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 In the five years I have spent in the Nepali film industry, it has progressed on many fronts. Due to growing professionalism and educated people taking acting as a career choice, there is new respect for actors. The graph of our Nepali movie industry looks like a wave. When I entered this industry, it was pro­gressing, probably due to the release of “Loot”, which was a landmark film. Then, the graph fell again. I think the problem with the industry is that when a movie does well, oth­ers want to make similar films. They do not want to take risk in the fear of commercial failure.

Thankfully, I can see Nepali film­makers focusing on good content now. With our audience getting smarter and more aware, there is a focus on investing in good scripts. Movies are playing a huge role in delivering social messages and rais­ing issues through visual arts, as you see with movies like “Gopi” and “Bulbul”. Even though most still want to make comedy films, as our audience seem to prefer this genre currently, there is still progress on creating creative content. There are many talented people in the field of literature and I think these people need to attempt writing scripts for films as well.

To carry out these scripts, the industry has some really good actors. In my opinion, many cur­rent films are successful due to these actors. Before, anyone with­out experience or expertise could be an actor but now due to many people entering acting, there is a healthy competition. The industry is also welcoming theater actors like Dayahang Rai and Karma Shakya. And with the field becoming more professional, actors do feel the pres­sure to get better at what they do. As this profession gains respect, even highly educated people are choos­ing acting as a career, so the indus­try is more liberal and progressive.

Female actors are also becom­ing safer within the fraternity. Five years back, I used to hear stories of women being victims of casting couch. Thankfully, I never faced it. And now, these horror stories have decreased significantly, thanks to the #MeToo campaign. I had strug­gles of my own, such as having to deal with low pay.

I would again say this field has become more professional in the past 3-4 years. And this is not just with actors but with the whole film fraternity, from concept develop­ment to screening of the films.

Additionally, due to technological progress, visual effects and camera work in Nepali films are getting bet­ter. The use of high-quality cameras has boosted creativity. Even though this has led to increased budgets, it has certainly improved the quality of the films being produced.

The demand for Nepali films is increasing globally. But even now Nepali films don’t do well in India, even as they are gaining in popular­ity in Sikkim and Darjeeling. Inter­national filmmakers are also search­ing for Nepali movies and watching them. This means new audiences for Nepali films. In Nepal, what I see is, the audience that watches one Nepali film is the same audi­ence that watches another Nepali movie, whatever the genre. And we have not been able to tap into new Nepali audience. We are progress­ing though and just one movie can change this trend for the better.

Surakshya Panta is a Nepali actor who has appeared in movies like Gopi, Changa Chet and Dhanapati

Dear teachers, The new year 2019 does not align perfectly with our aca­demic year. But we can still make a few new year resolutions on how to improve our teaching. Because, what better time than now!

In this article series, we’ll be shar­ing teaching tips and ideas that we’ve been implementing in our own class­es. We’ve borrowed these ideas from books, articles, YouTube videos, conversations, and many trials and errors in our classes and workshops we conduct. Please reflect on them and come up with your own theories on how to implement or adapt them to suit your needs.

Give space to try, fail and rise

We’ve all heard this Nepali prov­erb “Hidne maanchhe ladchha”. Perhaps, we can put this proverb in practice, and let our learners “fall” and learn from their “falls”.

We know making a mistake and consciously reflecting on the mis­take is an extremely effective way to learn. Such learning also endures for years.

Teachers can help students embrace mistakes by explain­ing the subtle but important difference between ‘failure’ and ‘fail­ing’. Failing sounds like it has hope attached to it. Failure sounds like you are doomed.

But simply telling students, “Hey, make mistakes and learn from your mistakes” is not enough. Telling usually doesn’t work. What might work is developing a positive learn­ing culture where students receive non-judgmental feedback on their learning process rather than on the outcome. A culture where students not just hear about but internalize the usefulness of failing is an integral part of learning.

Also, wouldn’t it be amazing if stu­dents could see the teachers them­selves trying, failing, and learning in front of their students!

Check out A.J. Juliani’s excellent article entitled “The Big Difference between Fail-ing and Fail-ure” avail­able online.

Give meaningful feedback

John Hattie, the author of Visible Learning, says effective feedback has to answer three questions.

a. What is the goal?

b. What is the progress made toward the goal?

c. What actions need to be taken to make better progress?

Therefore, when students are try­ing and failing, we need to remind them of their goal, how they are doing, and what they can do better to achieve it.

For instance, if a student is strug­gling to write better, more persua­sive essays, you could give them a list of things they’ve done wrong, and tell them to correct them all. Or, you could focus on one aspect of the essay (e.g. lacks proper evidence to back their points), and guide him on how to look for such evidence and incorporate it into their essay.

Remember, generalized feed­back usually doesn’t help. Saying “Good job” or “Terrible work” or “Nice” doesn’t help students get to their goals.

For more, read this phenomenal research article.

Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. Vol. 77. 1.

Don’t give 4

If you haven’t watched this Ted Talk “The Clues to a Great Story” by Andrew Stanton, the main guy from Pixar, an American computer animation film studio, watch it first. Because, he unpacks some intriguing clues to great teaching.

He says great stories get the audience involved in the storytelling process. How? Here we paraphrase Stanton.

Don’t give everything to the audi­ence easily.

Challenge them to predict.

Don’t give them “4” right away.

Make them work for it.

Give them “2” first, and then allow them to imagine their own “2”.

He calls this the “Unifying Theory of 2+2”. It’s a very powerful idea from a pedagogical perspective.

As teachers, we give it all away rather soon. We assume, “Our job is to give the correct answers. That’s what teachers are supposed to do, right?”

Partly yes, but mostly no.

A teacher’s job, apparently, is to make students work to get that answer.

Let us re-write that again.

A teacher’s job is to make students care about what they do, engage them in the process, and then guide them just enough so that they are able to figure out answers their own way.

Don’t give them 4. Give them 2+2.

We’ll share more in our next piece. We want to leave you with a quote from our friend Ulma-maija Sep­panen: “Every feedback is a gift.” We too expect feedback from you.

Umes Shrestha

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Udgum Khadka

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(Both writers work at King’s College and conduct workshops for teachers through Empowerment Academy.)

The term “art” is vague, perhaps as vague as the idea of God. Most of us believe there is a supreme power that runs the universe, which/who we call “God” but we don’t know if the God is a he or a she.Art (here, visual art) can mean differ­ent things to different people. Perfect art for a five-year-old could mean painting a pretty flower. For an abstract expressionist, perhaps it would mean creating a painting that is wild, unbound by motifs and thoughts. For a figurative painter like me, nothing satisfies us more than painting figures. And yet for conceptual artists, they worry more about the concepts than anything else.

At the risk of sound a little clichéd, our coun­try has always been rich in the visual arts. We live with majestic sculptures all around. We take these for granted but we need to realize that it might be difficult for us to compete against the rest of the world in the sciences or technology, but we can outshine a lot of coun­tries when it comes to our ancient arts. We live with the majestic mandalas, the beautiful art forms that balance us emotionally, spiritually and physically.

To be living in a country as artistically, culturally and spiritually rich as Nepal, it is important for us to realize the significance of the arts. But for that it makes sense to find the artist in us. Art comes naturally as a child. As a kid, we all love to draw and paint without any formal education. But to learn to read and write, we need to go to a school. As Picasso aptly puts it, “Every child is an artist. The problem is, how to remain one once we grow up.”

There is this example I give in all the talks I give in schools and colleges when I teach art appreciation. If a few of us looked at an apple on the table and painted it, each one of our apples would look different. If we got the world’s greatest artist (if we could find the world’s greatest artist), his apple would still be the apple he created on the canvas, and it wouldn’t be edible. So, the entire genre of modern art talks about cre­ation and not replication, as replication is never possible. Each one of has this abil­ity to create our own apples, our own art, in our own ways. This makes each one of us an artist. But the realization is important.

That said, each artist has a particular per­spective to art. And this changes from time to time. So a billion things are happening in the arts as you read this. This is the joy of the arts. The differences in thoughts and approaches, differences in choices of motifs and mediums.

For me the most joyful movement in painting was Impressionism in the 19th century. Monet had his beautiful colors, light and shades, Van Gogh had his power strokes, Cezanne had his robust forms and Seurat created his works in tiny dots which he called “Pointillism”. This beautiful movement, I believe, explains what art should be all about. The Impres­sionists were observing and absorbing nature and creating art works in the impressions. For me art should be first about feelings and emotions, everything else, including intellect, comes later. But if you differ, it is perfectly alright, I told you art is different things to different people.

So how can we enjoy and appreciate all forms of art? For that we need to under­stand the artist’s perspective to creativ­ity. There are artists who believe in real­ism and super-realism. That is their joy and strength. An abstract expressionist believes in creating art works that are not bound by forms and sometimes even motifs. We need to enjoy the liberty they seek, the textures created, the sense of colors maybe! Tradi­tional painters who create our rich Thang­kas paint beautiful mudras and asanas in fascinating, intricate ways. Conceptual artists create art works that give voice to what they have to say about the society, or perhaps about themselves! And yet we have artists who seek and find equal pleasure in painting beautiful landscapes.

It is impossible to compare the different art forms, as it is to compare different artists. But having painted for more than 25 years now, and with over 25 solo exhibitions, I have come to realize, being an artist is a lifestyle: a perspective to life. Today I see and experience everything the way an artist does. And this is something I can’t explain or write about.

What is the purpose of the arts, you may ask? What good is art? But can you imagine life without music, without poetry, without paintings?

Art keeps your soul alive.

Chirag Bangdel is a Visual Artist, Writer, RadioPresenter/Producer

There has been a paradigm shift in the Nepali theater indus­try in terms of script, owner­ship of theaters, thematic content, theater capacity and acting style. Of late, there has been a marked increase in the number of theater performances as well as audiences watching these performances. Theater is a ‘living art’ that never dies or gets lost, and it is a potent medium with which to influence the masses on certain issues, all the while entertaining them. The new generation has managed to harness the change in technology and socio-cultural patterns to create an energetic and unique theater experience. There has as a result been a massive overhaul in presen­tation, behavioral tactics of actors, and creative use of props, dialogues and languages.

Nepali theater has its origins in the traditional ‘dabali’ stage, wherein actors used to perform in a limit­ed space. But now private theaters such as Mandala, Sarvanam, Kausi and Shilpee have changed the way theater performances are organized.

Theater is also proving to be ben­eficial in alleviating stress, negative emotions and psychological burden as well as in therapeutic treatment and rehabilitation of individuals. Theater has not only increased public awareness on many issues, but also helped relieve entrenched problems like drug addiction. It has helped reduce domestic violence, discrimination, and sexual harass­ment and trafficking of women and children in rural areas.

Modernization and easy access to international plays, and trans­lation of such works into Nepali, have created more contents for Nepali theater. Also, notable works of Nepali playwrights such as Abhi Subedi and Laxmi Prasad Devkota have been translated and performed in foreign languages in other parts of the world. There has been an increase in experimental theater performances as well. Now, audi­ences can also be a part of such cre­ative performances and interact with the characters.

 Another welcome trend is that more and more women are taking part in theater

Another welcome trend is that more and more women are taking part in theater, in various capacities such as actors, directors and script writers. They are breaking the patri­archal stereotype that only men can perform, write and direct plays.

The growing popularity of ‘Kacha­hari’ theater (Forum Theater) is noticeable too in its positive impact on the society and in changing the attitudes, perceptions and behav­iors of the audiences. It provides the oppressed and disadvantaged groups a platform to air their issues and pleas for redress. Among the vital issues raised are human rights, corruption, women’s empower­ment, caste-based discrimination, gender violence and social inequali­ties. Further, audiences can play the part of actors, and they can together find solutions to such problems.

Theater has also produced many accomplished actors for the big screen. Established actors like Nir Shah, Najir Hussein, Dayahang Rai, Saugat Malla, Deeya Maskey, Menuka Pradhan all started out in theater.

Earlier in Nepal, theater perfor­mances and plays used to be car­ried out in a limited space and for a limited audience. The thematic issues raised and performed were also limited. But now there are diverse thematic issues. Censorship on dialogues and content, which was rampant in earlier times, has almost ceased to exist.

Theater artistes used to be assault­ed, arrested and harassed with civ­il lawsuits earlier, and they were paid very less. But the situation has changed. While theater was not con­sidered a respectable profession earlier, these days more and more youths are taking it up as a viable career option.

Nepali theater is also getting global recognition, thanks to workshops, and exposure in national and inter­national festivals. Further, Nepali theater has managed to inspire artistes from other parts of the world. I recall meeting ace Indian filmmaker and theater artist Seema Biswas. She said she felt ‘jealous’ about the use of Nepali theater to criticize the authorities.

The future

The Nepali theater industry has a bright future and plenty of poten­tial for growth. I expect there to be more support, subsidies and finan­cial assistance from the government to further develop the industry.

I hope more schools and univer­sities will offer theater courses and more youths will get the opportunity to work in the industry. I believe the international theater festival that is being held in Nepal from Feb 25 to March 4 will further help to take Nepali theater to a global audience.

And last but not least, I hope the­ater artistes will finally get due rec­ognition and start to be treated as professionals, with good income to sustain their livelihood. I also want to see the decentralization of the Nepali theater scene and the expan­sion of theaters beyond major cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Anup Baral is a veteran theater artist who has also appeared in countless TV series and films