Manakamana, a film shot in Nepal with Nepali Characters has been placed in a BBC’s list of top 10 films of 2013. Shot in Nepal by director Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez, the film documents breath-taking journey of group of pilgrims to the Holy Temple of Manakamana.
Tom Brook, film critic at BBC, picked top 10 films made in 2013 in which he placed Manakamana on the 6th position. Produced by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena, film Manakamana is based on the story of a group riding in cable car to visit the holy Manakamana temple in Gorkha, Nepal.
Film Manakamana is an ethnographic documentary with running time of 118 min., where the entire film is abridged in the cable car, portraying the thoughts of travellers therein. It is also interesting but quite philosophical that director Spray has used 16 mm film in 400-foot magazines for shooting instead of digital camera.
The camera in the film is restricted to single position for the first 30 minutes with no dialogues. All the cast are local people travelling to Manakamana, who have comfortably played in the film.
The direction team also spent an extensive pre-production phase to get variegated with the context of village. Manakamana is a seemingly illusionary, but have silent and deep illustration of rural thoughts and their conscience of life as a journey.
It is the perceptive note of the film, which won Manakamana double-prize at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Manakamana also got sycophantic reviews from several critics at Toronto Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Vancouver Film Festival and American Film Institute (AFI) Fest.
You can download and read the complete interview of film Manakamana directors about making of the movie here. Or visit the official website of the film to find more about the movie and the screening schedule in different parts of the world. Watch the trailer of the film below.
It’s good to see the movie shoot in Nepal doing well internationally. Hopefully it will inspire other film-makers to start exploring Nepal as their shooting destinations.
Featured Image: Laxman Flickr Images: Film Website, Additional Input: Bisuddhi
jay mata manakamana
Wishfulfill Goddess of Nepal.
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