Making documentaries for select audiences: Interview with Nepali filmmaker Rajan Khatet

To have a documentary broadcast on Nepali TV, filmmakers often need to buy airtime

Originally published on Global Voices

While Nepali fiction cinema represents a vibrant industry, the documentary film scene remains small and little known in the Himalayan nation. One of the very few festivals featuring such movies is the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (Kimff) that showcases films and documentaries with a strong focus on mountainous life and adventures, but also climate change and the life of rural communities. The 2024 edition showed over 20 movies from a dozen countries. 

But how is the life of documentary filmmakers outside of this once-a-year event? To hear about the challenges and joys of such a rare profession in Nepal, Global Voices spoke to Rajan Kathet, a filmmaker based in Kathmandu working in both fiction and documentary films. Kathet is an alumnus of various film programs, including the European Masters DOCNOMADS, Berlinale Talents and the Global Media Makers.

The interviewed was conducted over email after an in-person conversation in Kathmandu.

Filip Noubel (FN): What are the main challenges for being a documentary film-maker in Nepal? 

Rajan Kathet (RK): The primary challenges for documentary filmmakers in Nepal are funding and market access. The overwhelming majority of films produced in Nepal are fiction, with nearly all financiers, distributors, and producers focused solely on this genre. State support is virtually nonexistent, and there are almost no venues to screen documentaries domestically, pushing filmmakers to seek opportunities abroad. While charity screenings or limited runs in theaters do occur, they rarely ensure financial returns and often serve more as symbolic gestures than viable income sources. Nepali television channels do not typically purchase documentaries, unlike their counterparts abroad. To have a documentary broadcast on Nepali TV, filmmakers often need to buy airtime or find commercial sponsors to cover the costs. Consequently, initiating and completing a documentary in Nepal is a formidable task, often requiring collaboration with international producers to access grants from Europe or America.

FN: What places and festivals in Asia allow you to showcase movies and meet peers?

RK: For the past two decades, South Korea has been a prime destination for Nepali filmmakers seeking grant support and prestigious premieres, whether Asian or World. The Busan International Film Festival stands out as a top priority, especially for fiction filmmakers, due to its rich array of market forums and workshops aimed at nurturing Asian talent. In recent years, however, Nepali filmmakers have expanded their reach to other Asian festivals in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Singapore, and beyond. My first feature documentary, “No Winter Holidays”, received financial support from DMZ Docs in South Korea, where it also had its Asian premiere. The film enjoyed a successful run across major Indian festivals like Dharamshala IFF, MIFF Mumbai, Kolkata IFF, and Kolkata People's Film Festival, and was recently showcased at the Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival  (TIDF) and the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Armenia.

The movie won the Best Documentary Award at the December 2023 Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival. Here is the trailer of the documentary that portrays two Nepali rural widow women in charge of a remote village who face traditional discrimination based on their gender, caste and social status:

For more on TIDF, read: Taiwan International Documentary Festival honors Myanmar filmmakers

FN: You have also collaborated with a Taiwanese team for a documentary movie. How was this experience? 

RK: After the COVID-19 pandemic, I coordinated the Nepal production of the Taiwanese feature documentary ‘After the Snowmelt’ ( 雪水消融的季節), directed by Lo Yishan (羅苡珊). This personal documentary follows Yishan as she retraces the final journey of her friend, who tragically lost her life in a weather-related incident in Nepal. Due to travel restrictions, the director and her team could only manage the second of the two scheduled filming trips to Nepal. For the first schedule, immediately after the pandemic, my team at Salpa Films and I handled all the filming. During the second schedule, I primarily assisted Yishan's team with logistics, permits, and other essential support. The film premiered at Visions du Réel festival in April 2024 and is now traveling around the film festivals.

Here is the trailer for Lo Yishan's movie:

FN: What are your current projects and how do you see your career evolving?

RK: I'm currently involved in several projects. I'm writing a short fiction film working-titled ‘Oxygen’, which explores the father-son relationship in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, I'm researching and developing a feature documentary focused on caste-based social discrimination in Nepal, a project that was presented at the Doc Station of Berlinale Talents and Docedge Kolkata earlier this year. I'm also working on a concept for a TV documentary in collaboration with an Indian filmmaker, whom I supported as a Nepal producer for his TV docu-series ‘A Himalayan Endgame’, which is now in post-production.

In the past, sustaining a career in filmmaking has been challenging, but in recent years, I've found a more stable path. Connecting with international filmmakers has led to various collaborations, which have helped me secure work and, in turn, allowed me to develop my projects with less financial strain. In the next few years, I see myself distributing my second feature-length documentary while seeking funding for my feature fiction film.

RK: ‘No Winter Holidays’ (Dhorpatan in Nepali) was first screened in Nepal at the Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival 2023, where it won the Best Film of the Festival award. Following the festival, as the film gained international recognition through a successful festival run and numerous awards, we decided to host a theatrical screening in Kathmandu. Originally planned for one week, with one screening per day at a single theater, the response exceeded our expectations. Thanks to strong audience support and media coverage, the screening extended to a full month—an impressive feat for documentaries in Nepal, where audiences are not accustomed to watching documentaries outside a handful of film festivals. Most documentaries in Nepal tend to be corporate, INGO, or awareness-raising films, so our film offered a refreshing change. Despite minimal promotional efforts, strong word of mouth and positive media reviews helped sustain the screenings for an entire month.

RK: While many films have been made about rural areas in Nepal, the country’s geography extends far beyond the regions typically portrayed in media and cinema. Most films depicting rural life tend to focus on areas that are easily accessible from Kathmandu, or popular tourist destinations. However, there are remote corners of Nepal where the state, media, and filmmakers have largely failed to reach. As a result, the depiction of rural life in Nepali films has become a narrow caricature, often repeating what pioneering filmmakers initially established, without exploring the true diversity, nuances and complexity of these regions.

Written by Filip Noubel