Land Rover: Land of the Land Rovers

As part of the car brand’s 70^th anniversary celebrations, this film created by agency Spark44 and directed by Matt Hopkins through The Progress Film Company, is an engaging portrait of a group of Himalayan villagers and the impact a fleet of 42 1950s Land Rovers has on their lives.

Basically a handful of user product endorsements, this film is hardly high-concept, though it's certainly high up and takes the viewer on a pleasant journey to Maneybhanjang, a sleepy village that lodges 6600ft above sea level in the mountains of West Bengal and Sikkim on the Indo-Nepal border.

Known as the Land of the Land Rovers, the village is home to a plucky bunch who regularly need to make treacherous treks up to an even higher village, Sandakphu. The film reveals how their lives and livelihoods depend on their trusty fleet of no-fuss Series One Land Rovers. “They’re old. Not as old as man, but old,” says one sage villager. Another tells how his 1957 car “makes me very strong”.

Director Matt Hopkins said, “Our main ambition was to bring the story of Maneybhanjang and its people to life, showcasing their  inner spirit and tenacity and the daily strifes that their collection of 1950’s Land Rovers help to overcome.”