Nepali businessmen to invest on 3-D documentary

KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Leading business persons in Nepal are to invest as much as $4.5 million in a mega project of making a documentary entitled ´Return to Everest´, which they believe will greatly support Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 campaign.



An investor informed myrepublica.com that representatives of California-based company that will be the main investor in the project have arrived in Nepal. Nepalese investors coordinated by noted banker Prithvi Bahadur Pande are having a series of preparatory meeting to make IMAX 3D documentary film at the cost of around $10 million. [break]



Along with Pande, leading stock trader Nirmal Pradhan and proprietors of Jay Nepal Cinema have teamed up to invest on IMAX documentary film, which is expected to play a remarkable role in promoting Nepal in international arena, according to Yogendra Shakya, coordinator of NTY 2011 campaign.



The production team will be led by world famous producer/director Macgillivary Freeman, who had earlier made documentary film ´Everest´ that became the highest grossing documentary of all time in 1998.



“That film portrayed good image of Nepal and the number of quality tourists increased due to the positive impacts of that film,” Shakya said, adding, “This documentary (´Return of Everest´) will also give leverage to Nepal´s brand tourism promotion.”







The documentary will be focus on climate change, global warming, high altitude sickness and lifestyle of Sherpa community.



According to Sabra Pande, project developer on Nepalese investment in the film, the Nepali investors will soon form a consortium to jointly invest in the project. There has been understanding among the major stakeholders of the project that 5 to 7 percent of the profit will be spent of charitable activities in Nepal.



About 100 hours of shooting has been already been completed in the vicinity of Mount Everest and it is expected that the remaining shooting and post-production works will be completed within the next two years, said Pande. The shooting began in 2007.



Nepal has lately adopted a policy of promoting cinema tourism for the tourism promotion, targeting the upcoming NTY 2011, according to Sharad Pradhan, a tourism expert at Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). “This kind of concept will promote Nepal among foreigners,” he added.

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