‘Birds On Ice’ Is A Story About Childhood, Hope, & Ice Hockey In Ladakh

In Ladakh, winter means frozen lakes, borrowed skates and hockey games played in temperatures that can drop below -30°C. Ice hockey has become a big part of life in the region, with local tournaments drawing crowds and women’s teams building a name for themselves across India. Players, however, have often had to make do with limited equipment and natural ice, which is available for only a few months each year. The sport has also opened up new possibilities for young girls, including members of India’s National Women’s Ice Hockey Team. It’s this world that filmmaker Sahil Shah explores in his debut feature, 'Birds on Ice', a Ladakhi-language film heading to international audiences this October. 

Birds on Ice follows Tashi, a young girl living with her grandfather while waiting for her parents to return from grazing their animals. Dealing with grief, uncertainty and the loneliness of waiting, she discovers ice hockey on a frozen lake and begins teaching herself the sport without skates or formal support. As she finds friendship and a sense of belonging through the game, Tashi starts imagining a future for herself. For the filmmaker, his connection with Ladakh began over a decade ago, when an encounter with ice hockey first sparked an idea for a documentary. That idea eventually grew into a fictional coming-of-age story about childhood, family, loss and the courage to keep dreaming.

At the heart of Birds on Ice is the struggle to keep a dream alive. For Tashi, ice hockey opens up a world of possibilities. Her Memele (grandfather), on the other hand, has spent his life learning to get by in a difficult world, and he wants to prepare Tashi for the same realities. His instinct to protect her comes from a place of love, even as Tashi begins to imagine a life beyond the one he knows. The coach faces a similar dilemma. She loves Ladakh and the children she trains, but with limited resources and better opportunities available abroad, staying means making sacrifices of her own. Across these different lives, the film looks at the choice between doing what you must to get by and finding the courage to pursue something you want. Birds on Ice is poignant and life-affirming in its belief that dreams are worth holding on to, even when pursuing them means taking a chance on an uncertain future.

The film also draws heavily from the people who live and play in the region. Local residents and non-actors make up a significant part of the cast, with young Ladakhi performers Skitdon Samzang and Kunga Choskyab at the centre of the story. Local filmmakers Tenzin Jamphel and Omyer Lassu handled line production, while NSD alumna Stanzin Dolkar worked with the young performers as acting coach and language translator. Padma Chorol, a forward for India’s National Women’s Ice Hockey Team, appears as herself, connecting Tashi’s ambitions to the experiences of girls pursuing the sport today. N. Chopal, who plays Tashi’s grandfather, is a known local figure with a background in theatre. The film also marks a return for independent Ladakhi-language fiction filmmaking after nearly two decades, bringing a contemporary story from the region to a wider audience.

The 85-minute drama and sports film is produced by Sahil Shah and Tanvi Aggarwal, written by Shaan Pasricha and shot by Srijan Chaurasia. Its music comes from Tibetan-Australian vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal, an ARIA and Grammy nominee whose work draws on Tibetan musical traditions and contemporary influences. He contributes four songs to the film: 'Tso Marpo', 'Snow Lion', 'Awakened Heart' and 'Heart Strings'. Birds on Ice will have its World Premiere in the ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ section of the Busan International Film Festival this year. 

Follow Sahil here and watch the trailer for the film below:

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