Thin Ice

Ever since the army introduced ice hockey in the northern Indian province of Ldakh, the sport has been dominated by boys and men. In 2005, girls and women decided that they also have the right to participate in the national ice hockey championship. A passionate and talented student named Dolkar makes it her mission to get a women's team on the ice in the next championship. At her boarding school high in the foothills of the Himalayas, Dolkar secures an ice rink and a team. She gets complete support from the headmaster, even when she and her team mates make the dangerous journey through a four thousand-meter-high mountain pass to get to Kargil, where they hope to recruit more players. Kargil is Islamic, but the leaders there believe that Buddhists and Muslims are brothers, and allow a group of Muslim girls to go train with Dolkar's team. Director Håkan Berthas filmed the progress of Dolkar and her team-mates in pleasant, unemphatic fly-on-the-wall style, leaving plenty of room for the beauty and wisdom of the Himalays and the girls` spontaneous personalities. Even the skirmishes on the ice - the men aren't giving up that easily - are filmed without lust for sensation. After all, Dolkar's mission is pure and sincere.