The fifth Film South Asia (FSA) ’05 – a festival of documentaries that kicked off on 29th September at Kumari Hall, the commercial duplex cinema at Kamal Pokhari concluded on Tuesday.
Altogether 43 selected best films made in or about the region over the last two years were screened at the FSA ’05.
According to the organizers, 8800 tickets were sold and the festival was an overwhelming success. Out of the total, 3500 tickets were sold during the last two days, when conflict documentaries were shown under the theme ‘Barrel Of The Gun.’ “We did not think it would be so successful, said Reshu Aryal Dhungana, an organiser. “This year, we added the ‘Barrel Of The Gun’ so that local people would also be interested in viewing the documentaries as they could relate with the ongoing conflict here in Nepal,” she added.
Ali Kazimi’s ‘Continuous Journey’ bagged the Ram Bahadur Trophy with cash award of US $ 2000 in the Film South Asia ’05.
Yasmine Kabir and Sandhya Suri were jointly awarded the second prize at the film festival for “A Certain Liberation” and “I for India” respectively carrying a purse of US $ 1000.
Masood Khan and Kamaljeet Negi bagged the “Best Debut Award” for their joint venture – “My Brother, My Enemy.” Rakesh Sharma walked away with the “Special Jury Award” for “Final Solution,” while Nishtha Jain received special commendation for “City of Photos.”
The first edition of Film South Asia was held in 1997, after which there have been festivals in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The festival has emerged as the only one of its kind, bringing together at one-venue documentaries made in various countries and sub-regions of South Asia.
15 films under Barrel of the Gun were also screened on Oct 3 and 4.
The Barrel of the Gun selection was made among the films from all over the world from Colombia to Cambodia, Rwanda to Bosnia-Herzogovina, Peru to Nepal.