Indian film director Kabir Khan is a storyteller who started out as a journalist, made documentaries, then transitioned into an acclaimed director of Bollywood mainstream cinema. Known globally for his ability to fuse political narratives with humanistic stories, Khan is in Kathmandu this week for <a href="https://filmsouthasia.org/" target="_blank">Film Southasia</a> the documentary film festival where he won his first award in 1999. Twenty-five years later, he is back as chief guest and keynote speaker at Film Southasia this week.&nbsp; That Grand Jury Award was for one of his earliest works, The Forgotten Army, a compelling narrative about the Indian National Army’s fight for independence from Britain during World War II. “It was the first award I ever got, it really got me into serious film-making,” Khan told Nepali Times. At the time he used to work as a film director with the Indian journalist <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dviThpWKVQU" target="_blank">Saeed Naqvi</a> travelling all over the world. One visit was to Afghanistan in 2001, where an encounter with a Pakistani guerrilla fighting for the Taliban influenced his debut feature film, Kabul Express.&nbsp; Khan views his time as a documentary filmmaker as the basis, shaping his &nbsp;approach to cinema: “Documentaries teach you that what you hear on the news is not always gospel, it’s someone’s perspective.”&nbsp; This realisation influenced his cinematic language, focusing on the gaps between the evening news lineup, and the real-life stories that should have been. Entering Bollywood to make <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG6PUj-TUfY" target="_blank">The Forgotten Army</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLu_05bHj8Y" target="_blank">Kabul Express</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyfUDIsC6A" target="_blank">New York</a> and the blockbuster <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmUl0l8qBXw" target="_blank">Ek Tha Tiger</a> was a deliberate move to get deeper into the politics of everything at a time when Indian cinema in general avoided politics. “When I started, politics was taboo in mainstream cinema,” he explains. “But coming from a documentary background, I couldn’t separate stories from their inherent politics.”&nbsp; Each of his movies carried a strong political undertone, ingrained in real-world observations. Whether crafting documentaries or mainstream dramas, Kabir Khan remains, at his core, a storyteller.&nbsp; His films are inspired by personal experiences and perspectives, and continue to bridge divides in present day India, spark conversations, and celebrate the human spirit.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024112104118_239585e19a6f5c7a0de139e26cfa04cea758bd00f32225658e9e14ae2e88a5d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024112104118_239585e19a6f5c7a0de139e26cfa04cea758bd00f32225658e9e14ae2e88a5d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="878" height="1197" loading="lazy" alt="From The Forgotten Army to Bajrangi Bhaijaan NT"> </figure>  “At the end of the day, storytelling is about honesty, staying true to your own voice. If you can connect with your own story, chances are the audience will too,” he says, “I don’t consciously add politics to my films, it’s part of my worldview, my gaze on life.” Khan's films are known for a balance between humanistic narratives and larger socio-political contexts. The director says he does not intentionally look to balance them but the two are inseparable in storytelling. The approach isn’t about consciously creating characters and then fitting politics into them; rather, it’s about letting the story and characters evolve naturally.&nbsp; "A lot of it is instinct," says Khan. "I feel this is the right thing to say and hope people agree with me. It’s not about over analysing or over-constructing, it’s about going with the flow."&nbsp; This was evident in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/19/bajrangi-bhaijaan-review-salman-khan-india-pakistan-movie" target="_blank">Bajrangi Bhaijaan</a>, where the film defied expectations, not only politically but also in the character of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nwAra0mz_Q&amp;t=26s" target="_blank">Bollywood action superstar Salman Khan</a>.&nbsp; The movie looked into Indian-Pakistani relations through a story steeped in love and innocence. Despite its release while tensions were running high between the two countries in 2015, the film resonated with audiences on both sides of the border, becoming one of Bollywood’s highest-grossing films.&nbsp; “The fact that people embraced it showed they connected with its message of love and understanding,” Khan says. Asked about his most fulfilling project, Khan cites his sports biopic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/17/nobody-gave-us-a-hope-in-hell-83-the-feelgood-film-about-indias-underdog-cricket-team" target="_blank">83</a>, based on India’s historic 1983 Cricket World Cup victory where Kapil Dev scored a record 175 not out. “It’s not just a cricket story,” he explains. “It’s about a country coming of age, gaining recognition on the global stage.” Khan worked like an investigative journalist to dig up &nbsp;lesser-known facts about the players, fans and viewers, and the result was not just a sports movie but one that celebrated both individual determination and collective triumph. Khan is deeply embedded in South Asian stories, and follows the evolving global perception of the region’s narratives. While the diaspora has amplified regional voices, he says Bollywood’s international reach remains limited.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024112104118_5c5e50ed941297c73f6f42b3508bbc3ebc8824cd052ec5914534803f4587b06d.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2024112104118_5c5e50ed941297c73f6f42b3508bbc3ebc8824cd052ec5914534803f4587b06d" data-rendition-name="original" width="918" height="1338" loading="lazy" alt="From The Forgotten Army to Bajrangi Bhaijaan NT"> </figure>  “Cinema is a reflection of its audience, and as our stories gain more visibility, so does our culture,” says Khan, who sees his role as a cultural ambassador for the region. “I never think about catering to an audience. As an artist, you have to make the film you want to watch,” he asserts.“I don’t shy away from expressing my views on subjects and issues in my films. If your work doesn’t reflect your ideals, what’s the point?”&nbsp; Post-Covid lockdowns, people have been streaming movies at home rather than going to cinemas, leading to declining theatre footfalls. While Khan acknowledges the challenges this poses for traditional cinema, he remains hopeful because “the collective experience of watching a film in a theatre is irreplaceable, filmmakers must offer spectacles that demand the big-screen experience”. The content of Kabir Khan’s work is also ever-evolving because film-making is a dynamic medium, each film is a reaction and portrayal of the time in which it is made.&nbsp; He says, “I’m not the same person who made New York or Ek Tha Tiger. With every film, my worldview and approach change.” Kabir Khan’s new film Chandu Champion about Paralympic boxing gold medalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murlikant_Petkar" target="_blank">Murlikant Petkar</a>, reflects his love for real-life stories, a trait he traces back to his documentary days.&nbsp; He says, “the film’s message is one of resilience and perseverance. It's a story of the triumph of the human spirit.” How about Nepal as a location for his next film? Khan says he would not just come to Nepal to shoot a song in the stunning landscape here because the connection between the story and location is inseparable. Kabul Express could only have been shot in Afghanistan, New York could only work in New York, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan needed the two sides of Kashmir. Says Khan: ”If I ever find a story that needs to be set in Nepal and can truly bring out its character, I would love to shoot here.” <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Fb4rgSDu1sDw%3Fsi%3DppNiuE6ZsMrdgsNd&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> <a href="https://filmsouthasia.org/film-southasia-2024-schedule/" target="_blank">Film Southasia</a> Yalamaya Kendra, Patan Dhoka 21-24 November Tickets Rs50 per film

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From The Forgotten Army to Bajrangi Bhaijaan

South Asians are coming together to celebrate the stories of this region at the biennial film festival, Film Southasia (FSA), which starts on 21 November. It coincides with the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.&nbsp; This year’s four-day event showcases documentaries from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and even one from Mongolia, although that country is in Central Asia.&nbsp; This year’s theme is Documentary in Anthropocene, with a lineup of films that explore human interaction with nature, especially in the context of climate breakdown. “The climate crisis has been the major challenge in the Anthropocene era and climate crisis respects no border. With one fourth of the world population in South Asia, we as neighbours should closely look into these issues together,” states FSA director Mitu Varma.&nbsp; While some documentaries specifically explore the impact of the climate crisis on the region’s land and people, other films highlight the interconnectedness between people and time, nature, or other people divided by borders. “Humankind practices and leads life with the concept of othering and acting as if their lives are free from the connection with nature. This year’s lineup will help retrospect the interconnectedness,” adds Varma. “But it is not all doom and gloom, the movies are also hopeful about human-nature symbiosis.”&nbsp; With over 2,000 submissions, FSA selected only 47. The carefully curated lineup will be screened at Yala Maya Kendra over next week. The FSA festival has, for over two decades, been a platform that brings South Asian filmmakers and audiences together.&nbsp; Producers and directors of 27 of the documentaries will be attending the festival and may explore cross-country collaboration on future film projects. Along with the film screenings, a Director Workshop with filmmaker Kabir Khan, and panel discussions about FSA’s slogan and the evolution and success of Nepali documentaries will also be taking place. The panel discussions and film screenings will happen simultaneously, so the attendees will have to plan their schedules accordingly. Two other master classes, and a discussion on financing and editing with industry experts will also take place in collaboration with the British Council’s WOW (Women of the World) festival and audio-visual production company KathaHaru.&nbsp; FSA also organises Travelling Film Southasia tours, in which up to 15 of the selected films are screened around the globe, mostly at universities. Says Pawas Manandhar of FSA: “We want to cultivate a sense of appreciation among the younger people for documentaries in the age of 30-second TikToks.”&nbsp; <h2>In the spotlight</h2> Hello Guyzz!  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071132_f98428bad27e80d73e744b03cdeb665bff145d4d58acb0c0df1691546223cec2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241119071132_f98428bad27e80d73e744b03cdeb665bff145d4d58acb0c0df1691546223cec2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="914" loading="lazy" alt="Hello Guyzz NT"> </figure>  One of the student films at FSA, this 24-minute long documentary features Sumita, a social media influencer in a small town in Bengal. Sumita has an alternate identity on TikTok, and straddles identities between a mundane life as a housewife and the desired life of being a successful influencer. She also harbors hopes of maybe fulfilling her long-lost dream of becoming an actor. 21 November, 12:20PM Whispers by the River Shore&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071132_f02e3702cf79cf5de38d8bf7381bf32e0391b7313288f1f5f4011ddcd2b3a9c8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241119071132_f02e3702cf79cf5de38d8bf7381bf32e0391b7313288f1f5f4011ddcd2b3a9c8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Whispers by the River Shore NT"> </figure>  River encroachment results in a Bangladeshi family’s fortunes being swept away. This 19-minute long documentary, directed by Samiur Rahman, sheds light on the humans living in encroached land near the river. It is a story all the more relevant to Kathmandu.&nbsp; 21 November, 1:50PM When the Floods Come&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071132_3c9860b2ba62293e712016ba6134ebdf269853410cf56c4d582a4ba023d08375.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241119071132_3c9860b2ba62293e712016ba6134ebdf269853410cf56c4d582a4ba023d08375" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="When the floods come NT"> </figure>  Directed by Pakistani-American Nyal Mueenuddin, this documentary won a BAFTA Award for the portrayal of the intimate stories of people affected by the 2022 flood on the Indus River. Mueenuddin has prioritised human emotion, empathy and compassion. The subject is relatable for a Nepali audience, as climate change makes the region even more vulnerable to extreme weather.&nbsp; 22 November, 10AM Nocturnes&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071128_28f8cac4679824be8709473ed44e84c25adf266095be3717b4ee9cbbb91b0477.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241119071128_28f8cac4679824be8709473ed44e84c25adf266095be3717b4ee9cbbb91b0477" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1318" loading="lazy" alt="Nocturnes NT"> </figure>  In a remote ecological hot spot on the India-Bhutan border, director duo Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta explore the secret world of moths. This 82-minute film takes viewers to rarely-seen places where moths gather, and urges us all to retrospect about interconnections in the natural world. 22 November, 2:45PM Devi  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071136_b5c5753dc392a8d0f486d8a9c07b7d56ebae51e040d3d21c6ebac94b299d8557.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241119071136_b5c5753dc392a8d0f486d8a9c07b7d56ebae51e040d3d21c6ebac94b299d8557" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="906" loading="lazy" alt="Devi NT"> </figure>  This feature-length documentary by Nepali journalist and director Subina Shrestha garnered attention internationally in Hot Docs, Doc Edge and DMZ Docs. It follows the life of Devi Khadka, a rebel warrior, mother and survivor of sexual violence during the civil war. This is the first time this 80-minute film will be shown in Nepal.&nbsp; 22 November, 6PM No Monastery No Village&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071136_a2fc110c3116ccb1b772b7bd731bed78cfc5c2121e85d60d9ff14f30bc873382.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241119071136_a2fc110c3116ccb1b772b7bd731bed78cfc5c2121e85d60d9ff14f30bc873382" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="No Monastery No Village NT"> </figure>  High up in the secluded village of Halji in Humla, a Glacier Lake Outburst Flood threatens a century-old monastery and the village with a population of 500. This 28-minute documentary, directed by Nepali climate activist Tashi Lhazom, highlights the faith and resilience of the villagers' fight to preserve their way of life.&nbsp; 23 November, 2PM Agent of Happiness  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071136_6153b4bd7c3602d44309e336f9f214ef1ba36e0208b16cd4f8363a4b38bf6f19.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241119071136_6153b4bd7c3602d44309e336f9f214ef1ba36e0208b16cd4f8363a4b38bf6f19" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Agent of Happiness NT"> </figure>  Directed by Arun Bhattarai from Bhutan and Dorottya Zurbó from Hungary, this feature-length documentary follows a surveyor who measures happiness as per the GNH (Gross National Happiness) index in Bhutan, as he goes on a quest searching for his own happiness. This year’s opening film for FSA, this 90-minute documentary will be screened on Saturday.&nbsp; 23 November, 4:15PM Hollywoodgate  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071136_41dbf1181f697611d83d653cfcd013473c3b50e55d8a742de430400d6859d28a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20241119071136_41dbf1181f697611d83d653cfcd013473c3b50e55d8a742de430400d6859d28a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1850" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Hollywoodgate NT"> </figure>  Director Ibrahim Nash'at documents the transformation as the US militia abandons operations in Afghanistan, and the Taliban occupy their bases and transform into a military regime. This movie was nominated for and has won internation film awards. &nbsp; 23 November, 6:30PM The World is Family  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071136_a52b451e30c7ed76091029a0e80ddfc610e7901f712be94840271b0dbac22f1c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241119071136_a52b451e30c7ed76091029a0e80ddfc610e7901f712be94840271b0dbac22f1c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="874" loading="lazy" alt="The World is Family NT"> </figure>  Born to a family of freedom fighters, director Anand Pathwardan explores his family’s connection to India’s Independence Movement. This 96-minute long documentary is a personal exploration and a window to India's past and the present. Pathwardan is a FSA alumnus.&nbsp; 24 November, 3:05PM All That Breathes  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241119071140_d552dde6a1ab4ef90d76559f0908fb9a0491666993c01637f65545005bc0a8bd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241119071140_d552dde6a1ab4ef90d76559f0908fb9a0491666993c01637f65545005bc0a8bd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1359" height="890" loading="lazy" alt="All That Breathes NT"> </figure>  This Oscar-nominated documentary tells the story of two brothers, Nadeem and Mohammad, who have dedicated their lives to protect the black kite in New Delhi. Director Shaunak Sen looks at inter-species coexistence in an urban setting in this 94-minute movie, which will be Film Southasia’s closing documentary.&nbsp; 24 November, 6PM Film Southasia 21-24 November Yala Maya Kendra Entry: Rs50 per film

Pinki Sris Rana

Documenting the Anthropocene

KIMFF 2024 is once again set to gather Nepali and international filmmakers, aficionados, scholars and mountaineers in a celebration of visual storytelling. Given dire warnings of how climate breakdown is affecting the ice caps on the world’s mountains, this year’s festival offers a new sense of urgency under the theme ‘Echoes of Change’. The festival from 29 May-2 June will take place at the Rastriya Sabha Griha and Nepal Tourism Board, featuring over 60 documentaries, fiction, features, and short films from 22 countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, India, Iran, South Korea, Colombia, and Tunisia. The festival’s Nepal Panorama section will showcase almost 30 films about contemporary Nepal by local filmmakers, the largest number Kimff has featured yet. “Kimff’s objective has always been to provide a platform for local stories and talent,” explains festival director Ramyata Limbu. “We hope the filmmakers and audiences will appreciate and enjoy this.”&nbsp; Kimff 2024 will kick off with the Asia Premiere of Italian director Brando Quilici’s The Tiger’s Nest. Filmed on location in Nepal, it follows a young boy embarking on a dangerous cross-country adventure to save a tiger’s cub from poachers. “Hopefully, films like these will open up the space for and spark conversations about more co-productions and collaborations in Nepal,” adds Limbu. The closing documentary on 2 June is No Monastery No Village about mountain people fighting to preserve their community and cultural heritage from a climate-induced disaster. The international jury includes director/producer Dina Mufti from the UK, Nepali anthropologist Suresh Dhakal, and film editor Regina Baertschi from Switzerland. &nbsp;They will pick winners from three shortlisted international feature films, 11 feature documentaries, and 16 fiction films for the Nepal Panorama section, among others. Kimff will also celebrate a century since pioneering attempts on Everest with a film screening and a photo exhibition titled Everest Revisited 1924-2024. It will also mark half a decade of bilateral ties between Nepal and South Korea with the screening of films from Korea’s Ulsan Ulju Mountain Film Festival. This year’s line-up will also include a panel discussion on Women Behind the Camera, screenings and an interactive session titled Championing Young Filmmakers, and a Nepali documentary pitch session by the forum Cut.Katha. Participants can also participate in an editing masterclass with Regina Baertschi. Kimff 2024 is co-hosted by Kathmandu Metropolitan City and promoted by Nepal Tourism Board with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the British Council, US Embassy, Film Development Board, Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), Mila Productions, Pasang Lhamu Foundation, Daya Foundation, Voices of Women Media (VOW), Contemporary Art of Nepal Foundation, Toni Hagen Foundation, Bagmati Communications Registrar, Himalaya International Mountain Film of China (HIMF), GIZ, WWF, ICIMOD, North Face Nepal, and Sonam. &nbsp;&nbsp; <h2>HIGHLIGHTS</h2> <h2>The Tiger’s Nest</h2> 94 min | Italy/Nepal | 2022 Original Language: English Director: Brando Quilici &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_63b09ce3fbb8a63f27e8e0097631ab6338785b5ac2a4dc748b93d5189c6f2ae7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240524120520_63b09ce3fbb8a63f27e8e0097631ab6338785b5ac2a4dc748b93d5189c6f2ae7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1012" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  This opening film is the story of a young orphan named Balmani, who has grown up hearing about the legend of a guru who once flew through the Himalaya on the back of a female tiger. Where he landed, a cave on a sheer cliff, now stands a monastery called The Tiger’s Nest. One night, Balmani saves a tiger cub from the clutches of evil poachers and makes for the Tiger’s Nest, which he believes will be a safe haven. With the smugglers in hot pursuit, the boy and cub travel from the lush grasslands of central Nepal, through the chaos of Kathmandu, and into the high Himalaya, forming an unbreakable bond along the way. <h2>Andro Dreams</h2> 63 min | India | 2023 Original Language: Manipuri Director: Meena Longjam  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_d5e6c25f326dbd602325c706a3be1d451ceec3f92cfc6c455125bc7ad008d0fa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240524120520_d5e6c25f326dbd602325c706a3be1d451ceec3f92cfc6c455125bc7ad008d0fa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1621" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  This is the story of a love affair between the spirited Laibi and her all girls' football club in a village in rural northeast India. Laibi’s club battles economic challenges, the patriarchy, and orthodoxy. Andro Dreams was the opening film for the non-feature section at the International Film Festival of India 2023. <h2>कुलैं तौल कुछ नि जमदु (Nothing Grows Under The Pine Trees)</h2> 32 min | India | 2023 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Original Language: Garhwali Director: Sachin Rana&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_20729c87454d7e3c1e6b13c0427d6cbb61b29796251d861e5f0120b786719f1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240524120520_20729c87454d7e3c1e6b13c0427d6cbb61b29796251d861e5f0120b786719f1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1663" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  In the hills of India’s Uttarakhand state live two sisters. The elder is pragmatic while the younger one is given to flights of fancy. When their parents deem that their firstborn daughter has crossed a line that would make her an outcast in society, they begin to make arrangements for her marriage. Her younger sister mistakenly comes to believe that she is the one whose wedding is planned. Nothing Grows Under The Pine Trees is the saga of a people who disguise their prejudice as tradition. <h2>Climbing For Gold</h2> 22 min | Belgium/ United States | 2024 Original Language: Dutch/ English Director: Vincent Groos &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_ed33d46e5907f2edd82423f7d50d4479451fcf9975622e682f6008aa08eb47c8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240524120520_ed33d46e5907f2edd82423f7d50d4479451fcf9975622e682f6008aa08eb47c8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  Vincent Groos’ documentary follows paraclimber Fré Leys as he trains for and competes in the 2023 Paraclimbing World Championships in Salt Lake City. Climbing for Gold explores Leys’ unrelenting training regimen, the bureaucracy of sports, and his competitors. It is a celebration of hard work, determination, and the human spirit. <h2>My Radio My Life</h2> 68 min | India | 2023 Original Language: English/ Hindi/ Marathi Directors: Bidit Roy, Makarand Waikar&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_d3b926ef391f6f96f84594575f133776010a981d18d31e15b8306e7bc15a60f5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240524120520_d3b926ef391f6f96f84594575f133776010a981d18d31e15b8306e7bc15a60f5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1895" height="1068" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  Set in the 21st century, the film revisits the golden era of radio in India through people whose lives were shaped by the medium. Some of the cast of characters include a former announcer for Voice of America who broadcasted the Apollo 11 moon landing; a woman who found her calling, and later a life partner, through radio; an octogenarian who is determined to bring his treasured valve radio set back to life; a man who restores radios and displays them in his museum; and a woman who overcomes her conservative family through her passion for HAM radio. <h2>A Childless Village</h2> 82 min | Iran | 2022 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Original Language: Azerbaijani Director: Reza Jamali  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120528_f83f6b93f0e30cffff2d488bda7a7caaad06c3fe12ae9b011208efb0ab7f7446.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240524120528_f83f6b93f0e30cffff2d488bda7a7caaad06c3fe12ae9b011208efb0ab7f7446" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  Two decades ago, an elderly filmmaker named Kazem made a documentary about women in a remote Azeri village, all of whom are childless. The women stole and burned the footage, but 20 years later, it emerges that it is actually the men in the village who are infertile. Determined to complete his project this time, Kazem heads back to ask new questions. <h2>The Whispers of a Qareen</h2> 15 min | India | 2024 Original Language: Hindi Director: Maaria Sayed  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_7e192e35e6ad30732c87893324dc91d38859e85d69ff5f86901ba83f155a186f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240524120520_7e192e35e6ad30732c87893324dc91d38859e85d69ff5f86901ba83f155a186f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="942" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  12-year-old Jahaan is visited by something strangely familiar in her Himalayan village. Her new companion gradually reveals its true identity. As the days blur, games played in wild playgrounds and trivial gossip passed back and forth among friends in the shadow of the holy tree near her home begin to feel distant. It is almost as if the world around her is disappearing. <h2>Arkesta</h2> 18 min | Nepal | 2023 &nbsp;&nbsp; Original Language: Nepali Director: Safal Pandey  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_aa42543291b9d3782fc4f7a2b23021e6572d6715e97657b662b2c2c2f5f3c44a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240524120520_aa42543291b9d3782fc4f7a2b23021e6572d6715e97657b662b2c2c2f5f3c44a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1497" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  As a single father, Gokul’s world tilts on its axis when one day, he sees his son dance in a feminine manner in public. Gokul then commits to changing how his child conducts himself in order to protect his reputation in his community. In the process, Gokul learns more about the different facets of his son’s personality. <h2>No Monastery No Village</h2> 27 min | Nepal | 2024 &nbsp;&nbsp; Original Language: Tibetan Director: Tashi Lhazom  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_e50992e83393095fa21e994ffac52c476c5ec81067ed6c7fa8ae8e5cc678c7ad.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240524120520_e50992e83393095fa21e994ffac52c476c5ec81067ed6c7fa8ae8e5cc678c7ad" data-rendition-name="original" width="1133" height="586" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  Nestled in the shadow of a glacial lake in the Himalaya lies Halzi village, home to the ancient Halzi Rinchenling Monastery, the cornerstone of Humla’s cultural heritage for centuries. It now faces a growing threat from a glacial lake upstream. A poignant exploration of faith, resilience and the fight to preserve a way of life in the face of climate change, the documentary follows villagers caught between deep devotion to their heritage and impending disaster.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240524120520_f9f4b3983e17ce8cf0285e0fbb4ee96161ef84d3784a34a28f6465bd760b9bc8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240524120520_f9f4b3983e17ce8cf0285e0fbb4ee96161ef84d3784a34a28f6465bd760b9bc8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1241" height="665" loading="lazy" alt="Kimff 2024 NT"> </figure>  21st Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival Rastriya Sabha Griha and Nepal Tourism Board, Pradarsani Marga, Kathmandu 29 May-2 June 2024 For the complete festival line-up, visit the <a href="https://kimff.org">website</a>.

Kimff turns 21

In June, Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey’s No Winter Holidays premiered at the Sheffield DocFest, one of Britain’s biggest documentary festivals. The film was supported by South Korea’s DMZ Docs Industry Project Fund and the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum. In feature films, Fidel Devkota’s The Red Suitcase was nominated for world premier at the Venice International Film Festival and Nabin Subba’s A Road to a Village got into the Toronto International Film Festival. Nepali films and filmmakers are going places, and many have been able to find their way into international labs, forums, pitches and events. Documentary films have also been doing well, but the challenge is to run and sustain the market for non-fiction film. That was a theme of a brain-storming last month of film festival organisers, government bodies, international agencies and independent filmmakers. The conversation first explored the lack of resources and probed ways in which the government and private institutions could promote the film industry.&nbsp; The two hour discussion at the British Council did not just highlight problems, but also identified possible solutions to push the Nepali documentary market to a new direction. &nbsp; While Nepal enjoys good repute internationally, participants felt it was time for private and government agencies to foster a market for documentary film within Nepal. &nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kesang-tseten-is-still-silent-but-not-absent">Kesang Tseten is still silent, but not absent</a>, Sonia Awale Despite noteworthy non-fiction films in the past few years, every documentary maker has had to work from scratch. For this, international fora have become the go-to for funds, due to their ease of access.&nbsp; The catch: competition is stiff and there are many who vie for the few prizes. Success depends on what international viewers want to see and can relate to. This audience is not familiar with the nuances of the Nepali world, and the fate of films thus is determined by its relevance to a world far removed from Nepal. International funds and programs have played an important role in encouraging Nepali documentary makers, but the time has come for Nepali support for Nepali filmmakers. Kathmandu Metropolitan City recently handed an application for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network with ‘film’ as its main component. If the city gets the title, that would be perfect timing.&nbsp; But even if it does not, it proves that the government is serious about investing in films and filmmakers. This could translate into grants for film production.&nbsp; Even Nepal Tourism Board, with its active social media presence and sizeable contributions to film festivals in Nepal, sees opportunities in films. 14 Peaks: Nothing is impossible on Netflix was an example of how the combined interests of several agencies can be pooled to create an adventure documentary that played a big role in boosting tourism in Nepal. The broadcast media remains a largely untapped medium to encourage documentary makers. Internationally, it has been tv networks and their digital subsidiaries who actively commission documentaries.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/documenting-the-subcontinent-for-a-generation">Documenting the Subcontinent for a generation</a>, Aria Shree Parasai  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230908040952_dbce52ad621f6831023cd5fe7dd4db741cc5ea29eaebe3396c4840ec3bde315c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230908040952_dbce52ad621f6831023cd5fe7dd4db741cc5ea29eaebe3396c4840ec3bde315c" data-rendition-name="original" width="4320" height="2880" loading="lazy" alt="Page 1"> </figure>  Al Jazeera Witness’s What’s behind caste violence in Nepal? and BBC World Service’s Nepal: The battle for souls are examples of how these commissions have come closer to home. The broadcast media is sustained by advertising. But, while revenue is important, content is still king when it comes to building brands and identity. Herne Katha, for example, is proof of how personal stories not only captivate but move audiences.&nbsp; Viewers are now seeking content online, and film commissioning could also make the most of this opportunity to re-brand and fund documentaries that resonate with Nepali audiences. Nepal’s tv channels could lead the way by producing content for the diaspora who are hungry for stories from home. Tv, with its access to a network of in-country journalists with powerfully distinctive stories could be drivers of audio-visual content.&nbsp; Investing in creative story-tellers to create viewership could persuade advertisers to see value in investing in non-fiction film which will ultimately enrich the ecosystem for Nepali documentaries.&nbsp; Participants at the brainstorming included representatives from the Film Development Board, Film South Asia (FSA), Human Rights International Film Festival, Independent Filmmaker’s Society, Kantipur Television, Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepali Female Filmmakers, Nepal Tourism Board and the US Embassy.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/awakening-documentary-nepal-filmfestivals,794">Awakening documentary</a>, Mallika Aryal The group concluded that there is willingness to fund content and buy content, but what is lacking are linkages between filmmakers and viewers. Watching habits are shifting to reels made for TikTok and YouTube. Should supporters of films give the audience what viewers want, or what they need? It has become imperative to understand what the audience wants, and to be where the viewers are. Perhaps not enough is being done to create avenues for audiences to explore documentaries. ‘Dumbing down content’ is an ongoing discussion, but it may be time to encourage culture of documentaries with its point-of-view human interest approach. The enthusiastic participation of Nepalis at documentary festivals is proof that there is already a critical mass of viewers interested in the non-fiction film format. Film education schools and societies can be mobilised for an even wider audience engagement.&nbsp; As pointed out in the discussion, this could be achieved through showings and documentary appreciation sessions, where film organisations can inculcate a sense of a community of documentary lovers. The Film Development Board should now work to create these linkages between local commissioners and filmmakers. They could support bigger film grants and ensure that financing is hassle-free. This could be a viable way to give Nepali documentaries a boost within Nepal in a flavour that audiences here understand best.&nbsp; The future for films lies in local government bodies, film organisations and the industry working together to support and create a platform to sustain a culture for documentary viewing. Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Manakamana-review-David-Gellner,1949">How not to make a documentary</a>, David N Gellner Smriti Basnet is a filmmaker and runs Kathaharu, a production company based in Kathmandu. <h2>Nepali films in Busan Fesitval</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230908040952_4384a408232a10f0e28b8dacf74d9f7ccc84b76f8b60feea2065f2410d315209.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230908040952_4384a408232a10f0e28b8dacf74d9f7ccc84b76f8b60feea2065f2410d315209" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="626" loading="lazy" alt="Page 9"> </figure>  Three Nepali films have been selected for the Busan Festival in South Korea from 4-13 October. Gaun Aayeko Bato (A Road to a Village) directed by Nabin Subba is being screened for the first time at the ongoing 48th Toronto International Festival. The film featuring actors Dayahang Rai, Pashupati Rai and Prasan Rai tells a story of how a new road in the village changes father-son relations.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230908040952_6e1bf726df21f6966f765b1789ce607685f9398088656931b22e06ff77d16570.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230908040952_6e1bf726df21f6966f765b1789ce607685f9398088656931b22e06ff77d16570" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="704" loading="lazy" alt="Page 9"> </figure>  Gaun Aayeko Bato will be screened under the ‘Window on Asian Cinema’ category at Busan. “I believe this will help in globalising our films,” says Subba. Guras directed by Saurav Rai has also been selected for Busan. First screened at Karlovy Vary International Film in the Czech Republic, Guras is a story from the perspective of a 10-year-old girl who sets out in search of her missing hen against the economic and social backdrop of Darjeeling. Tulsi Khawas and Kagendra Lamichanne play the leads.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230908040956_182d6917bb62faf46ac7bfabe19373f2af07f38cbda241ebac7cd5d12f71233f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230908040956_182d6917bb62faf46ac7bfabe19373f2af07f38cbda241ebac7cd5d12f71233f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="782" loading="lazy" alt="Page 9"> </figure>  “Our films being selected for international films means they like our unique identity. We are being screened at prestigious film festivals like Venice, Busan and Toronto, this is a matter of great pride,” says Lamichhane. The Witness Tree, a documentary by Niranjan Bhetwal, has been selected to be screened under Busan’s Asian documentary category.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lights-camera-action-in-nepal">Lights, Camera, Action in Nepal</a>, Ashish Dhakal

Documentary films come of age

Like the documentaries where he is mostly off-screen, Kesang Tseten in person is also self-effacing. In his award-winning films like We Corner People, In Search of the Riyal or Who Will be a Gurkha, Tseten lets the protagonists speak for themselves.
He is now putting finishing touches on two new films: one about people in remote corners of the Himalaya, and another profiling Nepalis in the heart of New York.
Like his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Kesang-Tseten-documentary-on-Dor-Bahadur-Bista,2176">other work</a>, both films are about people and places in transition. The technique is the same: following characters as they go about their everyday lives. The director’s inputs are evident only in the editing.
Tseten’s trademark is his ability to deliver the most impact while keeping himself in the background: silent but not absent.&nbsp;
His documentary, Trembling Mountain, was an intimate portrayal of the survivors of the earthquake-avalanche in Langtang in 2015. In this and his other films, Tseten dives right in, showing the raw reality of life from the perspective of those most affected by calamities, conflict, injustices or neglect.
The film-making has a light touch, and this allows the director to deliver the message without being prescriptive or polemical, and ultimately brings out the stories of survival and inner strength of individuals in communities facing wrenching change.
“Filmmaking is a powerful tool. It is more than just collecting information and stating facts, it captures emotions, allowing us an in-depth look,” says Tseten, who now lives in Berne.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lights-camera-action-in-nepal">Lights, Camera, Action in Nepal</a>, Ashish Dhakal
<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13035">We Corner People</a> is a simple story of villagers in Rasuwa and a bridge they built. As Stacy Leigh Pigg of Simon Fraser University noted in a review: ‘Kesang Tseten’s decidedly non-preachy documentary is a subtle, multi-dimensional film telling the story of the bridge, not as a monumental or heroic achievement, but as an event that occurs within a local social history … told entirely without romance, false egalitarianism, or teleological overtones.’&nbsp;
<div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QrwfCzrb8mQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
One of Tseten's two new documentaries, Diversity Plaza, about the Nepali immigrant community in Jackson Heights in New York follows the same technique. This ‘unprompted’ style is modelled after American filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.
“There is no wrong or right technique. In Trembling Mountain we had to ask questions of the survivors in Langtang, there were no houses standing to document, we didn't also want to be voyeurs,” he says.
But in In Search of the Riyal there is no script, and the director had no idea what would happen as he filmed. He explains: “We just followed the characters as things happened to them, an example of show, don't tell.”
A lot goes into how the crew also approaches the people being filmed. Tseten chooses to keep it simple, and let them know what they are doing without making a big deal out of it.&nbsp;
He does not prompt the characters to act a certain way, and this is reflected in the final cut where they are natural, and not at all camera-conscious.
Tseten's newest documentary is on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage">Bön Po</a>, the animist faith of Nepal’s trans-Himalayan region that predates Buddhism. The central character is a 75-year-old Lama in Lubra of Lower Mustang.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/documenting-the-subcontinent-for-a-generation">Documenting the Subcontinent for a generation</a>, Aria Shree Parasai
“He is waiting for his son to return to continue in the family line, but his son is a sushi chef in New York who does not seem all that eager to return,” adds Tseten.
Lubra, a village of 15 families entirely Bön, is located near a river that has seen climate change-induced glacial floods.
“The film is an attempt to capture this rugged region, its subsistence way of life and fragile balance with nature in the face of modernity,” adds Tseten.&nbsp;
It was while he was in New York to persuade the son of the Lubra monk to be filmed for the Bön Po film that Tseten heard about Diversity Plaza in New York, with its strong Nepali presence. It was a place he was familiar with ever since he was a college student at Columbia University in the 1980s.
“Diversity Plaza is like Thamel. People are empowered and restaurants are filled with our own people,” adds Tseten, who struggled to fund the film and &nbsp;ended up paying his own way.
However glamorous the world of documentary filmmaking may seem, it is a hard slog, money is &nbsp;hard to find. And once a film is made, there is usually no market for them because audiences do not readily pay to watch documentaries.
So what motivated him? Tseten replies with characteristic modesty: “I do it because I’m passionate about it. I want to tell stories. But be warned, it is a full-time commitment.”
Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Manakamana-review-David-Gellner,1949">How not to make a documentary</a>, David N Gellner

Sonia Awale

Kesang Tseten is still silent, but not absent

<figure><img width="1200" height="673" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d719c7e80680e0bd4ebjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A still from My Childhood My Country</figcaption></figure>The biennial <a href="https://filmsouthasia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Southasia</a> documentary festival is back in Kathmandu celebrating 25 years since its inception to promote documentary film-making in the Subcontinent.Aside from film screenings, panel discussions, exhibitions, the event this week will be a hub for those interested in the power of documentary films for social reform.When the first Film Southasia was held in Kathmandu in 1997, the theatres were thinly attended by a dedicated audience. But soon, with better and more relevant selection of films, there were more and more viewers.The festival has not only survived but thrived for a generation, telling visual stories with honesty, showing the diversity of the region and exposing injustices and wrongdoing. Some of its alumni have moved on to become big names in filmmaking, and even migrated to commercial movies.Around the world, documentary series have now become an even more popular genre with streaming services screening films on everything from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7768848/">Wild Wild Country</a> to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14 Peaks.</a>This year, FilmSouthasia will be held from 21-24 April at Yalamaya Kendra in Patan, and will showcase 71 films from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Burma. <img width="640" height="373" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d749c7e80680e0bd4ecjpeg.jpg" alt="">The festival will start musically with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQxKJz5x-8c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shut up Sona </a>about Bollywood playback singer Sona Mohapatra, and her unrelenting fight for equal space in modern India. It will conclude with a documentary by Pa Ranjith, Gaana, about Dalit percussionists who play at funerals.Although the documentaries will focus on themes like partition, migration, changes time brings, the common thread running through them all is the humanity and tolerance that shines through.“We always have films where people are fighting over each other, over borders, over lands. But we have films coming out that show what we have in common, where we  can cooperate and move forward”, says Mitu Varma, director of Film Southasia. “Our aim is to bring the region closer.”The films show truth and emotion that mainstream media and feature films usually lack or overlook. This year there are films focused on partition such as Longing where a daughter traces her father’s journey when he was chosen in the first Indian hockey team that broke up after the partition.Another, Ghar ka Paata, shows a girl tracing her roots to Kashmir after fleeing in the 1990 insurgency. FSA also has climate migration stories such as a documentary on a shaman and a dead tree, and displacement of two locals after building the Baglihar dam.While the audience for documentaries is growing, screening opportunities are still limited. And although <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/revisiting-the-corner-people-kesang-tseten,3803">filmmaking</a> has become less expensive, making a profit is still difficult, and most documentary makers have to make commercials for a living.“Non-fiction is something that needs a lot of encouragement,” says Varma, “because even today if youngsters are going into it as a career, they need a lot of dedication because the money lies in either features or advertisements.”The pandemic did not make it any easier for filmmakers. Many faced economic problems or were affected psychologically. Film Southasia mentored six filmmakers in their films themselves and tried to organise backup and support for the first time.Compared to the past, platforms have slowly emerged for documentary makers. Stories can be marketed at OTT (Over-the-Top) and filmmakers can receive money from it.The films will vie for four awards. The Ram Bahadur Trophy will go to the best film, along with a cash prize of $2,000, and the runner-up will be awarded $1,000. The best debut film will merit the Tareq Masud Award and $1,000, and the award for Best Student Film will merit $500.The festival’s jury comprises of filmmakers Sumathy Sivamohan from Sri Lanka, Ayisha Abraham from India, and Tshering Ritar Sherpa from Nepal.<h3>Sneak Peak</h3><h4>Blues of Pink</h4>Shot in Janakpur, Nepal, Blues of Pink seeks to portray transgender culture and practices that are an integral part of their identity and work, linking them with the rest of the community <figure><img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d779c7e80680e0bd4edjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4>Gaine</h4>A man who wandered through towns with his Sarangi, spreading information through song. A journalist of the old days. With time, many Gandharvas have migrated and found new ways to sustain themselves, whereas others still maintain loyal to their caste, to the occupation, and to the music of their Sarangi.<h4><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16591060/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">God’s Buffalo</a></h4>Homan Singh Shivabhakti ekes out a living, farming in the hills of Sindhupalchowk district, east of Kathmandu. All is well till devastating floods ravage the area and Homan Singh's buffalo disappear. <figure><img width="640" height="390" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d7a9c7e80680e0bd4eejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4>The Riyalists</h4>The Riyalists traces the trajectories of the four Nepali men who left their village for 12 years, illuminating the experiences of up to three million Nepalis who have been in the Gulf at any given time in the last three decades.<h4><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14291906/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">My Childhood, My country</a></h4>My Childhood, My Country: 20 years in Afghanistan is a moving tale of Mir, a little boy when the filmmakers first met him, growing up to be a young man in one of the most embattled corners of the globe. <figure><img width="599" height="400" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d7e9c7e80680e0bd4efjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4>Family Going Live</h4>The film follows two children of the Mahalle family, both very excited when online school starts, giving them all the freedom and time to explore new things. New problems arise with the new learning platforms, and the family has to come together to respond to them.<h4>Ghar Ka Pata</h4>Six years old when her family had to leave the Kashmir Valley due to armed insurgency in 1990, Ghar Ka Pata is the director Madhulika Jalali’s personal account seeking to understand loss and identity, and to reconstruct a place and a time that exists in her and her family’s collective memories. <figure><img width="640" height="358" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d809c7e80680e0bd4f0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4>Stories from the Second Floor</h4>From the second floor of his coincidental new home, the filmmaker wonders whether there could be a space in the absence of stories or whether the camera forces spaces to create stories for its own survival.<h4>Human Cost of the Baglihar dam</h4>This short character driven film explores the enormous human costs associated with the project while following the lives of two locals displaced by the dam caught in a web of poverty, debt and mental health issues.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d839c7e80680e0bd4f1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="699">

Aria Shree Parasai

Documenting the Subcontinent for a generation

As with all spheres of national life that make up our social and cultural fabric, Nepal’s film industry has also been hit hard. Cinemas are closed, shooting has stopped, and there is even less investment in new movies.As with the global film industry, Nepali producers are also disseminating directly through YouTube and other streaming platforms. Film festivals are being held online.The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/kimff-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">took place virtually</a> from 10-14 December and had 300 entries this year, out of which 12 films were chosen for the Nepal Panorama and 18 for the international competition.“Because we went virtual, many people outside Nepal were able to see the films, and the number of entries was surprisingly high even given the times we’re in,” KIMFF director Ramyata Limbu told Nepali Times.“If you can’t get people to the hall in terms of logistics and time, doing festivals online in this multimedia era would make it more accessible for people who don’t have the time or inclination to make it to the theatres,” says Limbu. “The more accessible we can make it, the more people will take the time to view independent films.A selection of notable films from 2020: <figure><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be93b9c7e80680e0878abjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NISHON SHAKYA</figcaption></figure>The CrematorNishon Shakya’s, documentary which <a href="https://kimff.org/the-cremator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">premiered at KIMFF</a>, follows elderly cremator Gyan Bahadur, who is nearing the end of his professional life at the Bhasmeshwar ghat at Pashupati. Gyan Bahadur’s narration of his life is accompanied by powerful visuals of cremations at Pashupati. Caution: Viewer Discretion Advised. Shakya is uncompromising in his visuals of the dead, in a way a macabre reminder of the times we live in.  Gyan Bahadur cremates the dead, a cigarette held tight between his lips, discusses politics, offers medical advice, and tells the story of his life. Having himself lost two of his sons in their childhood, Gyan Bahadur says he makes money off other people’s losses. At times, he is scathing about the living, who like to send off their dead with style but have no words of kindness to the people who help them pass on. Surrounded by mortality, he speaks matter-of-factly about his own death, accepting that he will eventually find his way back to Pashupati and move on from this world the same way he helped countless others. <figure><img width="1440" height="645" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be93f9c7e80680e0878acjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Day 33Filmed in the throes of the Covid-19 lockdown, LSM’s (Sailesh RC) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFRDsh9kX8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relevant short film</a> captures a young man’s increasing agitation as he searches for food in his room on the 33rd day of the shutdown. In the barely furnished space, surrounded by empty food containers and an empty wallet, he doesn’t find any. And so, he must settle for anything that he can find within the space that he can move in.The brevity of the film works in its favour — there are no unnecessary drawn-out scenes that attempt to force more meaning or gravitas to the story. There are no dialogues, no angry soliloquies, not one word from the protagonist. The film doesn’t need them. There is just weariness and resignation. <figure><img width="733" height="620" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9429c7e80680e0878adjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Come Over for a Drink, Kanchhi Sikuma Rai’s documentary played at the Pame Film Festival, NHRIFF, and KIMFF. <a href="https://festival.kimff.org/nepal-panorama/come-over-for-a-drink-kanchhi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Come over for a drink, Kanchhi</a> is a deeply personal narrative of the Rai women of Bhojpur for whom alcohol is woven into the fabric of their daily lives. The women sing and smile and drink in groups throughout the film, even as they hold immense sadness within themselves. Weathered by the loss of children and loved ones to disease and suicide, they make and drink alcohol to deal with grief and trauma. Because alcohol is as much a part of ceremony and celebration as much as melancholy, the women are not apologetic about drinking. “There is a big hole in my heart,” says one of the women, who all suffer from depression. In a country where mental health is stigmatised, the film shines a light on how people deal with depression in rural areas. <figure><img width="1991" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9449c7e80680e0878aejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Snow Leopards CallingTshiring Lhamu Lama was inspired to work for the conservation of snow leopards when she saw how the endangered Himalayan cats were tortured and poisoned by locals in Dolpo in retaliation for killing their livestock. Sonam Choekyi Lama’s award-winning short documentary is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the story of her sister Tshring’s drive and determination</a> to save and protect a part of her world through snow leopard conservation. Tshiring treks across the freezing, harsh but stunning winter landscape of Phoksundo to capture the movement of Snow Leopards, recognising the importance of the footage for conservation as well as much-needed tourism in the area.The film includes heartbreaking footage of snow leopards being dragged by their tails and kicked by locals into holes in the ground. However, Tshiring’s joy and enthusiasm at having captured snow leopards on film end the visually beautiful documentary on a hopeful, optimistic note. <figure><img width="1600" height="592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9479c7e80680e0878afjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Bare Trees in the MistFilmmaker Rajan Kathet’s Bare Trees in the Mist made its rounds in festivals around the world, including <a href="https://tiff.net/events/bare-trees-in-the-mist" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto in 2019</a>, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, the UK, Finland and India before being screened at home during KIMFF 2020. In this stunning drama, Kaali’s son informs his mother that a neighbour’s husband has returned from abroad bearing gifts for the two of them. Kaali, whose own husband has left home telling his wife that he’s going to Arab (“Which Arab?” her neighbour’s husband asks. Kaali doesn’t know) makes the journey to visit them. Kaali’s tense yet hopeful wait in silence, the choice of aspect ratio, everything adds to the film’s atmosphere, underlying urgency and anxiety of the protagonists. <figure><img width="1440" height="773" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9499c7e80680e0878b0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>BabuIn <a href="http://www.arpafilmfestival.com/short-film-babu-by-eelum-dixit-2020-arpa-iff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eelum Mani Dixit’s film</a>, the eponymous Babu finds his village and home torn apart by the 2015 earthquake that takes the life of his mother, and takes his desperate father away to India in search for work. A story of three generations of men in post-earthquake Nepal, the film brims with a young boy’s anger and heartbreak, a father’s helplessness, and a grandfather’s sorrow.Dixit packs a lot of emotion into subtle gestures throughout the film, like when Babu’s father hands him sweets before he leaves for India. Or when Babu gives a marble to the girl he likes-- someone he is probably never going to see again-- as she and her family move away to India. And especially when Babu buys his grandfather, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, a pen for his journal with the money he had painstakingly saved up working to bring his father back home sooner. The film is not only emblematic of the mass exodus of Nepali men and women to foreign lands, but also a look at how out-migration can be a ‘trend’ that turns working-class Nepalis into hard-bitten cynics unwilling to work their own land, even when it is available and possible.  <figure><img width="734" height="543" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be94c9c7e80680e0878b1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Song of CloudsAnkit Poudel’s film is an ethereal, empathetic, abstract story of life and death shifting from this world to the next as the dead communicate with the living they leave behind. Described as a fever dream, there is no plot or narrative structure to the film. There are long stretches of silence punctuated by sudden disjointed communications about regret and longing. A story without direction or an end told through still photographs.Premiering at Sundance earlier this year and making rounds in <a href="https://www.sundance.org/projects/song-of-clouds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">festival circuits around the world</a>, Poudel’s film has garnered multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Split Film festival in Croatia and the Best Fiction award in Nepal Panorama at KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="1422" height="794" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be94f9c7e80680e0878b2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Winter Tap In the hills of Sankhwasabha, a young man has undertaken the solo task of building a water tap that will take water right to his home during the dry winter. Working methodically in silence, he cuts bamboo into pipes and tree branches to prop up the bamboo against. He then cuts strips out of some more bamboo and ties the pipe and the branches to make a long and winding canal wrapped around the hills.  As with Day 33, words are unnecessary, the only sound is the wind blowing across the hills as the man lays his bamboo pipe, the rhythmic thwack of his khukuri as he cuts branches to support his canal, and the final, musical sound of the water flowing through the pipes toward his home. Simple, meaningful, and immensely satisfying, this film by Aashish Limbu and Debin Rai won Best student film at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/film-southasia-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film South Asia 2019</a> and was screened during KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="500" height="260" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9529c7e80680e0878b3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Big-headed Boy<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/17008744-6908-4c0a-bbee-b06b148431a6/the-big-headed-boy-shamans-samurais" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Big-Headed Boy, Shamans &amp; Samurais</a> was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this November. Made by Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet, award-winning creative minds behind The Contagious Apparitions of Dambarey Dendrite and Dadyaa, the black-and-white travelogue is an account of the filmmakers’ quest to find an actor for their movie. When they do find an actor, the village Shaman is reluctant to let him go.

Shristi Karki

2020 vision

As with all spheres of national life that make up our social and cultural fabric, Nepal’s film industry has also been hit hard. Cinemas are closed, shooting has stopped, and there is even less investment in new movies.As with the global film industry, Nepali producers are also disseminating directly through YouTube and other streaming platforms. Film festivals are being held online.The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/kimff-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">took place virtually</a> from 10-14 December and had 300 entries this year, out of which 12 films were chosen for the Nepal Panorama and 18 for the international competition.“Because we went virtual, many people outside Nepal were able to see the films, and the number of entries was surprisingly high even given the times we’re in,” KIMFF director Ramyata Limbu told Nepali Times.“If you can’t get people to the hall in terms of logistics and time, doing festivals online in this multimedia era would make it more accessible for people who don’t have the time or inclination to make it to the theatres,” says Limbu. “The more accessible we can make it, the more people will take the time to view independent films.A selection of notable films from 2020: <figure><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0284b0ad905ca02eff4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NISHON SHAKYA</figcaption></figure>The CrematorNishon Shakya’s, documentary which <a href="https://kimff.org/the-cremator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">premiered at KIMFF</a>, follows elderly cremator Gyan Bahadur, who is nearing the end of his professional life at the Bhasmeshwar ghat at Pashupati. Gyan Bahadur’s narration of his life is accompanied by powerful visuals of cremations at Pashupati. Caution: Viewer Discretion Advised. Shakya is uncompromising in his visuals of the dead, in a way a macabre reminder of the times we live in.  Gyan Bahadur cremates the dead, a cigarette held tight between his lips, discusses politics, offers medical advice, and tells the story of his life. Having himself lost two of his sons in their childhood, Gyan Bahadur says he makes money off other people’s losses. At times, he is scathing about the living, who like to send off their dead with style but have no words of kindness to the people who help them pass on. Surrounded by mortality, he speaks matter-of-factly about his own death, accepting that he will eventually find his way back to Pashupati and move on from this world the same way he helped countless others. <figure><img width="1440" height="645" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02b4b0ad905ca02eff5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Day 33Filmed in the throes of the Covid-19 lockdown, LSM’s (Sailesh RC) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFRDsh9kX8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relevant short film</a> captures a young man’s increasing agitation as he searches for food in his room on the 33rd day of the shutdown. In the barely furnished space, surrounded by empty food containers and an empty wallet, he doesn’t find any. And so, he must settle for anything that he can find within the space that he can move in.The brevity of the film works in its favour — there are no unnecessary drawn-out scenes that attempt to force more meaning or gravitas to the story. There are no dialogues, no angry soliloquies, not one word from the protagonist. The film doesn’t need them. There is just weariness and resignation. <figure><img width="733" height="620" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02d4b0ad905ca02eff6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Come Over for a Drink, Kanchhi Sikuma Rai’s documentary played at the Pame Film Festival, NHRIFF, and KIMFF. <a href="https://festival.kimff.org/nepal-panorama/come-over-for-a-drink-kanchhi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Come over for a drink, Kanchhi</a> is a deeply personal narrative of the Rai women of Bhojpur for whom alcohol is woven into the fabric of their daily lives. The women sing and smile and drink in groups throughout the film, even as they hold immense sadness within themselves. Weathered by the loss of children and loved ones to disease and suicide, they make and drink alcohol to deal with grief and trauma. Because alcohol is as much a part of ceremony and celebration as much as melancholy, the women are not apologetic about drinking. “There is a big hole in my heart,” says one of the women, who all suffer from depression. In a country where mental health is stigmatised, the film shines a light on how people deal with depression in rural areas. <figure><img width="1991" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02f4b0ad905ca02eff7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Snow Leopards CallingTshiring Lhamu Lama was inspired to work for the conservation of snow leopards when she saw how the endangered Himalayan cats were tortured and poisoned by locals in Dolpo in retaliation for killing their livestock. Sonam Choekyi Lama’s award-winning short documentary is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the story of her sister Tshring’s drive and determination</a> to save and protect a part of her world through snow leopard conservation. Tshiring treks across the freezing, harsh but stunning winter landscape of Phoksundo to capture the movement of Snow Leopards, recognising the importance of the footage for conservation as well as much-needed tourism in the area.The film includes heartbreaking footage of snow leopards being dragged by their tails and kicked by locals into holes in the ground. However, Tshiring’s joy and enthusiasm at having captured snow leopards on film end the visually beautiful documentary on a hopeful, optimistic note. <figure><img width="1600" height="592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0324b0ad905ca02eff8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Bare Trees in the MistFilmmaker Rajan Kathet’s Bare Trees in the Mist made its rounds in festivals around the world, including <a href="https://tiff.net/events/bare-trees-in-the-mist" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto in 2019</a>, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, the UK, Finland and India before being screened at home during KIMFF 2020. In this stunning drama, Kaali’s son informs his mother that a neighbour’s husband has returned from abroad bearing gifts for the two of them. Kaali, whose own husband has left home telling his wife that he’s going to Arab (“Which Arab?” her neighbour’s husband asks. Kaali doesn’t know) makes the journey to visit them. Kaali’s tense yet hopeful wait in silence, the choice of aspect ratio, everything adds to the film’s atmosphere, underlying urgency and anxiety of the protagonists. <figure><img width="1440" height="773" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0354b0ad905ca02eff9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>BabuIn <a href="http://www.arpafilmfestival.com/short-film-babu-by-eelum-dixit-2020-arpa-iff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eelum Mani Dixit’s film</a>, the eponymous Babu finds his village and home torn apart by the 2015 earthquake that takes the life of his mother, and takes his desperate father away to India in search for work. A story of three generations of men in post-earthquake Nepal, the film brims with a young boy’s anger and heartbreak, a father’s helplessness, and a grandfather’s sorrow.Dixit packs a lot of emotion into subtle gestures throughout the film, like when Babu’s father hands him sweets before he leaves for India. Or when Babu gives a marble to the girl he likes-- someone he is probably never going to see again-- as she and her family move away to India. And especially when Babu buys his grandfather, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, a pen for his journal with the money he had painstakingly saved up working to bring his father back home sooner. The film is not only emblematic of the mass exodus of Nepali men and women to foreign lands, but also a look at how out-migration can be a ‘trend’ that turns working-class Nepalis into hard-bitten cynics unwilling to work their own land, even when it is available and possible.  <figure><img width="734" height="543" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0384b0ad905ca02effajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Song of CloudsAnkit Poudel’s film is an ethereal, empathetic, abstract story of life and death shifting from this world to the next as the dead communicate with the living they leave behind. Described as a fever dream, there is no plot or narrative structure to the film. There are long stretches of silence punctuated by sudden disjointed communications about regret and longing. A story without direction or an end told through still photographs.Premiering at Sundance earlier this year and making rounds in <a href="https://www.sundance.org/projects/song-of-clouds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">festival circuits around the world</a>, Poudel’s film has garnered multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Split Film festival in Croatia and the Best Fiction award in Nepal Panorama at KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="1422" height="794" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf03a4b0ad905ca02effbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Winter Tap In the hills of Sankhwasabha, a young man has undertaken the solo task of building a water tap that will take water right to his home during the dry winter. Working methodically in silence, he cuts bamboo into pipes and tree branches to prop up the bamboo against. He then cuts strips out of some more bamboo and ties the pipe and the branches to make a long and winding canal wrapped around the hills.  As with Day 33, words are unnecessary, the only sound is the wind blowing across the hills as the man lays his bamboo pipe, the rhythmic thwack of his khukuri as he cuts branches to support his canal, and the final, musical sound of the water flowing through the pipes toward his home. Simple, meaningful, and immensely satisfying, this film by Aashish Limbu and Debin Rai won Best student film at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/film-southasia-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film South Asia 2019</a> and was screened during KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="500" height="260" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf03d4b0ad905ca02effcjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Big-headed Boy<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/17008744-6908-4c0a-bbee-b06b148431a6/the-big-headed-boy-shamans-samurais" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Big-Headed Boy, Shamans &amp; Samurais</a> was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this November. Made by Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet, award-winning creative minds behind The Contagious Apparitions of Dambarey Dendrite and Dadyaa, the black-and-white travelogue is an account of the filmmakers’ quest to find an actor for their movie. When they do find an actor, the village Shaman is reluctant to let him go.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a96399c7e80680e05dc55jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"/><figcaption>Chair of Film South Asia Kanak Mani Dixit with musician Amrit Gurung. Photo: FILM SOUTH ASIA</figcaption></figure>From the inaugural documentary Indus Blues, it became evident that a lot of the documentaries at the <a href="http://www.filmsouthasia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Film South Asia </a>2019 festival this week in Kathmandu could not be shown in their home countries. Such is the state of free expression in the Subcontinent that Kathmandu became the relatively free space where the screenings could happen.The documentary genre evolved to use film to explore, explain and expose facets of modern society largely missed out by fictional cinema or mainstream journalism. It has got new life in the post-truth, alternative-fact age by daring to dig deep and shine a light into the dark, hidden corners of our societies, so that we can see, hear and act on the concerns of people and places in the periphery.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/film-southasia-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Film South Asia 2019</a>, Sewa BhattaraiAt a time when democracy, freedom of expression, pluralism, inclusiveness and non-violence are all under threat from elected demagogues in South Asia and beyond, the work of these courageous documentary makers is more important than ever.Whether or not it was deliberate, Film South Asia also delivered a number of striking pairings. Abu and The Next Guardian for instance, were screened on consecutive nights at Yala Maya Kendra, and both trace a family’s hope for their son and provide reflections on cultural attitudes towards sexual orientation.Abu is a portrait of a patriarch, and the tale of the ebbs and flows of family relationships seen through the eyes of filmmaker Arshad Khan. However crippling the undertow of misunderstandings, secrets and lies that exist in his family, its members still draw close, bound by love but tethered in pain as they explore life as migrants and grapple with the politics of religion, sexuality and family expectations.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a963b9c7e80680e05dc56jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a963f9c7e80680e05dc57jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="563"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The oppression felt by the filmmaker in his youth is palpable: we feel his father’s disapproval or his mother’s avoidance in the recordings of his well-documented childhood. In the end, fear and oppression might dissolve into love and forgiveness, but the family secrets and lies remain, settled deep into the fragile stillness of resignation and silence.Silently too, and nodding to sleep, a young Bhutanese boy deigned to be the next guardian of his family’s monastery suffers his father’s gentle verbal lashings and pressure to take on the role and become a monk. His sister’s sexual orientation is pragmatically and matter-of-factly attributed to her past life in a half-comic spiel the father delivers to the camera.Read Also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/documenting-south-asia/film-southasia,3996" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Documenting South Asia</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17242#.XdYmyNUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The world of South Asia,</a> Nepali TimesA well-paired set of observations on India’s diversity was served with Chai Darbari, followed immediately by Growing up in Ladakh. Both are exquisitely filmed, and capture the inherent beauty of India’s varying lands: Ayodhya and Ladakh. Where Chai Darbari features heated masculinity of various political positions jostling for a voice amidst the moments of clamour and calm in an ancient city and hotbed of conflict, the latter follows two young girls growing up in isolated desert mountains, nourished by familial love and community and supported by their school and elders as they undertake a gruelling pilgrims’ progress called Gotchak.In another thematic pairing, Janani’s Juliet and Badshah Lear are adaptations of two of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, and with aplomb they bring the Bard’s humanist dramas to life in two different Indian contexts. Janani’s Juliet follows director Koumarane Valavane and his actors as they adroitly weave the story of star-crossed lovers from warring families into the fray of India’s caste system and the warped tragedy of so-called ‘honour killings’.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a96419c7e80680e05dc58jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="540"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Two films featured bamboo. The one from Bangladesh, Bamboo Story, won the main trophy at FSA 2019. A multi-layered ethnographic study using outstanding cinematography, the film provides empathy and respect for an unnoticed floating population shuttling between a forest and an urban jungle. The other bamboo film from Nepal, Winter Tap, co-winner in the student category, is a small-is-beautiful tale of how not to waste resources in the process of accessing water in a remote mountain village.The festival closed with a screening of two films, one about a rooster running amok in a Mumbai household’s small flat, and the other featuring four dog-loving eccentrics in Kolkata. The humans who adopt them exist precariously, whether on the cusp of life and death, sanity and madness, or crammed in cages and tethered to things they cannot fathom.Pariah Dog cleaves into the underbelly of Kolkata, to show a world where people live isolated, desperate lives. Those caring for community dogs are doing so as much to assuage their consciences as to address a yearning for companionship, purpose and recognition in a world fast atomizing into anonymity, where they themselves may be considered pariah. Tungrus is darkly comic as it traces the fate of a handsome broiler rooster who seemingly has it good, ruling the roost and terrorising the family. His fate is painfully bleak, in a scene at once comical and horrific.Life and art are one. Art exists only with life and life thrives only with art. Film South Asia 2019 was a documentary feast where the mind could thankfully still be free.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12133#.XdYsVtUzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Film South Asia travels back</a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12133#.XdYsVtUzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">,</a> Nepali Times

Feasting on documentary films

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

Divine chariot

In 2025, two seemingly disconnected acts of violence shattered the illusion of stability in the region. In March, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/16f7f947-1e96-4206-9844-891378adc683" target="_blank">militants hijacked a passenger train</a> near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan, executing soldiers in cold blood. A month later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/world/asia/kashmir-terrorist-attack.html" target="_blank">gunmen in Kashmir’s</a> Pahalgam Valley massacred tourists. 
In both Islamabad and New Delhi, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/25/were-cursed-kashmiris-under-attack-across-india-after-pahalgam-killings" target="_blank">the reaction was reflexive:</a> condemn the violence, <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/04/22/india-and-pakistan-could-come-to-blows-over-kashmir" target="_blank">blame external enemies</a>, declare the situation contained. But South Asia’s leaders are not fighting terrorists alone. They are fighting the consequences of their own betrayals.
Across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26272897" target="_blank">Balochistan</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11693674" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/346-finding-way-out-festering-conflict-indias-manipur" target="_blank">Manipur</a>, and beyond, decades of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/" target="_blank">enforced disappearances</a>, broken promises, and brute militarisation have hollowed out the social contracts meant to hold these nations together. The grievances that drove rebellions from the 1940s through the 1990s – demands for dignity, recognition, and political agency – were never meaningfully addressed. They were buried beneath asphalt and propaganda, paved over by development projects and security checkpoints.
States may claim victory. But their victories are mirages, dissolving the moment anyone looks too closely. South Asia’s unfinished wars are not relics of a violent past. They are live ammunition, loaded into the future.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/he-only-wanted-revenge-the-bloody-insurgency-in-balochistan-gaining-lethal-momentum" target="_blank">Balochistan</a> has been at war with Pakistan for most of its modern history. Rich in gas, minerals, and coastline, the province has been plundered for decades under the language of national development. 
Projects like the <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/26/pakistans-three-evils-cpec-and-good-governance/" target="_blank">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</a> promise progress but deliver exclusion: minerals are mined, ports are secured, but Baloch homes are raided. 
The insurgency endures not because of foreign conspiracies, as Islamabad endlessly insists, but because the Pakistani state remains incapable of seeing its <a href="https://thebalochistanpost.net/2025/01/enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan-in-december-2024-tbp-report/" target="_blank">Baloch citizens</a> as anything other than a security problem to be managed.
In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, the Indian government claims to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/asia/kashmir-village-defense-committees.html" target="_blank">“normalised” the valley</a> after revoking its autonomy in 2019. It <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan" target="_blank">looks a lot like occupation</a>. Soldiers outnumber local leaders, dissent is criminalised, internet shutdowns suffocate public life. Tourism campaigns and investment summits cannot erase a generation raised under curfew and surveillance.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730" target="_blank">Manipur’s descent into ethnic bloodshed</a> in 2023 exposed another fault line Delhi prefers to ignore. Long-simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted into violence that shattered any illusions of northeastern integration. The central government’s delayed, politicised response made clear what many Manipuris had always suspected: they are citizens of India only when convenient.
Even the <a href="https://msf.org.au/rohingya-worlds-largest-stateless-population" target="_blank">Rohingya, stateless and exiled from Myanmar</a>, find themselves entangled in South Asia’s ethnonationalist calculus. Fleeing genocide, they are criminalised anew in Bangladesh and India – trapped between the countries that reject them and the memories that refuse to let them go.
South Asia’s states have excelled at suppressing rebellion. But failed at extinguishing the reasons rebellions rise in the first place. And the wars South Asia tries to forget at home have found new life abroad.
Across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/modis-indian-government-accused-of-spying-silencing-critics/103974414" target="_blank">Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States</a>, diasporic communities have become memory-keepers and, increasingly, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/khalistan-supporters-hold-protest-outside-indian-consulate-in-vancouver-123092600087_1.html" target="_blank">the agitators</a> for the struggles their home states would rather erase.
Khalistan flags fly outside Indian consulates in Vancouver and <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/perturbed-over-waving-of-khalistani-flags-at-an-event-in-melbourne-india-warns-australia-of-khalistan-separatists-and-their-links-with-terror-groups-458320/" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>. Tamil activists march through London, demanding accountability for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/19/grim-reminder-sri-lankas-tamils-mark-15-years-since-end-of-civil-war" target="_blank">massacres in Mullivaikkal</a>. Kashmiri protests in Washington and New York refuse to let India’s crackdown slip into diplomatic amnesia.
For host countries, these movements pose uncomfortable questions. Freedom of expression collides with fears of extremism. Clashes erupt between communities carrying wounds that their new homelands.
Meanwhile, South Asian states pursue their adversaries across borders. India faces allegations of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-says-india-home-minister-ordered-campaign-against-sikh-activist-rcna177972" target="_blank">targeting Sikh activists for assassination in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/g-s1-29561/sikh-separatist-assassination-india" target="_blank">United States</a>. Pakistan continues to court Kashmiri separatists abroad while crushing Baloch dissent at home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-tamils-civil-war-dead-5b372b0bba567837c5a4d94250040e7d" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a> lobbies furiously to brand Tamil diaspora organisations as fronts for terrorism, even as it stonewalls investigations into its own wartime atrocities.
The old insurgencies have not been defeated. They have been globalised. South Asia’s governments have long mistaken silence for stability.
In Punjab, India broke the back of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/india/india-canada-sikh-khalistan-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">Khalistan insurgency</a> through brute force. The fields grew green again, the trains ran on time. But the wounds were never closed, the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-indias-khalistan-separatist-movement-on-the-rise/a-65081729" target="_blank">movement’s heart beats</a> not in Amritsar but in Brampton and Surrey.
In Sri Lanka, the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4738983/The_Man_Who_Destroyed_Eelam" target="_blank">military crushed the Tamil Tigers</a> with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger" target="_blank">overwhelming brutality in 2009</a>. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264148/we-want-our-children-back-sri-lankan-families-still-demanding-justice-their-missing-loved-ones" target="_blank">Tamil families still search for their missing</a>, still mourn their dead – and still organise across the diaspora for justice that remains undelivered.
In Kashmir, Delhi boasts of new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/4/kashmir-is-bleeding-its-economy" target="_blank">highways and investment corridors</a>, showcasing the region as a trophy of unity. But when the visitors leave and the cameras are packed away, <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/from-domicile-to-dominion-indias-settler-colonial-agenda-in-kashmir/" target="_blank">the checkpoints, the raids, and the quiet despair remain.</a>
Victory parades fade. Grievance endures. Suppressing insurgency may end battles. It does not end the ideas that fueled them. In a region where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/world/asia/kashmir-attack-india-pakistan.html" target="_blank">history is rarely past</a>, and memory is rarely voluntary, states that rule through repression are only ever buying time. And often, not very much.
South Asia’s unfinished wars are not accidents. They are the inevitable consequences of states that confuse conquest with consent, and erasure with reconciliation. They cannot legislate memory out of existence.
Every <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15qyyzz89lo" target="_blank">disappeared son in Balochistan</a>, every <a href="https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-half-widows-in-kashmir-fef80c6b88e9" target="_blank">half-widow in Kashmir</a>, every <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/focus/rohingya-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">refugee child born stateless in a Rohingya camp</a> carries forward the memory of betrayal – a memory that outlives soldiers, politicians, and peace accords alike.
The region’s future will not be decided by GDP figures or infrastructure projects alone. It will be decided by whether its governments can summon the political courage to face the truths they have long suppressed – or whether they will continue down a path <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166" target="_blank">where forgetting is demanded</a>, and rebellion becomes inevitable.
Shyam Tekwani is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. This <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/nexus_articles/ghosts-at-the-border-south-asias-unfinished-wars/" target="_blank">article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/security-nexus/" target="_blank">DKI APCSS Security Nexus.</a> The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these sites.

Balochistan to Kashmir

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.