While watching a film, how often do we think about the crew that works behind the screen, working as hard as, if not harder than the actors who we see on screen? While the actors dominate the media and public conversations, the crew members who work behind the camera never really come into the limelight. “Nepal Film Technicians’ Association (Nefta) is an organisation that works closely with film technicians who contribute towards the films but lack exposure,” says Puskar Lama, the incumbent chairperson of the organisation. Lama, who started off as a cook on movie sets, went on to star in a couple of teleserials and of late has been working as a production designer for several Kollywood movies. Spearheaded by Lama, Nefta recently organised the ninth iteration of Nefta Film Awards, in Dubai. The following is an excerpt from a conversation Lama had with the Post about Nefta and the film awards. '

What has Nefta been doing of late? 

Established in 2000, Nefta has over the years been engaged in enhancing and promoting film technicians who work behind the scenes. We have frequently organised trainings and workshop that promote the technicians’ skills and abilities and we plan to do so more often. Besides, we organise an award show annually, which felicitates cine artists who deserve to be honoured. 

Nefta organised this year’s award show in Dubai and has been organising award shows overseas for a few years. What drove the organisation to go overseas? 

Organising an award show overseas is not for cheap popularity, as many would believe. There are a couple of factors that propelled us to take the show abroad. First, and obvious, reason is to felicitate our technicians and give them exposure. Secondly, which we are considering very seriously in the last few years, we want to play the role of a catalyst in globalising the Nepali cine industry. It’s obvious, we are in dire need to improve upon the quality of our movies, but besides that, there are many cine enthusiasts abroad who are unaware of the existence of the Nepali film industry. And thirdly, we want to reach out to and honour and entertain Nepali film enthusiasts in different parts of the globe.

Has there been any recent development regarding your goal to globalise Kollywood? 

Last October, Concept Visions, one of the organisers of the Nefta awards show, signed a deal to screen Nepali movies regularly in various countries in the Middle-East. It’s definitely a significant move. We have worked closely with Concept Vision and have supported their drive to showcase Nepali movies abroad. With this year’s runaway hit Chhakka Panja being screened in Dubai for more than a month, we are excited that our labours are slowly but surely bearing fruit. 

How successful was the awards show in Dubai? 

The number of Nepali migrants working abroad that attended the event and the support showed left us exalted. That’s exactly what we had targeted—we wanted to honour their love and passion for Nepali cinema. There might have been some glitches in the overall organisation of the event, but that is negligible, considering the love cine enthusiasts showered upon us. And we consider this an achievement and an important stepping stone for the future. 

How do you see the Nepali film industry of late? 

Nepali cine industry has seen an upsurge of late. Those audiences who would frown at the mention of Nepali films have started visiting theatres to watch Nepali films. The trend was first started by Loot and then the credit goes largely to Chhakka Panja this year. The quality of Nepali films being produced has grown exponentially as well, with a number of films walking away with honours at international film festivals. It’s all exciting and a tremendous time to be producing films in the country. 

Are there any projects that Nefta has in the pipeline? 

Besides fighting for the rights of cine technicians and ensuring their professional and economic safety, we also aim to enhance their skills and introduce them to the latest technologies from around the globe. To that end, we are planning to conduct an extensive workshop for selected technicians, which we hope will take place in a few months’ time.