The documentary “Ani Choying Drolma: Mission Impossible,” which draws inspiration from her biography, will premiere as the festival’s opening film on Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) grounds.
The documentary presents a compelling image of Ani as a compassionate, loving human being who is still growing, in addition to her roles as a revolutionary nun, lyrical musician, and champion for women’s rights. But director Lin has said that there is an attempt to present the documentary as a search for Ani’s freedom.
Jennifer Lin and Shan Bai’s directed documentary will be screened as the festival’s opening film, according to festival president KP Pathak.
For seven years, Lin, a mass communication professor at the City University of Hong Kong, followed Ani and produced this documentary. In interviews, Lin has stated that she began working on the documentary five years after visiting Aryatara School, which Ani founded in 2010 to educate girls from low-income families. The idea for the documentary came to her then.
After seven years of work, the documentary has become a global attraction at film festivals. The Warsaw International Film Festival awarded this documentary both the Netpack Award and the Asian Pacific Audience Award the previous year. At NIFF, this documentary is competing for the Mount Everest Award as well. Thirteen documentaries from both domestic and international competitions are in this category. The winning movie will get $1,000 USD in cash as part of the Mount Everest Award.
This year, 88 films from 40 countries are being screened at the film festival, which runs from the 1st to the 5th of Chaitra. Along with the screening of the films in the competition, workshops, discussions and interactive programs related to various genres of filmmaking will also be organized throughout the festival period, the organizers said.
The films to be screened at the festival will be screened at the branches of QFX Cinemas, Civil Mall, Labim Mall, Bhaktapur and Chayaan Center.
