025 Tibet Film Festival. Jamyang Phuntsok’s Watermill screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, while Tenzin Tsewang’s Jalyong has been presented at several film festivals internationally. Tenzin Choedon’s The Quiet Solace of Sunset has also screened at LGBTQ film festivals, reflecting the diversity of voices and perspectives emerging through the program.

The 2026 mentorship program is supported through a grant from The Tibet Fund, whose continued support for Tibetan artists, filmmakers, and cultural initiatives has helped create opportunities for emerging voices within the community.

We would also like to sincerely thank every applicant who applied to this year’s program. The care, honesty, and commitment reflected in the submissions offered a hopeful glimpse into the future of Tibetan cinema, and we look forward to seeing many of these voices continue to grow in the years ahead.

For more on our mentorship program click here.