Premiered
Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Kumbria, United Kingdom, 2007
Screened
Animation at War, Film Studies Center, University of Chicago, 2020
Himalayan Film Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2008
Alchemy Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London 2011
Animation Festival, Rastriya Nachghar, Kathmandu, Nepal 2011
Animated short film Leaving The Village is based on the story of a mother and her child who lived a happy life in a remote village of Nepal. Never had they imagined, what awaited them would change their lives for ever.
This film was produced as a response to the recent history of Nepal that witnessed a conflict between the ruling government, political parties and the rebels. Lasting more than a decade, the period of political tension ended lives of thousands of Nepalese people. Once the messenger of peace for the rest of the world, the Himalayan country was then engulfed by its own unfortunate shadow of internal violence.
This short film is dedicated to the innocent people of Nepal who lost their lives or their loved ones due to violence.
Leaving The Village was produced when everything else was overshadowed by political unrest in the country. Economical and industrial growth remained an abandoned issue throughout. Ever-fascinated with the concept of digitally replicating the country’s astounding natural heritage, it is a sincere attempt in its most simplest form by Sanyukta and Niyukta at yantrakala, marking a dark chapter from the recent history of Nepal.
While Nepalese film-makers themselves are trying to make a mark in the international arena, Nepalese animation is still in its infancy. Leaving The Village is one of the first of such attempts to place Nepalese art in animation platform.
Discussions about the film has been carried out but Dr Donna Kornhaber, University fo Texas in Austin, in her 2019 book ‘Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary: War and the Animated Film‘.