KATHMANDU, May 27: When traditional Nepali mainstream films are said to have catered to the maximum number of audiences in Nepal, indigenous films and documentaries have their own niche market in which they are happy and are doing fine – thank you very much! Though the filmmakers and producers of such films based on the lifestyles of indigenous groups of the country are not as popular as those who make commercial movies, they however have not given up making more of such films. And according to Indigenous Film Archive (IFA), most of these movies are successful in recouping the costs of production. [break]
With that, one more Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival is all set to raise its curtains and showcase some five dozens short films and documentaries during the three-day festival that begins tomorrow at the City Hall of Kathmandu.
Behind the idea of Indigenous Film Archive (IFA)
It was in 2006 when filmmaker Nabin Subba incepted IFA for promoting indigenous films and to provide opportunities to young filmmakers to prove themselves in making such films that would help preserve the respective cultures, traditions and ethnicities of the different Indigenous Nationalities of Nepal. Before 2006, indigenous films remained behind curtains. There were no platforms that could provide such movies a deserving space. Nabin Subba joined hands with some bureaucrats, filmmakers and journalists to open an archive and started organizing the Indigenous Film Festival annually from 2007.
“We wanted to host such an event that could build bridges between indigenous films, the media and government. This festival was the only way that came into our minds to make things possible,” says Subba.
After the first Indigenous Film Festival was well received in 2007, IFA decided to add more ensembles in its approach. It brought together some twenty-five young filmmakers and gave them trainings on script writing and direction. Soon, many started noticing the festival and started admiring Nepali indigenous films.
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“I saw my dream coming true when journalists came to me to enquire about ethnic films. Until then, indigenous films had remained in the shades,” adds Subba.
Different genre and different mechanism
As per IFA reports, producers and directors of indigenous films are doing fine in the cine market of Nepal. In addition, award-winning filmmakers have started becoming busy overnight. More and more from the young generation are inclined to this genre of filmmaking.
Subba claims that indigenous films have different mechanism and it has its own market values. They are different from the “so called commercial films” and yet they have been successful in commercializing themselves both in Nepal and abroad.
“These films are not made with commercial purposes. Yes, a producer certainly wants his money back after investing handsomely in films. But side by side, both producers and directors of ethnic films make sure that they preserve something or the other of the cultures and traditions they make films on,” explains the founder of IFA and elaborates, “Take for example, Limbu and Tamang teenagers who felt awkward carrying off their ethnic attires some years ago. But with growing films on Limbus and Tamangs, many have started preserving their cultural clothes and now value them proudly.”
Differences between big-banner movies and indigenous films
Subba highlights that these films are more dependent on Nepali diasporas and charity shows and screenings. Though they don’t have star-studded premieres and nationwide screening at cinema halls of the country, they are able to recoup the investment and have huge audience following amongst the ethnic groups. CDs and DVDs of celluloid films come some five years after their release whereas DVDs of indigenous films are available in the market immediately or after twenty days of their release.
Enunciates Subba, “Our audiences and market are totally different from the so-called commercial market of big-screen Nepali films. I disagree with producers and directors calling Nepali films commercial cinemas. Some 60 celluloid films are produced every year in Nepal and hardly two of them become commercially successful. So how can they term the rest as commercial films?”
He adds, “One many not believe this but in most villages, people don’t dance to the numbers of Nepali films, nor do they listen to Bollywood songs. They have their own cultural practices; they sing their own songs and communicate in their own languages. That means we’re doing the right thing to preserve our rich cultural entities. We’re trying to break the traditional mechanism. Give me the name of one such Nepali film that has helped strengthening national integrity.”
IFA-attached cineastes don’t wish to compete with the popularity of other Nepali films. They would rather not want to be tagged along because they want to set their own identity in the Nepali film market.
Relations with Film Development Board (FDB) and government
After two years of successful screening of indigenous films, FDB, which is under the control and purview of the Ministry of Information and Communication, has now become flexible to indigenous films and it is planning to form an indigenous department at the Board. Besides, the Board will categorize such films differently and is planning to make sure that the Censor Board will remain flexible to them.
This year’s festival highlights
The festival will showcase 32 Nepali films, 34 international short films and documentaries. A group of filmmakers from Canada will exhibit their oeuvres and will select a few Nepali films to be screened at the Imagine Native Film Festival in Canada.
According to Dipendra Lama, IFA Secretary, a group from Bolivia will screen a special film made on how Bolivians succeeded in forming their Constituent Assembly. They are keen on screening this movie for the lawmakers of Nepal’s own Constituent Assembly. Lama highlights that this year’s festival has better films to screen in terms of scripts and visualization.
This festival will also raise voices for the rights of Nepal’s endemic peoples to be enshrined in the new Constitution of Nepal, says Subba, and discloses that the IFA’s Capital Fund for Filmmakers will promote, through grants, more young filmmakers to produce movies on cultural practices and ethnic heritages.
The first three award winners at IFA 2009 will receive a gold, silver and a bronze drum respectively.
Major attractions: Women auteur to the fore
Along with other indigenous films being screened during the festival, this year’s major attraction is the thirteen films directed by women from their respective indigenous groups. Being participants at the workshop on filmmaking conducted by IFA in June last year, the thirteen directors have captured the lifestyles and cultures of their various indigenous communities into their frames and have executed their creativity on those unique features.
Renu Chaudhary, Sanu Maya Rana, Sunita Rajbhandari, Toma Lama, Bindhu Majhi, Laxmi Sunuwar, Lila Rai, Loonibha Tuladhar, Shova Chepang, Ratna Gurung, Renu Kshetry, Prati Maya Pun, and Srijana Limbu are all geared up to prove that they are no less competent when it is about filmmaking on related issues.
Their films like “Lavaki Kaniya,” “Bhuiyar Puja,” “12 Days,” “River,” “Samali,” “Thak Thakma,” and “The Chiuree” will unveil the lifestyles and cultural practices of the Magar, Newar, Tharu, Chepang, and Gurung nations of Nepal.
