KIMFF begins; watch free movies at home

Kathmandu: The 18th edition of Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) has started.

All the films of the festival, which started on Thursday, can be watched free from home. Films screened at the festival will be available on KIMFF’s website. According to KIMFF, the film will be screened at the festival for five days and the viewers can enjoy all the movies free of cost.

30 films will be screened on this year’s KIMF for five days starting from today. Of these, 18 films from 15 countries have been selected for screening. According to the organizers, 12 more films including story and documentary will be screened for Nepal Panora.

During the festival, a program of ‘virtual’ interactions and seminars with filmmakers and speakers will also be conducted.

The three-member jury of the festival includes American documentary filmmaker Julie Bridgham, Swiss journalist and filmmaker Lisa Rusli and Nepali writer Nayan Raj Pandey. The first, second and third place films in the international segment grossed Rs 200,000, Rs 150,000 and Rs. 100,000 cash prizes.

The cash prize has been sponsored by Nepal Mountaineering Association, Himalayan International Mountain Film of China (HIMF) and Swiss businessmen Ursala and Freddie Holland respectively.

By the time the 18th edition arrives, KIMFF’s message is ‘Tamasoma Jyotirgamay’ and in English, ‘Against Despair, Toward Hope’.

Each edition of KIMFF features selected films from around the world. At the same time, there are seminars and other debates among Nepali young filmmakers about documentary and fiction films. Following the screening of special documentaries on World Epidemic Covid-19 and lockdown this year under the 18th edition, it will be discussed among experts virtually.