Five Nepali women filmmakers (Aashruti Tripathy, Pinki Sris Rana, Prashansha KC, Prasuna Dongol, and Smriti Basnet) are set to attend Sheffield DocFest, UK’s leading documentary film festival and one of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects, on June 23. The filmmakers will be looking to find potential investors for their projects and also network with filmmakers and stakeholders from across the globe.

Under the initiation of British Council’s Gender Film Programme and led by Taskovski Films, UK, in collaboration with Nepal Female Filmmakers, Pame Film and Music Festival, and Film Development Board Nepal, the five filmmakers were also given intensive workshops through Taskovski Film docs connect training.

“Our previous programme related to filmmaking gave out grants to women filmmakers to make films. But with this programme, which is the first of its kind for us, our aim is to create long-term impacts. With this programme, we want to let new emerging talents get access to international platforms and find their way through,” says Nischal Oli, Head of Arts at British Council Nepal.

The whole programme was coordinated by Prasuna Dongol and Smriti Basnet, two of the five women filmmakers participating in the documentary film festival.

“This collaboration with the British Council is a further step towards building a stronger documentary filmmaking base in Nepal. And it is especially important for women to be given the opportunity to voice their different perspectives and bring balance to this industry,” says Irena Taskovski, founder of Taskovski Films, UK.

The Sheffield Docfest will take place from June 23 to June 28 2022.