Seto Surya
When his father dies, anti-regime partisan Chandra must travel to his remote mountain village after nearly a decade away. Little Pooja is anxiously awaiting the man she thinks is her father, but she’s confused when Chandra arrives with Badri, a young street orphan rumoured to be his son. Chandra must face his brother Suraj, who was on the opposing side during the Nepali civil war. The two brothers cannot put aside political feelings while carrying their father’s body down the steep mountain path to the river for cremation. Suraj storms off in a rage, leaving Chandra with no other men strong enough to help. Under pressure from the village elders, Chandra must seek help from outside the village to obey the rigid caste and discriminatory gender traditions he fought to eliminate during the war. Chandra searches for a solution in neighboring villages, among the police, guests at a local wedding, and rebel guerrillas... (Festival information)
A light-footed multi-generational story after the irreconcilable conflicts between royalists and Maoist guerrillas (1996-2006) in a small Hinduist village in Nepal. The film opens an interreligious access for wide audiences by showing in a winking but respectful way how the authorities of the village argue with each other about burial rituals, politics, castes and a fatherhood. The director stages the conflict between a religious and a secular way of life, between tradition and modernity. Rauniyar’s hopeful message: Let the open-minded next generation try a restart!