Raghu and I have been working on this story since 2019, publishing an essay in The New Yorker about these telescopes and the border conflict in September 2020. We see the film as an opportunity for the viewer to experience the mystique of the night sky, of a sublime landscape, and of darkness, things that many have never had the chance to do in our light-flooded urban lives. Over the last three years, we have begun to see Changthang in Ladakh as less of a remote border outpost and more of meeting point for different communities, cultures, and concerns, as a place where we might learn from. Can advanced science and traditional cultures co-exist? What do we stand to gain and lose from development? How does Buddhism’s quest for self-knowledge sit with our pursuit for understanding of the world around us? How does the star-filled sky orient us differently in living with other people and creatures? We have been fortunate to find characters who are living these questions and who have now become friends. With this film, we hope to make others acquainted with them.