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

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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

2023 was a year when the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and big blockbuster movie formula finally stopped bringing crowds to the cinema. It took the Barbenheimer cinematic event earlier this summer to revive the industry which has been on a constant slump post-pandemic. The second half of the year saw some exceptional films from across the world, most of which were overshadowed by the combo of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Here is a pick of some notable movies of the last few years ahead of the holiday season for you to enjoy over any number of your favourite streaming platforms. <h2>Barbenheimer (Barbie + Oppenheimer) </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071232_58f1fa1ac867739c65e877ed65833e907c811f42d4c5fe805aa1e27d900686b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20231224071232_58f1fa1ac867739c65e877ed65833e907c811f42d4c5fe805aa1e27d900686b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  No 2023 film list would be complete without the obvious mention of Barbenheimer, the seemingly oxymoronic double bill of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Nolan’s epic stars Cillian Murphy as the “father of the atomic bomb”, Robert J. Oppenheimer, as the film takes the audience through quantum theory, Oppenheimer’s journey from struggling student to Los Alamos, and existential cold war anxiety. Rather than a dramatic reenactment, Oppenheimer feels like more of a character assassination, a meditation on the dangers of moral indecision, and the absurdity of power and those who wield it. With the reignition of nuclear anxieties most markedly triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Oppenheimer is more than just a reflection but a warning. Oppenheimer’s monochromatic cinematography is in complete contrast to the burst of neon that is Barbie. However, remarkably, these films are not too dissimilar in that both are tinged with existentialism. Through various shades of pink, Gerwig tackles the question of what it means to be a woman in our modern society and the patriarchal pressures that distort women’s sense of self. It is unsubtle but smart, accessible yet witty. It is not an arthouse intellectualisation of the human experience but it does touch on pertinent themes, and more importantly, it is an incredibly fun watch. More than capturing the zeitgeist of our post-covid, late-stage capitalistic world, these films marked the return of cinema or rather catalysed the refound joy of cinema-going. <h2>The Boy and the Heron</h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_d802632e263ee5cd8f8945ef02725a75cc2a65dab9f4d6d78e303aad10047925.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231224071228_d802632e263ee5cd8f8945ef02725a75cc2a65dab9f4d6d78e303aad10047925" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1463" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  A decade after announcing his retirement, acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki made an unexpected comeback to cinema this year with the release of The Boy and The Heron. Studio Ghibli’s latest masterpiece touches on familiar themes such as grief, the moral ambiguities of war, childhood memories, nostalgia, nature, and nationalism all presented via the prism of magical realism and mystery. A film that was almost certainly worth Miyazaki breaking his retirement for. <h2>Close </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_27085c2a3e391a0e5377e4321beababa814ad33d8260020fffdda7d43d33f003.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231224071228_27085c2a3e391a0e5377e4321beababa814ad33d8260020fffdda7d43d33f003" data-rendition-name="original" width="2025" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  It is a heartbreakingly beautiful film that captures the tragedy that is the end of childhood naïvety and the silent dangers of societal norms and conformity. An overt description would fail to capture the poignant essence of this Belgian coming-of-age film which won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix. The rich cinematography and lush backdrop of flower fields perfectly balance the raw emotive performances, leaving a taste in the audience that is beyond bittersweet. <h2>All the Beauty and the Bloodshed </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_0573a0e0276c14541996b668086c2d5da6311ee149bfe0ce4eec973fdb0577f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20231224071228_0573a0e0276c14541996b668086c2d5da6311ee149bfe0ce4eec973fdb0577f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1642" height="2461" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  This gripping Oscar-nominated documentary follows Nan Goldin, one of the greatest photographers of the last century, and her battle to hold the Sackler family accountable for their complicity in the American opioid epidemic. Goldin herself narrates the film as she recounts her dysfunctional childhood, her journey through New York’s underground scene, the fight against AIDS, and her struggles with opioid addiction. This film is poignant yet empowering and a strong reminder of the often-forgotten power of an individual’s courage and community pride. <h2>Wes Anderson’s adaptations of Roald Dahl</h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_5f544b7b89ba58c09565e3905fa47473a3bfd58890aee6ae888807930d7d0646.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20231224071228_5f544b7b89ba58c09565e3905fa47473a3bfd58890aee6ae888807930d7d0646" data-rendition-name="original" width="462" height="699" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  Netflix was graced by Wes Anderson’s quartet of reimagining of Road Dahl’s lesser-known short stories. Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl can only be described as a perfect match with Anderson’s eccentric yet measured style perfectly capturing the ridiculousness that is the crueler side of humanity. These full-bodied featurettes may be short but they are far from sweet. <h2>Cairo Conspiracy (Boy from Heaven) </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071236_08f7cd05a6a1fa6a7a9553229591b2ac6aae2f3d4b33108932597b188c374934.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231224071236_08f7cd05a6a1fa6a7a9553229591b2ac6aae2f3d4b33108932597b188c374934" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="2560" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  This Palme d’Or nominated, Arabic political thriller is a co-production between Sweden, France, and Finland, and follows the naïve son of a village fisherman as he is unwillingly made a pawn in a political-religious power game for the future of Egypt after being accepted to study at the prestigious Al-Azhar University. This film is beautiful and gut-wrenching making it clear why it won the best screenplay at Cannes. <h2>Past Lives</h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_f739b85eca6b3768f19dbf4f062e9c91d62e99583344b17aa6862129c6a94e96.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20231224071228_f739b85eca6b3768f19dbf4f062e9c91d62e99583344b17aa6862129c6a94e96" data-rendition-name="original" width="972" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  Celine Song’s A24-produced directorial debut took the film world by storm this summer and for very good reason. It follows childhood sweethearts Na-young (Nora) and Hae-sung who reunite years after Na-young’s emigration to North America. In some ways this “What if?” film is very much reminiscent of Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” but is also a meditation on cultural identity, memory, nostalgia, and migration. A must-watch. <h2>L’immensita (The Immensity) </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_742f8454c3e18560e2bd2c570491cacc9755607500df7fd6a1b9587e82800d3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20231224071228_742f8454c3e18560e2bd2c570491cacc9755607500df7fd6a1b9587e82800d3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2764" height="4096" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  Penelope Cruz stuns in this turbulent Italian drama. While this film touches on pertinent issues such as gender dysphoria, sexism, abuse, and gentrification, it is more of a demonstration of the strength of a mother’s love and the power to embrace unconformity even if it requires sacrifice. L’immensita is heartbreaking but joyful and Cruz’s performance is truly a tour de force. <h2>Kathal </h2>  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231224071228_b9aa000d50b1d5deb28577f9a7c2f6f647f9675d163db692ae6138198f96c03b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20231224071228_b9aa000d50b1d5deb28577f9a7c2f6f647f9675d163db692ae6138198f96c03b" data-rendition-name="original" width="450" height="630" loading="lazy" alt="2023 movies NT"></figure>  Kathal (Hindi word for Jackfruit) is a Netflix-produced Indian satirical comedy film that follows a small-town police inspector as she investigates the missing Jackfruits of a local politician. This lighthearted film is more than just a quirky comedy and elegantly touches on prevalent issues including corruption, caste discrimination, gender inequality, fake news, and class dynamics.

Reel Rendezvous

As one of the last countries in the world to introduce television in 1998, and internet a year later, Bhutan has a whole new generation of young adults who have grown up with access to movies, football matches, and Facebook. The Buddhist-majority country holds its culture and traditions dear, and parents expect to pass these values down to their children who are having difficulty adjusting to the two worlds. The Next Guardian (2017) is a new documentary that explores this contrast between traditionalist values and modernist changes in Bhutan and questions the ideals of the country’s Gross National Happiness slogan. Directed by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, the feature-length documentary follows a teen brother and sister, Gyembo and Tashi, who love soccer and their phones. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/in-nepal-east-meets-west-musically">In Nepal, East meets West musically</a>, Shrijan Pandey  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061113068_f36c45447643ca3e6bf111ef35f2f40b131ec34b3649566c774f1ae9d64698e7.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023061113068_f36c45447643ca3e6bf111ef35f2f40b131ec34b3649566c774f1ae9d64698e7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="803" loading="lazy" alt="The Next Guardian NT 2"> </figure>  Their father runs a monastery and believes that their culture must be passed on to future generations to preserve it. Gyembo is studying in a modern English school, loves football, and has crushes on some girls in his class. But he is suddenly expected to become a monk. Bhattarai came up with this true story when he heard about Bhutan’s first female football camp. He spent six months in the camp and finally came across Tashi who looked and acted like a boy and wanted to become a football player. However, after meeting her family and Gyembo, he changed his focus to show the widening generational gap in Bhutan by documenting one family’s story. “We saw it as an opportunity to reflect on how Bhutan is changing,” Bhattarai told an online audience during an online screening of his documentary by Screen Southasia organised by Himal Southasian, which also holds the biannual Film Southasia documentary festival. “Screen Southasia was born out of our love for South Asian documentaries and Film Southasia’s massive archive of documentaries and network of alumni,” says Alok Adhikari, Assistant Director of Film Southasia. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/pasang-lhamu-sherpa-the-film">Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the film</a>, Tayama Rai  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061113068_fb42d3dac6947db26be86256f41b27af537a886692cafd2e5ed54636de071111.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023061113068_fb42d3dac6947db26be86256f41b27af537a886692cafd2e5ed54636de071111" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="856" loading="lazy" alt="The Next Guardian NT 3"> </figure>  Screen Southasia hosts monthly online shows of compelling documentaries from the region, including Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka -- a diverse range of films, both classic and new, that showcase the unique cultures, histories and perspectives of the Subcontinent. Screenings are followed by Q&amp;A sessions &nbsp;with the filmmaker, editor, camera person to better understand the craft of filmmaking, funding and marketing aspects.&nbsp; June’s selected The Next Guardian effectively captures the transition of Bhutan to the digital age as Gyembo, Tashi, and their friends use smartphones, watch football tutorials, take photos, and talk to friends on Facebook. It also portrays how Gyembo is not different from young people anywhere else in the world today. In contrast, their father prepares local dishes, does everyday rituals, performs traditional dances, and is passionate about Buddhist teachings. With its rich cinematography, the film uses static wide shots to portray the scenic beauty of Bhutan and to showcase the rhythm of everyday rural life in the country. Key to Bhattarai’s filming style is not to use a lot of movement to capture the real, authentic rituals of the family with cinéma vérité technique. The cinematography is unobtrusive, and the characters ignore the film-makers and go about without being at all self-conscious. The blurs the dimension between film and reality. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains">On-screen mountains</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061113068_0bdb4decbe10c16488b4afe993680dba4313ed7d4f3c509713ed2178cde00c1d.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023061113068_0bdb4decbe10c16488b4afe993680dba4313ed7d4f3c509713ed2178cde00c1d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="850" loading="lazy" alt="The Next Guardian NT 4"> </figure>  “Sometimes, I waited for hours observing their day-to-day interactions. Some clips were possible only after the protagonists opened up as themselves, forgetting the camera,” Bhattarai explains. The film delves into the traditional South Asian dynamic where a child cannot say no to parents and is expected to carry out their wishes. The father constantly tries to convince Gyembo of the advantages of becoming a monk and the importance of preserving heritage. Gyembo has different dreams, celibacy not being one of them, yet he never actively protests. “Since I grew up near Bhutan, I wanted to tell this story,” says Bhattarai. Tashi has her own arc in the story, dressing up and cutting her hair like a boy, and she is mostly drawn to masculine behaviour. She is passionate about being a football player, and the film shows a wonderful acceptance of Tashi’s gender expression by her family and society at large. Her father, in line with his strong Buddhist beliefs, sees Tashi as a girl born with the spirit of a boy from her past life and calls it natural. And after seeing movie, Gyempo’s father postponed sending him to the monastery. The Next Guardian was the first documentary film many people in Bhutan watched in a cinema for the first time. It won the Best Documentary at the Zsigmond Vilmos Film Festival in 2018, and was nominated for the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Films like The Next Guardian highlight dynamic cultures and their unique ways of relating to the world. However, financing is difficult, and filmmakers often have to rely on producers from the West.&nbsp; Says Arun Bhattarai: “What this means is that rather than producing a relatable film for the local audience, sometimes you have to make it relatable to a Western audience.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/at-the-edge-of-tomorrow">At the edge of tomorrow</a>, Mark Turin The next Screen Southasia event will be a film from Bangladesh.

In the land of Gross National Happiness

<h2>Kagbeni</h2> <img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b869c7e80680e0c95cajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14366#.YzFEKuxByjA">This 2008 film</a> loosely based on W W Jacob’s 1902 horror story The Monkey’s Paw is perhaps best known as the first successful non-mainstream Nepali movie. Krishna returns from Malaysia and is reunited with his childhood friend, Ramesh. Their lives forever change after receiving a talisman with tantric powers from a sadhu. After this, the story becomes a drama that unfolds at two levels: the real and the occult. Bhusan Dahal's directorial debut stars Saugat Malla, Deeya Maskey, Nima Rumba, Hanif Mohammed and Pooja Gurung. <h2>Kalo Pothi: The Black Hen </h2> <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b899c7e80680e0c95cbjpeg.jpg" alt="">This 2015 drama takes place in Mugu district during the Maoist conflict. Two boys Prakash and Kiran, belonging to different castes raise a hen together, but when it disappears they start a perilous journey. They are caught in the crossfire of the insurgency, unaware of the atrocities that lie ahead. Kalo Pothi is the first Nepali film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. The cast includes Khadka Raj Nepali, Sukraj Rokaya, Jit Bahadur Malla, Benisha Hamal, Hansa Khadka and Bipin Karki. Directed by Min Bahadur Bham. <h2>Prakash </h2> <img width="1110" height="500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b8c9c7e80680e0c95ccjpeg.jpg" alt="">Set in the post-monarchy Jumla, Prakash follow the titular character played by Pradeep Khadka, a poor labourer who dreams of becoming a teacher in a government school. It is also a story of his mother Sita portrayed by Diya Maskey who is still searching for her missing husband. The film expertly depicts the struggle borne out of political change, the life of Jumlelis in one of the most neglected parts of Nepal and class difference. Debutant Renu Yogi also does a fair job in this film directed by Dinesh Raut.   <h2>Chiso Manchhe </h2> <img width="720" height="405" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b8f9c7e80680e0c95cdjpeg.jpg" alt="">When a Nepali migrant worker dies in Qatar, his father and wife travel to Kathmandu to retrieve his body. They are then accompanied by a driver who is taking them back home to their village in Bajura district in far west Nepal. Set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions, the three face numerous obstacles in the way highlighting the political and social discrimination faced by ordinary Nepalis by agencies of the state. Directed by Dipendra K Khanal with Swastima Khadka, Arpan Thapa and Desh Bhakta Khanal in lead roles. <h2> Ainaa Jhyal ko Putali</h2> <img width="1920" height="1075" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b909c7e80680e0c95cejpeg.jpg" alt="">Directed by Suresh Bidari, the film revolves around two siblings, Bidya and her younger brother Basanta. An excellent student and aspiring poet with big dreams, Bidya struggles with the societal pressure of being a girl in society despite having a supportive mother. When Basanta sees his sister slowly giving up on her dreams, he desperately tries to give her the hope she has lost. Staring Kanchan Chimariya, Dinesh Khatri, Siru Bista, Bisha Chamling Rai, Raj Thapa, Umesh Shrestha, Mallika Shrestha, Ashok Siwakoti and Prasanna Paudel. The movie is Nepal's entry into the Oscars and has been praised as the best example of the Nepal New Wave

Nepali New Wave Cinema

<figure><img width="800" height="440" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b938b9c7e80680e06f1aejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Bipin Karma plays one of two leads in the Hong Kong film 'Hand Rolled Cigarette'.</figcaption></figure>A young man in a brightly patterned jacket is on the run after having stolen drugs from some dangerous-looking people. The scene changes. Let me hide here for a while, says the young man to an older person, seated in a dark apartment. Why did a whole crew come after you? the other man asks him.The young man being chased across the streets of Hong Kong is played by Nepali actor Bipin Karma in the Hong Kong film release, Hand Rolled Cigarette. Karma is one of the two leads alongside acclaimed Hong Kong actor Gordon Lam Ka-tung (playing a former British Army soldier) and gives an excellent first-time performance as a troubled young South Asian man in debutant director Chan Kin-long’s neo-noir crime drama. His role marks the first time an actor of Nepali descent has broken into mainstream Hong Kong cinema.Hand Rolled Cigarette follows an unemployed retired British Army veteran who struggles to keep his head above water in Hong Kong after its handover to China in 1997, and a young Indian/Pakistani man navigating life in the city’s seedy underworld. The 101-minute film was the opener at the 17th Hong Kong Asia Film Festival, and closed the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, where it was nominated for awards in seven categories, including Best Picture. The film is now out worldwide after its premiere in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. <figure><img width="1066" height="1600" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b938d9c7e80680e06f1afjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Bipin Karma with Hong Kong actor Gordon Lam Ka-tung during filming of the movie.</figcaption></figure>Twenty-four-year-old Karma, whose family is originally from Pokhara, pinned a Nepali flag pin on his lapel when he attended the movie’s gala premiere at the Elements Theatre in Hong Kong on 17 June. The Hong Kong-born actor spent eight years of his childhood in Nepal, completing his primary education in the country before returning to Hong Kong. His Nepali is fluent, but in the film he plays a bilingual character who speaks Hindi and Cantonese. “It was a bit difficult in the beginning, to have to speak in Cantonese and Hindi,” Karma recalls. He had been apprehensive of his ability to play the role when he was initially offered the film in 2019, but eventually overcame his nerves and accepted the offer. <figure><img width="5508" height="3459" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b93909c7e80680e06f1b0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photo: JAGAT AMBU GURUNG</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="4115" height="2449" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b93949c7e80680e06f1b1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photo: DAMBAR KRISHNA SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure>Karma himself was drawn towards videography and short filmmaking after participating in a filmmaking course for non-Chinese students at school. However, pursuing a career in acting had not crossed his mind at the time. “I had been more interested in the behind-the-scenes aspect of filmmaking before I was offered the role,” he says. “I accepted the offer because I really liked the story.”Although he had no prior acting experience in mainstream films, Karma had played in a movie that he himself made for a festival at university. He had uploaded videos of himself doing parkour on YouTube and had worked on a few commercials as well which came to the notice of Director Chan Kin-long.Karma’s parkour experience also helped him with stunts in Hand Rolled Cigarette, where he can be seen running through the streets of Hong Kong and jumping out of a window at one point. And it is not a body double. <img width="1200" height="1775" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b93979c7e80680e06f1b2jpeg.jpg" alt="">The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1513#.YM8N9C8w3BI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali diaspora in Hong Kong</a> has celebrated Karma’s achievement, with the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) in Honk Kong putting out an open call for Nepalis to go to theatres and watch the film. Heeding the call, Nepalis here have been flocking to theatres.“This is a matter of pride not only for Bipin but for all Nepalis,” says NRNA Hong Kong President Radhika Gurung. Indra Wanem, president of the Nepali Society in Hong Kong, says that Karma’s entry into the film industry has given rise to newfound enthusiasm among Nepali youth in Hong Kong. “Not only has Bipin’s achievement created interest among the Nepali youngsters here, but it has solidified the image of Nepali talent and capability among the citizens of Hong Kong,” he says.Karma’s father Dilli Bishwakarma is a <a href="http://lbms03.cityu.edu.hk/oaps/ais2013-6002-as000.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">construction site supervisor in Hong Kong</a>, and is delighted by his son’s achievement, saying he has inspired and boosted the confidence of the 30,000 Nepalis who live in the territory.   “He got a big opportunity right from the beginning, and I know that he will continue to do even better work in the future,’ Biswakarma says, brimming with pride. Karma, who is busy doing press for the film, has been getting positive feedback for his performance. He considers himself lucky to have played a lead role in his first movie, and sees this as an opportunity for bigger and better things. He says, “I will work harder in future.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gaumaya-gurung-going-places/">Gaumaya Gurung going places</a>, Sajana Baral

Nepali actor shines on Hong Kong silver screen

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.

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/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.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/6369368d9c7e80680e03fde8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"/><figcaption>Kiran Joshi at the Incessant Rain studio. Photos: SIKUMA RAI</figcaption></figure>Just when Kiran Joshi was trying to get more business for his Incessant Rain animation studio in Kathmandu ten years ago, one of his artists decided to quit. The reason was lack of support on his career choice from his family. Joshi had to do something, so he announced an Open House in which family and friends of his animators could come and see them at work.More than 175 parents attended the event, and one of them was the mother of the artist who had applied to resign. She had tears in her eyes when she finally found out that her son was not playing video games all day at work.Ever since, open houses have become an annual feature at Incessant Rain, not just to retain existing talent but also to welcome new ones. This year’s Open House had 640 attendees, among whom were prospective artists who wanted to see what is now possible in Nepal through state-of-the-art computer animation.Joshi was encouraged: “This year was the highest turnout yet, and everyone was surprised that we create animation for the latest Hollywood releases.”Indeed, Incessant Rain Animation Studio has moved to a larger studio in Chhauni, employs 140 artists producing animation and VFX projects for Walt Disney Studios, Fox Studios, Universal Network, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Netflix, Amazon, and many others.“Nepal is on the world map for animation production, and that is thanks to the enormous talent pool we have in this country,” says Joshi, who divides his time between California and Kathmandu.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15871#.XAjwGNszbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tooned in Nepal</a>, Paavan MathemaThe problem now is retention: how to ensure that gifted Nepali animation artists are not poached by companies in Singapore, Malaysia or India doing similar work. While some have left for good, others have gone to gain more experience and returned to put it to good use back home in Nepal.“Initially it used to annoy me that artists we painstakingly trained left us for jobs abroad,” Joshi confessed, “but I have come to accept that as a given.”Nepal faces stiff competition from Asia’s animation industry. Countries in the region have more human resources and get a big share of the animation projects. But Joshi says his emphasis on quality and reliability has projected <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18786#.XAjwxdszbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Incessant Rain</a> as a world class studio producing high standard animation. The company has so far worked on 94 movies, 124 tv series, 28 commercials, 15 public service announcements, and 10 location based entertainment. Joshi is now confident enough to create original content such as documentaries and fully animated films.In 2015, Incessant Rain produced the documentary Moving Mountains with the British Red Cross on the stories of ten survivors of the 1934 earthquake in eastern Nepal, and showed Dharara tower in Kathmandu collapsing in a future quake. The film was criticised for panic mongering, but within a few months of its release Nepal was struck by the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/04/25/massive-earthquake-rattles-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 2015 earthquake</a> when the Dharara actually collapsed.Incessant Rain then made a sequel, Moving Mountains, the Awakening in 2017 for the International Red Cross. The film told stories of child survivors and warned of the next Big One so the country <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/past-disasters-foretold/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can be better prepared</a>.Joshi  plans to organise an animation conference in Kathmandu to tap into young Nepali students with art backgrounds. The studio is also building an animation lab for art experiments and research. Incessant Rain is collaborating with Kathmandu University School of Arts to have animation as an elective course, under its Arts and Design faculty in Hatiban.Says Silicon Valley digital entrepreneur Bijay Niraula: “We need more people like Kiran, who has his feet in both East and West. He has trusted connections in Hollywood, and because he is Nepali, is able to function here.But he has also shown that it is possible to give back to Nepal while doing international work.”<h2>Job satisfaction guaranteed</h2><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936909c7e80680e03fde9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Renu Shrestha was planning to move to Australia with her husband when she was training at Incessant Rain in 3D animation. But even as a beginner she worked with dedication and passion, that eventually led her to be promoted to lead an all-male team of five texture artists. Now, she doesn't want to leave her dream job in Nepal to go to foreign land.“At first I had my doubts about managing a team, but we are all professionals and it is the work that binds us,” says Shrestha. “There is a lot of respect for the work we do here, irrespective of gender or age, so I do not regret not going abroad.”Project supervisor Kundan Basnet has been at Incessant Rain since the studio’s beginning, and oversees visual effects and animation projects. Originally from Ilam, Basnet self-taught the basics of animation to himself and now supervises teams from 3D animation as well as VFX.As soon as he gets a script, Basnet sits down with team leaders and breaks the story down into different types of work, resources and expertise required. He is responsible for meeting the client’s expectations.Says Basnet, “The creative satisfaction we get here is amazing. All the work is credited, we get a sense of belonging and everyone is eager to learn.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936939c7e80680e03fdeajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720">

Animated in Nepal

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

Being Prabal Gurung by design

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.

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