Planet Local Voices II with Stanzin Gya

Local Futures Podcast · Oct 19, 2026 · 43m

Stanzin Dorjai Gya is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and cultural leader from Ladakh. Born in one of Ladakh’s oldest villages called Gya, Stanzin lived a partly-nomadic childhood, spending half the month tending his family’s herd of yaks and cashmere goats in the mountains above 4000 metres, while attending school during the other half. As a teenager, he dropped out of conventional high school, and began attending Ladakh’s alternative school, SECMOL, where he discovered filmmaking.

Stanzin’s much loved documentary films generally deal with issues of climate change, cultural change and…