KIMFF
Finally, did manage to see two films during the ongoing Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival held at RCC, Kamal Pokharai from 9th to 12th Dec. Even though it was not planned, both of them happened to be a Nepali documentary produced in English with some foreign funding.

First on my list was ?Six Stories? by Mohan Mainali, the same guy who had directed ?Jogimara?.? which had raised some eyebrows during its screening few years back. I think because of that, lots of people had turned up for the screening. Surprisingly, I saw quite a number of foreigners as well which kept me wondering whether they were actually people residing in Kathmandu or those who had come up to show their films? But one of them was definitely a tourist who had come up with his sleeping bag too, in case the films were too boring, I guess.

The movie ?Six Stories? was about six different families who had lost their main bread earner in the crossfire and who had nothing to do with the conflict. The film lacked diverseness of the issue and was more like a monologue. Some of the scenes were quite disturbing but overall the film, in my opinion, didn?t live up to the expectation or may be the hype was too much. On a rating of 1 to 5 from my side it won?t get more than 3.

The second movie I could manage to watch was the opening movie of the festival named ?On the road with the Red god: Machhendranath? directed by Kesang Tseten. Being an outsider to Kathmandu Valley, I had no clue about the Rato Machhendranath Jatra held every 12 years. For me, it gave a whole new perspective about newar cultures and traditions. The film covered the entire Jatra from Bungamati to Patan and back to Bungamati through the eyes of Kesang. In between, the director was smart enough to include some humorous scenes as well. After the film, there was a long and big applause from the audience side which showed how much the viewers had liked the film directed by a non-Newar reflecting the Newari culture. It definitely deserves 4 out of 5.

Any more from your side?