On Thursday, KIMFF (Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival) 2022 officially opened its doors to the audience.

The twentieth edition of the festival started with the introduction of the jury members—Jinna Lee, Kiran Bhakta Joshi, and Micheal Pause. While Lee—a programmer at Korea’s Ulju Mountain Film Festival (UMFF)—and Pause—the artistic director of Germany’s Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival—are international jury members, Joshi, an animation veteran and filmmaker, is a familiar name for those from the Nepali film circle. The three-member jury will choose the top films for the International competition and the best documentary and fiction film in the Nepal Panorama category.

The keynote speaker of the festival’s first-day was Prakash Jha, filmmaker and actor of popular Indian films like Rajneeti and Satyagraha. Jha and director M Gani, who recently directed ‘Matto Ki Saikil’, also had a Q&A session with the audience.

While the film ‘Bagh Ko Bangara’ was screened as the festival’s opening film, the event’s special screening was Jha and M Gani’s film ‘Matto Ki Saikil’.

The opening ceremony of the festival took place in Rashtriya Sabha Griha. During the five-day festival, 60 films from 30 countries will be simultaneously screened at Rashtriya Sabha Griha (Hall A) and Nepal Tourism Board (Hall B).