Kathmandu. The documentary produced on the topic of Vayu Udar and Khalikhane in Nepali society has been selected in more than a dozen international film festivals.
Ramesh Khadka has directed this documentary film ‘Dancing in Fire’, produced by Alfred Pak, an American anthropologist who has been studying Nepal’s khalikhana customs and public health for four decades.
People who have died prematurely in their homes and clans remain as ‘raw air’ and their souls are ‘released air’ by means of puja, a popular belief in the area around Kathmandu Valley. Dancing in Fire has included in the documentary the tradition of taking air and eating empty in Jitpurphedi Khadkagaon of Changunarayan Municipality of Bhaktapur.
The film also focuses on the months-long process of taking air, their social environment and the actions taken by the family and the entire society to get rid of the pain of death.
This film, which premiered at the Ethno International Film Festival in Paris last March, has been selected for the Cannes World Film Festival, another well-known film festival in France, and has also been selected for the Brandenburg International Film Festival in Germany. This film, which will be screened at the National Assembly House on May 30 on the second day of the Kathmandu International Film Festival, which starts on May 29 in Kathmandu, has already participated in various film festivals around the world. It has won awards in some festivals, while the process of selection in other festivals is continuing.
Earlier, this film won the Outstanding Documentary Award at the Singapore International Film Fair and won the Best Documentary Award at the Swedish International Motion Picture Award and the Best Documentary Award at the Phuket International Film Festival. Similarly, ‘Dancing in Fire’ has been premiered in Druk International Film Festival Bhutan, Dubai International Cine Carnival, South Asian International Film Festival Florida.
It will also be screened at the Film Society of Summit, New Jersey 2024 in the United States in June and the Nepal America International Film Festival from June 20 to 23.
Scholar Alfred said that he was inspired to make this film because the diversity in Nepali culture is a matter of surprising human interest for the world.
Director Khadka said that he learned a lot from Alfred while working on this film. The concept of this film was born from his interest and concern for 40 years on a different subject that others did not think about. For the first time, observational filming of its various aspects became possible. We are happy about the international success it is getting,’ he said.
