Kathmandu, May 11
Six films have been chosen for this year’s “Short Film Development Lab.” The lab, launched in collaboration with the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), has selected Kakh, Umbrella Over the Lamb, Where I Stand, For Guest Only, Parijat, and Ulto Aakash.
The lab will now provide mentorship and a pitching platform to the selected films. It has been designed for both emerging directors and producers. Selected participants will receive mentorship from both national and international filmmakers. The platform is expected to help filmmakers gain knowledge on writing short fiction films, development, distribution strategies, and access to international platforms.
“Participants in the lab will present their projects at the industry pitch session during the KIMFF festival,” said Prabin Kumar Rawat, founder of the Film Lab. According to him, winners will be announced on the final day of KIMFF. The top three projects will receive production grants of NPR 300,000, 200,000, and 100,000 respectively, along with three in-kind investment awards that include support for camera, post-production, lighting, and grip for film production.
A total of 32 films had applied for the lab. Filmmakers from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia had also shown interest in participating. According to another founder, Sushant Shrestha, 15 films were initially shortlisted from the applications, from which a selection committee chose the top 10. The final six were selected through interviews.
The five-day lab will be held from May 21 to 25. The winners will be announced on May 31.
The mentors for the lab include Tanvir Hossain from Bangladesh and James Bang from South Korea. From Nepal, the mentors are filmmaker Keshav Pandey, director Sujit Bidari, and film editor Nimesh Shrestha. Ajay Rai from the UK is also among the mentors.
