Nepali

When his father dies, anti-regime partisan Chandra must travel to his remote mountain village after nearly a decade away. Little Pooja is anxiously awaiting the man she thinks is her father, but she’s confused when Chandra arrives with Badri, a young street orphan rumored to be his son. Chandra must face his brother Suraj, who was on the opposing side during the Nepali civil war. The two brothers cannot put aside political feelings while carrying their father’s body down the steep mountain path to the river for cremation. Suraj storms off in a rage, leaving Chandra with no other men strong enough to help. Under pressure from the village elders, Chandra must seek help from outside the village to obey the rigid caste and discriminatory gender traditions he fought to eliminate during the war. Chandra searches for a solution in neighboring villages, among the police, guests at a local wedding, and rebel guerrillas…Read More »

The Himalayan region of Nepal is one of the most fragile environments in the world and is characterized by extreme uncertainty and great complexity. The adverse impacts of climate change are further worsening the situation of local system/societies by increasing their vulnerability. Through a visual representation of how some communities from Lo Mustang region of Nepal perceive climate change, this film explores their cultural models and their attempts at adaptation, both individual and collective.Read More »

Quote:
Breathtaking, poignant and mesmerizing, MANAKAMANA is a documentary shot entirely inside the narrow bubble of a cable car, high above a jungle in Nepal, as it transports villagers and tourists to an ancient mountaintop temple. Filmed in 16mm and comprised of 11 rides (each a single take corresponds to the length of a roll of film), MANAKAMANA is a tender, ephemeral character study of its passengers and a window onto the lush, rolling landscape of a country in transition from ancient tradition to modernity. This evocative and rigorously structured documentary presents a rich sensory experience that ignites the viewer’s imagination to fill in the past, present and future of each moment as they watch. The New York Film Festival calls it, “…an airborne version of an Andy Warhol screen test…an endlessly suggestive film that both describes and transcends the bounds of time and space.”Read More »

Synopsis:
A documentary which follows a group of siblings who eke out their existence from the offerings and other goods found in the sacred Bagmati River.Read More »