Kathmandu has joined the South Asian festival circuit. The inaugural Kathmandu Film Festival (KFF) opens on October 30 and runs through November 1, organised by Kathmandu Metropolitan City, with 40 films from 14 countries and a guest list that includes veteran actor Shabana Azmi and film critic and historian Marco Muller.
Why this festival matters
Kathmandu already holds the UNESCO Creative City of Film designation, and the new event is an attempt to give that status a public, year-one shape. The programme spans contemporary independent cinema, restored Nepali features, shorts, open-air screenings, masterclasses and a heritage walk.
Artistic director Ramyata Limbu described the international selection as “a curated showcase of global, contemporary and independent cinema that represents powerful stories, unique voices and distinct cultural perspectives.” The local shorts section, she said, is built around “diverse and compelling stories about Nepal by emerging local talent.”
For Hindi cinema audiences, the headline is not only Azmi’s presence. It is the programming logic: a city-led festival that treats film history as infrastructure, not an afterthought.
A programme built on memory
The retrospective of restored Nepali films from the 1970s and 1980s includes Kumari, credited as the country’s first colour feature. Alongside it, the festival spotlights Yamagata in Japan, another UNESCO Creative City of Film, tying the showcase to the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan.
- International Panorama: global contemporary titles, including La Gradiva (Cannes premiere) and No Good Men (Berlin premiere)
- Nepal Panorama Shorts: emerging local filmmakers
- Restored Nepali features: 1970s and 1980s work, including Kumari
- Yamagata spotlight: a Japan-focused shorts programme
What the city is saying
Acting mayor Sunita Dangol framed the festival as a response to the city’s layered identity and to recent floods. “Nepal has been through a profound tragedy with the floods, and in moments like these, stories become even more important,” she said. “They help us make sense of what we have experienced, connect with one another, heal and find the courage to move forward.”
That civic framing is the practical takeaway. The festival is free to attend, with advance booking required for some events, a structure that lowers barriers while managing capacity across venues including Basantapur, City Hall, the Nepal Tourism Board, Jai Nepal Cinema and Taragaon.
Awards will be presented in the youth video challenge and Nepal Panorama sections, and conversations with filmmakers run alongside the screenings.
Source: The Times of India
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