THE CUP

The debut feature from Bhutanese-born director - and Tibetan Lama - Khyentse Norbu, The Cup [Phorpa) has proved a festival favourite since its Directors Fortnight screening at Cannes. Centring on a group of monks in exile who become obsessed by the 1998 World Cup - in partic¬ular 14-year-old Orygen, who carries the rest of the monastery along with the sheer weight of his enthusiasm - the story follows their efforts to raise money for a satellite dish to watch the final on television. Norbu himself spends several months each year in strict retreat and the film's actors were real monks without any previous professional acting experience. According to the producers, much of the dialogue was memorised on the spot and most of the scenes completed within three takes - a testament, they say, to their actors "monastic discipline and concentration".