Prince of the Himalayas

2006, Sherwood Hu, China, 108 min.

With Purba Rgyal, Dobrgyal, and Zomskyid

Introduced by fashion designer Titania Inglis

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And, by opposing, end them?” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ACT III, Scene 1

Set in ancient Tibet under the shadow of the Himalayas, this adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a visually ravishing historical epic with stunning scenery, richly saturated color, and lush costuming. As the prototypical tale of oedipal anxiety, or of the terrifying possibilities of taking action in the social world, this film re-invents a story we thought we knew.

“Here, at last, a Hamlet that makes emotional sense of the plot and the back story. —Bob Ellis, The Sydney Morning Herald

“With Prince of the Himalayas, Sherwood Hu confirms his status as one of China’s most interesting directors with a glorious visual style married to a fascinating dramatic tale.” —Hollywood Reporter

About the Speaker

Now based in Brooklyn, Titania Inglis grew up among the woodlands and waterfalls of Ithaca, New York, and refined her dark, streamlined aesthetic while living in Denmark (the original setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet) and the Netherlands. Half Chinese, half Scots-Irish by blood, she embraces the seeming dichotomies of a line looking to the future, yet grounded in tradition, operating on the border of nature and industry. The lush minimalism of the line’s aesthetic is matched by the line’s minimal environmental impact. Each garment is sewn in a small, family-owned factory in New York from high-quality, low-impact fabrics including Japanese organic cotton, Italian vegetable-tanned leather, and dead stock wool from the local garment industry. Titania studied at Design Academy Eindhoven and the Fashion Institute of Technology, and apprenticed under cult New York designers Camilla Stærk, Jean Yu, and Threeasfour before launching her solo line in 2009. She teaches at Parsons the New School for Design and at the Textile Arts Center.