Short film movie enthusiasts in the Capital are in for a treat as the annual Ekadeshma International Short Film Festival is slated to open this weekend at the QFX Kumari Cinemas. The fest, which will feature 78 short films-21 from Nepal and 57 from overseas—will see films based on fiction, documentary and animation genres. The fest will also provide a platform for interactions with movie makers featured in the fest. 

The fourth iteration of the fest has been themed And Life Goes On—so as to commemorate the illustrious Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who passed away in July this year. The theme this year draws its title from one of Kiarostami’s films. 

The festival will kick off with the Nepal premiere of the flim Dahaaydha, directed jointly by Bibusan Basnet and Puja Gurung. The movie was screened recently at the Venice Film Festival, to a positive reception. Moreover, the three-day fest will also see the world premiere of 16 other movies. 

This year, the festival will see the movies divided into various categories depending on their genre and content. The Future of Cinema category will see the screening of five Nepali and six foreign movies directed by film students. Likewise, six Bhutanese movies will be screened under the category Enter the Dragon. This category will honour the thriving Bhutanese movie industry, even despite the dominance of Bollywood movies in the region. Another group of videos, titled Love Letters, will showcase the stories based on the LGBTQ community.

The festival will also have an outdoor screening of 11 movies at two venues, Kirtipur Durbar and Bouddha, on November 12 and November 13, respectively.