The 14th Kathmandu International Film Festival (KIMFF) kicked off at the QFX Kumari Hall, in the Capital, on Thursday, December 8. The fest was inaugurated by Minister of Information and Communications Ram Karki.

The five-day fest will feature over 80 films—documentaries, fiction, short films and animations—from more than 28 countries.

The opening day of the fest was highlighted by the Nepal premiere of the much-awaited feature White Sun (Seto Surya). Directed by Deepak Rauniyar, the film, which has been winning accolades internationally, notably winning the Best Film Awards in the Singapore Film Festival earlier this week, tells the story of a Nepali society in the wake of the ten-year long Maoist insurgency.

The story begins at a rural Nepali village, where an elderly man has just deceased. Learning about his father’s death, Chandra (Dayahang Rai) returns to the village. Chandra is an ex-Maoist guerilla, while his brother Suraj (Rabindra Singh Baniya), we learn, fought the war from the side of the State. The shadow of the war lingers on in the family, and the conflict of opinions between the two brothers forms the centerpiece of the film. In doing so, White Sun examines the ethos of a post-war society caught at odds between two opposing forces—tradition and progress.

Following the screening, the White Sun ensemble engaged in a discussion with the audience. Speaking at the event, director Rauniyar shared, “I tried to make a film not about the war, but a hopeful one that would be based in the present, that is the post-war Nepal, to capture the ethos of present times.”

He added, “Our intention was to not be dragged down by the dark war, but to evoke some silver lines that the present times boast.”

White Sun hits theatres around the country from Friday.

The opening day of the fest also saw the screening of films such as The High Road (which documents a non-stop bike ride across the Himalayas); Planet Ice—The Himalayas, The Abode of Snow (which sheds light on the issue of global warming); Rise and Fall; and Trembling Mountain (which brings to screen the story of a community’s resettlement after being decimated by the earthquakes), among others.

To be screened at the second of the fest are films such as Aram Sei (In Fairness); Simal Ko Bhuwa Jastai; The Song Collector; Daughters of the Curved Moon; and The Doll’s Funeral, among many more.

The fest will conclude on December 12.