KATHMANDU

The Delegation of the European Union to Nepal is all set to present the Nepal European Union Virtual Film Festival 2021 (NEUFF 2021) on the virtual streaming platform Festival Scope. This is the 10 th edition of NEUFF that features 15 award-winning titles plus 24 other films from 14 European countries to the Nepali audience from September 17 to 25.

A press statement by the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal quoted Stephane Maicon, Charge d’ Affairs at the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal saying, “Despite the hardships that have come with the pandemic leading cultural activities to come to a standstill, we keep promoting cultural exchanges and fusion between Nepal and the European Union through the online screening of some of the best European and Nepali films.”

The festival proposes 11 European award winning titles, two of which will be subtitled into Nepali, and three award winning long Nepali feature :‘Bulbul’ directed by Binod Poudel, ‘Aama Khando’ directed by Dhondup Tsering and ‘Sarita’ directed by Sergio Basso.  Similarly, the environmental film from India, ‘I Cannot Give You My Forest’ directed by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl received the National Film Award for best agriculture film.

Two short films: ‘Co-Husbands’ directed by Ganesh Paanday and ‘Split Ends’ directed by Rajan Kathet have enriched the Nepali list of films.

The European film ‘ACASA MY HOME’, Radu Ciornicicu’s first documentary screened at the ‘World Cinema Documentary Competition’ ‘Sundance Film Festival’ challenges the perceptions regarding home, family and happiness. Nepali subtitles make the film friendlier and recreational as per the statement.

One other European film ‘Her Job’ also has Nepali subtitles. The film revolves around the story of an oppressed woman who discovers a new sense of self when she gets her first job as a cleaner in a shopping mall.

Her Job is Labôt’s debut feature film which world premiered in the Discovery section of the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival. Other movies will propose English subtitles.

In addition to this main selection, the highlight of this year’s festival is that there are 23 films on wildlife conservation, environment and climate change. All of them seek to raise awareness on the importance of the environment, the challenges due to climate change and more. Besides the main festival, three side events on different aspects of film-making are being organized.

This year’s edition of the festival has one more activity, which seeks to recognize the talents of professional filmmakers through a short film competition on the topic ‘Gender Equality. A total of 15 films have been received for this competition as per the statement.

The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of Euro 500. The person will be invited to share experiences on the closing day of the festival and the winning film will be part of the main festival. The full details of the films can be accessed at: https://bit.ly/3h29c5h.