Kathmandu, March 19: The eighth edition of the Nepal International Film Festival (NIF) is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu from Chaitra 7-11 (March 20-24). Organized by the Nepal Film and Cultural Foundation, 87 films from 40 countries have been selected, informed festival chairman KP Pathak.
Chairman Pathak said that the eighth edition, organized under the slogan ‘A Celebration of Stories from Around the World, Nepal International Film Festival’, will include film screenings, workshops, interactions and other programs.
He said, “We have prepared in a way to make this series grander than the previous ones. We have selected films from the ones we received to attract movie-loving audiences. We are confident that this will become a medium for filmmakers from all over the world to meet, discuss and exchange films.”
He informed that ‘Russian Film Day’ will be organized on the third day of the festival, Saturday. Three Russian films will be screened on that day. The festival has been classified into two categories, national and international. Awards will be distributed in both the ‘feature’ and short films as well as documentary categories. ‘Crawling Crows’ directed by John Yonjan, ‘Pujaar Sarki’ directed by Dinesh Raut, ‘Sano Sansar’ directed by Siddharth Pudasaini and ‘Sati Devi’ directed by Laxman Subedi have been selected in the ‘National Panorama’, which will be a competition for Nepali feature films.
The Nepali documentary competition category includes Subina Shrestha’s ‘Devi’, Rajila Shrestha’s ‘Chhesang’, Gaurav Iyer’s ‘Mukti’, Tashi Lajom’s ‘No Monastery No Village’, Deepa Shrestha’s ‘Udne Sapana’ and Love Pyakurel’s ‘Girls Rewriting Destiny’. From this edition, a competition for films made using AI technology or related topics has also been added, informed festival director Pathak.
The category, named ‘AI Films’, includes China’s ‘Every Hesitation of Yours Can Destroy the World’, Argentina’s ‘The Abyss’, France’s ‘Gold Casting’, Peru’s ‘The Dream, the Fog and the Rain’, and America’s ‘Mob Part 1’.
The best film in the international competition at the festival will be awarded the ‘Gautam Buddha Award’ along with a cash prize of US$1,500. In addition, one film from the national and international film categories will be awarded the ‘Don Ki Hote’ award by the ‘International Federation of Cinematographers’.
Under the Nepali competition, the best film will be awarded 100,000 rupees and a trophy, while the best short film and the best documentary will be awarded 50,000/50,000 rupees and a trophy. The best international documentary will be awarded the ‘Mount Everest Award’ worth $1,000 and the best international short film will be awarded the ‘Bagmati Award’ worth 500 US dollar. The ‘Manjushree Award’ worth 500 US dollar will be given to the film using AI technology, according to the organizers.
