Local vs. Global: From Local Stories to Universal Themes PANEL
Participants: Bipuljit Basu (director, Redlight to Limelight), Zsófi Paczolay (director, I am Here)
Moderator: Dorottya Zurbó (director)
How can deeply local stories become universally understood and emotionally resonant? This discussion explores how filmmakers can translate cultural context while maintaining authenticity — bridging the gap between local specificity and global audiences.
Her latest feature-length documentary, Agent of Happiness (co-directed with Arun Bhattarai), premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. The film is a playful exploration of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness policy through the journey of a happiness agent, blending humor, tenderness, and visual poetry. It has since won more than sixteen international awards — including Audience Awards at the San Francisco and Margaret Mead Film Festivals, and Best Film at the Biografilm and MakeDox Festivals — and has been screened at over a hundred festivals worldwide, followed by a wide theatrical release in more than twenty countries.
Dorottya’s earlier works include The Next Guardian (IDFA, 2017), an intimate portrait of a Bhutanese family caught between tradition and modernity, and her solo debut Easy Lessons (Locarno Critics’ Week, 2018), a lyrical coming-of-age story about a young Somali refugee adapting to life in Hungary. Both films were invited to more than forty international festivals and received multiple awards.
She is a graduate of the DocNomads Joint Master’s Program in Documentary Directing and holds a PhD from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest. A Berlinale Talent, member of the European Film Academy, and co-founding member of MADOKE – the Hungarian Documentary Association – Dorottya continues to balance her creative practice with teaching and mentoring at DocNomads and the Hungarian Documentary Master’s Program.
Bipuljit Basu, a Sundance Institute and IDFA Grantee, is an aspirant filmmaker in Indian Factual cinema/Reality cinema and documentaries. Postgraduate in Social Development, Bipuljit finds out the unexplored stories which have a social significance in popular culture, creating some impact values in the broader social spectrum. He believes in showing Inclusion, which is an instrument for social change.
Zsófi Paczolay is a freelance artist, filmmaker based in Budapest and Amsterdam. Her background is in architecture, social work, performance & basketball.
