Himalaya Film Festival 2003

On 4 and 5 October 2003, the first Himalaya Film Festival was held in the
Griffioen, the cultural centre of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. The festival was organized by the Himalayan Archive Foundation,
The Netherlands(Stichting Himalaya Archief Nederland) at Alkmaar.
The festival comprised of 45 selected films-with a total playing time of
nearly 33 hours. Actually, there were 46 films in the official programme,
but one of them had to be cancelled due to technical problems.
The films in the two parallel programmes were presented in sessions of one
and a half to two hours each. In general, the grouping of the films in the
various sessions had been chosen in such a way that different subjects and
cinematographic approaches could be viewed in each unit.
The following somewhat artificial categories could be distinguished:
Category 1
Films which could be seen as introductions to the area.
Category 2
The ethnographic category: films describing certain civilizations or
cultural aspects.
Category 3
Films dealing with violence in the Himalaya area
Category 4
A number of films could be grouped together in the category
Development/Environment
Category 5
The sports category.
Category 6
A number of films that, as for their form, closely resemble a kind of
poetry.
In these films it is the artistic, free, associative forms which aim to
appeal to emotions that matter, rather than the rational, didactic approach
that we find in standard documentaries.

Immediately after the Himalaya Film Festival the jury decided that the film
A Man Called Nomad by Alex Gabbay, who lives in Nepal, was to be awarded a
prize.
An honourable mention went to Into the Thunder Dragon by Sean White.
The second film to receive an honourable mention was The Spirit Doesn't Come
Anymore by Tsering Rhitar and Sherab Lhawang from Nepal.

The organization of the Himalaya Film Festival offered the approximately
1600 visitors a highly varied and interesting programme. Not surprisingly,
many people have asked the organization if there are any plans for another
festival in the coming years.

To be continued in 2004!

The full report can be obtained from the organisation.
www.himalayafilmfestival.nl