The Cup (1999 film)

{{Infobox film

| image = The Cup film.jpg

| caption = DVD cover

| director = Khyentse Norbu

| writer = Khyentse Norbu

| producer = Jeremy Thomas
Raymond Steiner
Malcolm Watson

| starring = Orgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling

| studio =

| distributor = Palm Pictures
Fine Line Features (USA)

| released = {{film date|1999|8|29|df=yes}}

| runtime = 93 minutes

| country = Bhutan

| language = {{ubl|Hindi|Tibetan}}

| budget =

}}

The Cup (Tibetan: ཕོར་པ། or Phörpa) is a 1999 Tibetan-language film written and directed by Khyentse Norbu in his feature directorial debut. The plot involves two young football-crazed Tibetan refugee novice monks who desperately try to obtain a television for their remote Himalayan monastery to watch the 1998 FIFA World Cup final.

The Cup was Bhutan's first-ever submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, but it was not nominated.

Plot

Two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery in exile in India. Its serene atmosphere is disrupted by soccer fever, the chief instigator being a young student, the soccer enthusiast Orgyen. Determined to see the finals of the 1998 World Cup between France and Brazil, he sets out to organize the rental of a TV set for the monastery. The journey is a test of solidarity, resourcefulness, and friendship for the students and monks.

Production

File:Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.jpg in 2006]]

The Cup was shot in the Tibetan refugee village Bir in India (Himachal Pradesh) (almost entirely between Chokling Gompa and Elu Road).{{cite news | author =Susan Jakes | title =The God of Small Films | publisher =Time Magazine | date =January 27, 2003 | url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,411452,00.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070509052137/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,411452,00.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =May 9, 2007 | accessdate=2009-06-13}}

Producer Jeremy Thomas had developed a relationship with Norbu when he was an advisor on Bertolucci's Little Buddha. Thomas later remembered his experience making the film:

{{blockquote|The director Khyentse Norbu is a Tibetan Lama who went to NYC film school, and wanted to make a movie, and I had become friendly with him. There was this charming story, which was a teaching for him but a story for everyone else, about little monks and the World Cup. It was shown in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, and we brought a lot of Tibetans to the screening, and it was well received and sold all over the world. It was a very happy story for everybody involved.{{cite web |title="At the Cutting Edge" – Producer Jeremy Thomas, interviewed by producer Sandy Lieberson |first=Jeremy |last=Thomas |author2=Lieberson, Sanford |date=2006-04-11 |url=http://www.berlinale-talentcampus.de/story/89/1789.html |publisher=Berlinale Talent Campus |accessdate=2010-04-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524091710/http://www.berlinale-talentcampus.de/story/89/1789.html |archivedate=2010-05-24 }}}}

Release

The Cup was released to DVD on November 13, 2007, in North America by Festival Media (IBFF). The DVD was mastered from a new direct-to-digital transfer from the original film, and includes a bonus documentary entitled Inside The Cup, featuring the director discussing the film, cinema in general and Buddhist philosophy, along with outtakes from the film. There is also a director's commentary audio track.{{fact|date=June 2024}}

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a rating of 85% approval.{{Cite web |date=2000-01-28 |title=The Cup - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_cup_1999 |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}

Tom Dawson from BBC wrote, "an immensely likeable and engaging work, filled with genuine humour, and in which the universal themes - the conflict between ancient traditions and modernization, the value of any human endeavor - emerge naturally from the straightforward storyline."{{Cite web |title=BBC - Films - review - The Cup (Phörpa) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/05/08/the_cup_1999_review.shtml |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}

Roger Ebert that given the movie a three-star rating, commented, "The film has a distinctly Western feel in its timing and character development; it's not an inaccessible exercise in impenetrable mysteries, but a delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil."{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=The Cup movie review & film summary (2000) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-cup-2000 |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=www.rogerebert.com/ |language=en}}