A yak, a ticked-off teacher, an Oscar nomination for Bhutan: We interview the director

The film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature category, traces the year-long transformative journey of a young Bhutanese teacher, Ugyen Dorji (played by actor Sherab Dorji).

Bhutanese writer and director Pawo Choyning Dorji's first film — and Bhutan's first ever Oscar nomination — is set in the real village of Lunana, a remote community of nomadic yak herders situated at a dizzying altitude of more than 11,000 feet.

When Ugyen is told he must relocate there from the capital city of Thimpu to serve out the end of his teaching contract, he tries to convince his boss that the move would make him sick. She snaps back, "This is not an altitude problem, but an attitude problem. Are you even Bhutanese?"

So he postpones his dream of becoming a singer in Australia and instead goes on a long van ride, then