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The film fes­tival started eight years ago, and Kath­mandu has hosted five of them. The theme this year is ‘Women Empowerment’. “December 10 marks the 70th anniversary of the UN Uni­versal Declaration on Human Rights,” said Renaud Meyer, UNDP country director for Nepal. “This film festival is the beginning of the celebrations which will be held through­out the year to mark the anni­versary,” he added. UNDP has been asso­ciated with NHRIFF for the past two years. Also, this year, the orga­nizers plan to take the festival to other provinces.

The center believes films are the most influential tool to advance human rights, jus­tice and peace. Films offer an effortless way to reach people. They appeal to the emotion of the audience, say the organiz­ers, and can spur marginal­ized people into action.

“I still recollect a movie I watched 65 years ago but can barely recall a book I read recently,” said Anup Raj Sharma, the NHRC chair­man, who was also the chief guest at the inaugu­ration program. “The visuals leaves a lasting mark on peo­ple’s minds,” he added.

The film festival provides a stage for filmmakers and rights activists to come together and exchange ideas. It also helps put Nepal on the radar of the international community.

Moreover, the festival, according the film center, offers an occasion for Nepali filmmakers learn about the work of internationals filmmakers. At the festival, the best and the second-best films will bag a cash prize of Rs 50,000 while the third-best film will get Rs 40,000. The judges will be Tsering Rhitar Sherpa (Nepal), Andrea Morghen (Italy), Zohreh Zamani (Iran), Noriko Yuasa ( Japan) and Angeli Bayani (Philippines).

Today, the Tamang people live mostly along the Nepal-Tibetan border. They still suffer from a legacy of decades of marginal­ization from Kathmandu. To make matters worse, the Tamang people of Langtang Valley were among the hardest hit by the April 2015 earthquake. Apart from losing many loved ones, the Tamang people of Langtang Valley do not even have proper homes to live in. Life is made more difficult due to inadequate access to healthcare, work, tech­nology and schools. The young ones are moving to Kathmandu for work, leaving an aged population behind. The Tamangs of Langtang are truly a dying breed.

In late February, I set out with my colleague, Victoria Garcia, to the town of Mundu in Langtang Valley to talk to the Tamang people to better understand their hardships.

When we got there, we realized that the biggest problem was not any one of the issues previously mentioned, but rather what all these issues together produced: a loss of hope.

As we came to understand their issues and culture better, we thought of some action that can be taken to revive their lives again. First, we must reinforce these mod­ern buildings with their traditional architecture, and in return, con­tribute to preserving the Tamang culture. We must also teach them the skills necessary to build back their communities and find gainful employment.

Further, we must encourage the younger generation to return from Kathmandu to help, as the elders of villages like Mundu cannot do this alone. Moreover, one major aspect of rebuilding the resilience of this area and culture is the development of tourism. Before the earthquake, Langtang Valley was considered Nepal’s third main trekking site; now the industry is suffering in this area. Proper shel­ters must be built to house trekkers and awareness raised to revitalize this area and open it back to Nepal and to the world.

The Tamangs are as much a part of Nepal as any other people. They have a shared history and have con­tributed to the identity of Nepal as we know it. Nepal needs them as much as they need Nepal. The preservation of Tamang culture can begin with Mundu’s revitalization.

by Sudin KC

Washington, D.C. : Two stone sculptures dating back around 800 years that were sto­len from Nepal and taken to the United States will be repatriated, according to an agreement between officials of the two countries. An agree­ment to this effect was sighed between Daniel H. Weiss, Pres­ident of the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Art and Consul General of Nepal in New York Madhu Marasini, amid a program in New York. Handing over stolen sculptures to their original owner follows the museum policy of not exhib­iting stolen arts. RSS

Kathmandu: Veteran Indian writer of Nepali descent Indra Bahadur Rai passed away in his home town of Darjeeling on Tuesday. He was 90. Rais is considered one of the most erudite and acclaimed writers in the Nepali language. In a career spanning almost seven decades, Rai authored over a dozen books in sev­eral genres including novels, short stories, essays and literary criticism.

There’s a Carnival Today, a trans­lation of Rai’s novel Aaja Ramita Chha, was launched in Kathmandu last year. Long Night of Storm, a translation of 16 stories picked from Rai’s two short story collections—Bipana Katipaya and Kathastha—was launched here last week. The novel and the short story collection were translated by writers Manjushree Thapa and Prawin Adhikari respec­tively.