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Kathmandu Saturday December 02, 2000 Mangshir 17, 2057.
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Int'l film fest 2000 kicks off in capital
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 1 - The four-day long
Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival 2000 was premiered amid a function here
today.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala,
inaugurating the function at the Russian Culture Center, said that the festival will prove
a good platform to discuss ideas related to highland people, their cultures and their
environments.
Some 49 films, documentaries and features
from 20 countries are to be screened during the festival. Also on display are the photos
taken by five Himalayan photographers, including the Indian Envoy to Nepal Deb Mukharji.
Chicken Shit & Ash - A Visit to
Paradise
What happens when two typical Tamang
villagers from Dolakha land-up in a foreign land?
Cultural shock, yes. But, what director Karl
Prossiliner has succeeded in depicting is the subtle humour of simplicity both the
villagers portray on being transported to modern Vienna, Austria.
Bir Bahadur and Jeet Bahadur, two real Tamang
men, have acted to the hilt the two reel life Tamangs.
The duo’s visit to a supermarket, a
slaughter-house, an oldage home and a church are nothing less than Chaplinesque. However,
Gabriele Tautscher’s anthropologist’s eye shows the first half of the movie,
against it’s title, little too much of Nepal, though it might be captivating to the
Western audiences.
The end, with Bir Bahadur in the middle of a
busy Vienna street saying: "This is development" makes one to think -- despite
the old beliefs "god created man by mixing chicken shit and ash", held by
typical Nepalese -- they can shed their timewrap and adapt to the Western culture.
In toto, the movie is simply great, worth
queuing again for a re-show on December 4 (3:50 p.m.).
The Fish of Gods
This docudrama on the river people -- the
Rajis, the nomadic tribe in Western Nepal, is more engrossing to those who are impressed
with the rich culture and beliefs held by the fairly unknown and disappearing communities
in Nepal.
The story revolves around Fakir Bahadur, the
chief of the Raji village of Ghatgaon, teaching his son go up the Karnali river in search
of the golden maseer, the fish of gods. In the process, French director Jean Queryrat, has
succeeded in highlighting the culture as well as the fishing methods naturally adopted by
the fishing tribe.
However, after seeing the movie, some
sceptical audience tend to ask: Where have the rapids of Karnali gone? The Rajis --
believed to be master of the flow of the rivers -- seems to have shunned it?
Yeti, the Call of the Snowman
The legendary "Yeti" has cast its
magic spell again. This movie was well received especially by the locals, today.
The cinematography is great. The Langtang
Valley has proved a haven not only for trekker and photographers, but for the movie makers
too. The film leaves a clear message: The one responsible for the death of natural
species, as the Dodo of Mauritius, if not the Yeti, is no other but man himself.
The story, more like a children’s movie, keeps the
audience wondering with the belief that the monstrous Yeti, we have mostly heard of, may
actually be wandering along the high mountains. But this time, this gentle giant has a
very good heart.
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