Nepaliwood Rising

At 11:56 A.M. on April 25, 2015 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal and its neighboring countries killed more than 9,000, injuring an estimated 23,000, and displacing more than 450,000 people. I photographed and interviewed people to understand how they are digging themselves out from the rubble to continue their timeless traditions and make their creativity known in new ones such as their emerging film industry. I spoke with the school’s dapper principal and acting coach, Binod Paudel, at the film school, which is, for the foreseeable future, is housed in a mishmash of structures next to where their four-story main campus once stood.

Nepaliwood Rising

The 100 students attending the Oscar International College of Film Studies in Kathmandu had a goal: make Nepaliwood a recognizable entity and pull it out of the shadow of neighboring India’s powerhouse Bollywood industry.

But at 11:56 A.M. on April 25, 2015 priorities changed in an instant—from creating films to mere survival. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake violently shook the earth under them and their 27 million fellow countrymen and women, killing more than 9,000, injuring an estimated 23,000, and displacing more than 450,000 people.

I spoke with the school’s dapper principal and acting coach, Binod Paudel, at the film school, which is, for the foreseeable future, is housed in a mishmash of structures next to where their four-story main campus once stood.

The school was actually off that week, but Paudel was headed to the campus for a meeting with guests. “Somehow I managed to get to the college just after the earthquake,” he said. “The base and pillars of our main building were completely cracked and the building was tilting. Some of my staff and I dared to go inside and save some cameras—like our Red camera and a zoom lens.”

Much of the campus eventually collapsed under the force of the quake and ensuing aftershocks. “Our condition is very critical but I am trying my best to provide quality education to my students,” he continued. “Since I am also a filmmaker and I have a passion in filmmaking, I cannot stop the college. This is the only film college in Nepal and our students are creating a new wave in the Nepalese film industry. I have a dream of introducing my students all around the world through Nepalese films. We want to create our own narrative in cinema.”

The school is succeeding: a student, Min Bahadur Bham, recently screened his feature film, Kalo Pothi (“The Black Hen”), at the Venice International Film Festival, and other student films have received awards at international film festivals. “The earthquake broke us so badly but we have been trying to overcome the situation,” Paudel said.

I had the students arrange themselves in their studio and asked for a couple of volunteers to help me light the set with their equipment. I wasn’t brave enough to handle the ancient tungsten lights the school acquired secondhand from India decades ago which had to be hard wired directly into the power outlets. But they are making more than the best with what they have. In fact, it seems clear that they have the most important ingredient for success: desire.

Beyond the school and throughout Nepal, evidence of the earthquake and aftershocks dot the landscape. More than 30 monuments in the Kathmandu Valley collapsed and 120 incurred significant damage in addition to the thousands of destroyed monasteries, shrines, office buildings, apartment complexes, and private homes that did not escape the wrath of one of nature’s most terrifying phenomenons.¬¬ Yet the people of Nepal and their timeless culture persevere with a quiet fortitude.