Eleventh edition of the Nepal European Union Film Festival (NEUFF)
Kathmandu, 14th Oct: This year again, the EU Delegation in Nepal brings to the Nepali audience 13 European films and three Nepali films for its 11th edition of Nepal European Union (NEUFF) film festival. The NEUFF will run at the Nepal Film Development Board from 28th Oct to 1st November, before travelling to Surkhet where six European and two Nepali films will be screened at the Mid-West University in Surkhet from 5th to 8th November.
The good news for our new and old audience (6000 online viewers last year) is that this time the festival will be hybrid --- both physical and online. The online festival will start with the physical festival on 28th October and remain open for our viewers until 28th November. The online festival will have eight films along with the Nepali film – Gurkha Girl.
“We are very excited to be able to go back to the theatre again after a gap of two years and bring to you 13 top films from Europe along with three from Nepal. Cinemas remain at the forefront of cultural and intellectual life and are an effective means of promoting cultural exchanges and enhancing our level of understanding on how we perceive issues affecting our lives,” said Joëlle HIVONNET, Chargée d' affaires, of the European Union in Nepal.
Out of the 13 European films, three of them – ‘Gods of Molenbeek’ directed by Reetta Huhtanen, ‘Lola’ directed by Laurent Micheli & Oskar and Lilly directed by Arash T. Riahi have Nepali subtitles.
One of our festival highlights is the film "Butterfly on Window Pane" (Aaina Jhyalko Putali), a Nepali feature film that has won accolades in the Nepali film theatres recently.
Actress Keki Adhikari, is our Brand Ambassador for the festival.
Two short films: ‘Yet Another Winter’ directed by Kiran Shrestha and ‘Gurkha Girls’ directed by Bishal Rokka Magar have enriched the Nepali list of films.
The opening film ‘Gods of Molenbeek’ is a documentary directed by Reeta Huhtanen, which revolves round the interaction and imagination of two six-year old boys in the Molenbeek district of Brussels. This is where they listen to spiders, discover black holes and quarrel over who gets to command the flying carpet that is to take them to the lands of their ancestors. They live in the same building, yet come from different worlds.
Together they search for answers to the big questions. Aatos wants a god of his own, as Amine already has Allah but the question is complicated by his friend Flo’s belief that people who believe in God have gone crazy.
The threat of the adults world suddenly interrupts the children’s play as terrorist bombs explode in a metro station nearby. The streets are filled with tanks, armed soldiers and policemen. Bedtime stories now evoke images of violence and even friendship is put on trial until an expected twist reshapes their lives for good.
Besides the main festival, three online side events on different aspects of film-making are being organised. The first side event to be organised on 29 October at 2:00 pm local time is a discussion on how archive materials can be used while making a film. Guy Borlee, an European expert and Ulasha Gurung, expert from Nepal on the subject will be conducting the side event.
The second side event is an interaction on the topic ‘’How films can contribute to protect the environment to be conducted by Hugo Metz and Roshani Adhikari on 30 Oct at 2:00 pm local time.
Likewise, the third side event is a discussion on Production conditions in Europe and possibility of cooperation between European and Nepalese film professionals facilitated by Theresa Hoefert de Turegano and Anil Paudel on 1st Nov at 2:00 pm.
In Surkhet a masterclass will be conducted by filmmaker Sujit Bidari for filmmakers and film students from Karnali Province. This will be organized on 8th November.
Both the physical and online festivals are free of charge and the online festival can be accessed at: https://www.festivalscope.com/page/european-film-festival-nepal-2022/ The site will be active from 28 October until 28 November. New viewers need to create an account using his/her email address. After creating the account, the viewers can sign in to the site and watch any or all films.
For full details of the festival: Delegation website link
For Further Queries:
Ambar Mainali
Press & Information Officer
Delegation of the European Union to Nepal
Neel Saraswoti Marg, Lazimpat (P.O. Box 6754)
Tel. +977 1 4429445-6
E-mail: Ambar.Mainali@eeas.europa.eu
Mobile: 9802012019
https://www.facebook.com/EUinNepal