Kia ora ano
SOPHIE'S BLOG 3: KATHMANDU: It is 10.30 at night over here in Nepal, and Lei and I have just come back from a lovely meal at this cool little restaurant that was hosted by the Kathmandu Metropolitan Mayor. Neat alright!
Plans changed this morning when the festival director called and asked me to come along to a workshop that featured Jason Ryle, the executive director of ImagineNative film and media arts festival (the largest indigenous film festival in the world, based in Toronto). I caught a cab there with my new friends from Taiwan, Kit and Jia-Wei, and I was really glad I went because he had so much valuable information to share with us about their festival and what they look for when selecting films to screen there.
I was very lucky to be introduced to Jason, who is half-English and half-Native Canadian, and we will hopefully keep in contact. I plan to give him a copy of my documentary, because you never know your luck!
We had a bit of lunch and headed across the road to the City Hall for film screenings, which included a couple of Nepali films. It was really interesting to hear the reaction of the Nepali community - they seemed to really enjoy seeing themselves on the big screen and would often laugh in places where I couldn't quite understand the context. Nonetheless it was neat to share in their enjoyment.
I came back to the hotel and found Lei having a wee lie down after tiki touring around the temples all morning. We went out for lunch and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner! It feels like we are always eating over here!
We met up with Tanya and her whanau downstairs before going to dinner and had a nice little korero about our time in Nepal. It's really nice having others from NZ here to share this experience with, I only wish all of my family could be here too.
At dinner we met an Indian filmmaker, Minnie Vaid, whose film is screening tomorrow. She has a wealth of experience in film and television and has promised to come and visit Lei and I when she comes to NZ next year. I might be a bit cheeky and ask her to come to AUT to talk to us about her experiences as a journalist and filmmaker.
Tomorrow we are attending a workshop with Suvi West who will talk about her experiences and challenges as a Sami woman filmmaker. She is also one of the jury members for the festival, and she's such a lovely person.
There are plenty of screenings tomorrow afternoon that I look forward to watching having met many of the directors and producers in the last couple of days. All indigenous men and women from all over the world who are passionate about telling their stories in their way. Simply inspirational.
Until next time, see ya! (or as they say here, Namaskaar!).
Sophie
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