Dharan is hosting its first International Film Festival from January 11 to 15 at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Science auditorium. The festival organised by All Nepal Film Makers Association will feature 18 Nepali and 29 international movies in the course of five days.

Speaking at the press meet, Chairperson of the association, KP Pathak said, “Most of the festivals are organised in and limited to Kathmandu. We are organising this festival to promote Nepali movies outside the valley as well as to tone down the massive bolloywood influence in Dharan.” He added, “This event is not just centered for Dharan but for the whole region.”

In Nepali feature film category, the festival will feature movies like, Min Bahadur Bham’s Kalo Pothi, Manoj Pandit’s Chaya, and Himdhatt Tashi’s Bhimdatta among others.

 Bhojraj Bhat’s Sunakali, Ganesh Pandey’s Bhagyale Bhachekaharu will be showcased in the documentary category.

International films category consists of movies such as Indian film maker Samit Kakad’s Half ticket, Bangladeshi film maker Asharf Shishir’s Inner Sound, German film maker and Henric Pescel’s See-Oh-Se-Pol among many others.

The festival will include original and ingenous movies made after 2014 selected by three member selection committee consisting of Subash Gajurel, Alok Tiwari and Dabbu Chhetri.

According to Pathak the festival saw the submission of more than 200 movies from 26 different nations while only 47 movies from 16 countries were selected.

The jury members for the festival include Chinese director Chi Fi, French professor Dragan Milikovic, Bangladeshi documentary and TV journalist Tasmiha Afrin, and Laxminath Sharma and Rajesh Hamal from Nepal. The jury will announce the winner of the festival at the end of the five-day fest. 

In the International Film category, Best Feature Film will be awarded Gautam Buddha award with the cash purse worth  $1,000, Best Documentary will be awarded Mount Everest award with the purse of $500 and Best Short Film will be awarded Rara award with the purse of $300.

In National Film category, Best Feature Movie will be awarded Shrijanga award with the purse of Rs 50,000, Best Documentary will be awarded Ram Prasad award with Rs 30,000 while Best Short Film will be awarded Rs 20,000 along with Chaturman Rajbansi award.

The coordinator of the festival as well as movie director, Keshab Rayamajhi said that the festival will help attract more audience for Nepali movies as well as make movie awards transparent and neutral. He added, “As international movies will be shown along with the Nepali movies, audiences will enjoy a unique experience.” 

Movie director Dipak Shrestha as well as local coordinator of the fest said, “Dharan has received an opportunity to host this festival so we are trying our best to make it very systematic and grand.

We are hoping that this festival will be able to attract more audience to theatre and help Nepali movie industry to flourish.”