KATHMANDU, Dec 7: When you arrive at the City Hall (Rastriya Sabha Griha), you will notice small blue, yellow and red flags adorned on the walls and also on the main building. Besides the big maroon hoarding board, various stalls are also showcased inside the City Hall premises. The decorations give it looks of a grand carnival.

This is how the glimpses of the 16th Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (Kimff) look. Everything looked grander since Kimff was back to its old venue after a time gap of four years. Apart from the venue, the film festival emerged with a tagline ‘Women Move Mountain’. The tagline made it very clear that this edition of the movie festival was focused on the participation of women in filmmaking and film appreciation.

Since this edition of the film festival is truly dedicated to all dauntless women, the festival would be incomplete without the presence of such personalities. Hence, the festival was inaugurated in the presence of well-known figures like singer Ani Choying Drolma, Laxmi Sharma—first Nepali female tempo driver, Sarita Mishra—first female tabla player, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa—first female International Mountain Guide and BAFTA-nominated director Jennifer Peedom from Australia. The guests held the white banner with the slogan ‘Women Move Mountains’.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Ani Choying Drolma mentioned pleasure in being a part of the festival. She stated that she is a movie lover too. “I had the opportunity to explore various languages, landscapes, emotions and lifestyles in the movies. The experience was like a bag of emotions; happy, angry and sad, they were all there,” Drolma said. “Thank you for making me a part of the festival.   Also, thank you for acknowledging women’s contributions and potential and giving a female-empowering theme to the program,” she further added.

Following the opening ceremony, the festival commenced with the opening screening of ‘Mountain’ directed by Aussie female director Jennifer Peedom. The 74-minute-long documentary takes the audience through a breathtaking journey—exploring the passion of human towards mountains.  It also endorses a unique cinematography depicting mountains and others adventure activities. This is beyond the audiences’ imaginations. The narration of Willem Dafoe in deep voice and musical collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra was also commendable.  Consequently, it received a positive and warm response from the jam-packed audience with applauds and whistles. 

Likewise,  the festival also premiered others short films including ‘RJ Ripper’, ‘Dolpa Diary’, ‘Moksha’, ‘Small Carnivores in Eastern Nepal’ and five feature films in the opening day, Friday.  

‘RJ Ripper’ portrayed Rajesh Magar’s obsession with bicycles. Magar is one of Asia’s fastest mountain bikers. Similarly, ‘Dolpa Diary’ depicted the solo treks of an aspirant woman, Prasuna Dongol, across upper Dolpo. ‘Moksha’ tells the story of three Nepali women Roja, Usha and Nishma breaking the gender stereotype through mountain bikes.  

Besides premiering feature films, the festival is also conducting filmmaking master-class by Australian and Nepali documentary filmmakers including Jennifer Peedom and Kesang Tseten, and the Kimff Doc Lab Live Pitch. Workshops and panel discussions on various subjects were also held.   Likewise, it is also hosting photography and VR exhibitions like ‘Blood Speaks: A Ritual of Exile’ by Poulomi Bau, ‘I’m Pure’ by Uma Bista, and ‘Women on Top-First Nepali Women Journalists’ Everest Expedition’.