Gopal Shivakoti

GOPAL SHIVAKOTI

Gopal Shivakoti is a documentary filmmaker and a film festival director. He has been working in films and digital media since 2004. He has shot and edited “In Search of the Searchman” – a short documentary about the 8 million (plus) graffiti “Khoja/Search” that has been written and inscribed all over Nepal, “When Shall I See My Daddy” – a short documentary about 14 years old boy whose father has gone to the USA and hasn’t returned to his home and family for ages. “Save Gangamaya” a documentary film about Satyagrahi Gangamaya Adhikari – who is on fast-unto-death for the attainment of justice for the 2004 murder of her innocent teenager son. “War Crime”, “Pinky Gurung”, “We are with Dr. KC”, “Gai Jatra”, “Chain and Worship”, “Bicycle Hero” and "Bare Tree" are his recent films.

WE ARE WITH DR. KC

Dr. Govinda KC, a professor of orthopaedics at the Institute of Medicine (Nepal) and a prominent campaigner against the corruptions has in the last five years spent over 100 days on hunger strike, seeking reforms in vital medical institutions. But his fight for change remains unfinished. Again he begins his indefinite fast-unto-death as the government heavily influenced by corrupt politicians and merchants with the wrong intention tried with all means to let the medical colleges go unregulated.
The Government of Nepal seems to be taking his legitimate protest lightly. Dr. KC is firm on continuing the fast-unto-death until the government takes a concrete decision to address the demands. Social sector activists, medical professionals, students, and citizens are coming together to support Dr. KC in his crusade against medical irregularities and corruption in the country (Nepal).

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS/AWARDS
1. Mov(i)e Activism Film Festival - Official Selection (Germany, 2019)
2. Film Southasia - Official Selection (Nepal, 2019)
3. Rieti & Sabina Film Festival - Official Selection (Italy, 2019)
4. International Film Laboratory CINEMA LAB V2.0 - Semi-finalist (Colombia, 2019)

WAR CRIME

During the 10-year conflict (1996-2006) in Nepal, Maoists recruited children as spies, cooks, porters and even frontline guerrillas.
After the signing of a comprehensive peace accord (in 2006) between the Maoists and Nepal government, Maoist combatants and weapons were brought into the UN-supervised camps (in 2007) where 4008 combatants were classified as being minors and or new recruits.
But the Maoist leadership delayed their release for 3 years so they could bargain for bigger rehabilitation packages.
As a result, child soldiers were released (in 2010) only when they had grown into young adults. By then, their rehabilitation had become much more complicated.
They were not given proper rehabilitation packages or integrated into society.
10 years after the conflict ended, the Nepal government and the party they were ready to die for have forgotten them.
The former Maoist child soldiers are now in their 20s fighting for survival and against social stigma.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS/AWARDS
1. Ischia Film Festival -Official Selection (Italy, 2018)
2. Manifesto Film Festival - Official Selection (Netherlands, 2018)
3. Tryon International Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
4. SIFF - Switzerland International Film Festival - Official Selection (Switzerland, 2018)
5. Zeitgeist Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
6. Courage Film Festival - Semi-finalist (Germany, 2018)
7. Melbourne City Independent Film Awards - Official Selection (AUS, 2018)
8. DIRECTORS CUT INT'L FILM FESTIVAL - Semi-finalist (Canada, 2018)
9. Outer Docs Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
10. Oz Indie Film Festival - Official Selection (AUS, 2018)
11. Capital Filmmakers Festival Berlin - Semi-finalist (Germany, 2018)
12. Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes - Official Selection (France, 2018)
13. Capital Filmmakers Festival Lisbon - Semi-finalist (Portugal, 2019)
14. International Children's Rights Film Festival - Official Selection (Turkey, 2019)
15. Ethnografilm Paris - Official Selection (France, 2019)
16. The International Innovation Film Festival - Official Selection (Switzerland, 2019)
17. Mansfield International Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2019)
18. COMMFFEST - Official Selection (Canada, 2017)
19. Social World Film Festival - Semi-finalist (Italy, 2017)

SAVE GANGAMAYA

Ms. Gangamaya Adhikari and Mr. Nanda Prasad Adhikari, a couple from Gorkha (Nepal) who sat on hunger protest in front of Prime Minister’s residence demanding justice for 2004 murder of their teenage son Krishna Prasad Adhikari was forcefully admitted at Bir Hospital, a government hospital in Kathmandu. On September 22, 2014, Nanda Prasad breathed his last at his 333 days of hunger protest. On October 19, 2014, Nepal government promised justice to Gangamaya and ended her 359 days of fast-unto-death. It’s already been very long but the murderers haven’t been brought to book, her only son Nur Prasad is not in her contact, and the last rite of her husband hasn’t been performed yet.
Gangamaya sought justice through the courts as citizens should, but the administration is not up to providing it. So, besides very weak and deteriorating health Gangamaya once again begins her indefinite hunger protest.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS/AWARDS
1. The Women's Voices Now (WVN) Film FestivaL - Audiance Choice Award (US, 2016)
2. American INSIGHT's Global Free Speech Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2016)
3. Pembroke Taparelli Arts and Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2016)
4. Cosmic Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2016)
5. Los Angeles CineFest - Official Selection (US, 2016)
6. "Euro Kino" Czech International Independent Film Fet - Official Selection (Czech Republic, 2016)
7. SHORT TO THE POINT (STTP) Film Festival - Offcial Selection (Romania, 2016)
8. Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival (TINFF) - Offcial Selection (Canada, 2016)
9. Winchester Film Festival - Semi-fianalist (UK, 2016)
10. Through My Eyes Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2017)
11. Afghanistan International Human Rights Film Festival - Official Selection (Afghanistan, 2017)
12. International Women's Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2017)
13. 17 Catoosa County Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2017)
14. DIY Film Festival - Best Documentary (US, 2017)
15. Respect Belfast Human Rights Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2017)
16. Mov(i)e Activism Film Festival - Official Selection (Germany, 2017)
17. Film Southasia - Official Selection (Nepal, 2017)
18. London Independent Film Awards - Official Selection (UK, 2017)
19. The Phoenician International Film Festival - Official Selection (France, 2017)
20. The India International Film Festival of Boston - Semi-fianalist (US, 2018)
21. Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival - Official Selection (Nepal, 2018)

PINKY GURUNG

Members of Nepal’s LGBTI community were once openly derided as “social pollutants,” but now enjoy social and political rights including legal recognition of a third gender, that put the country leagues ahead of much of the rest of the world. The past decade has proved critical in that evolution, as LGBTI activists won significant victories in Nepal’s courts.
With the second phase of elections to the House of Representatives and State Assemblies just around the corner, Pinky Gurung (a transwoman) is busy in a door-to-door campaign. She is a candidate under Proportional Representation (PR) category from one of the political party.
Gurung is of the view that there is a need for representation of transgender in the new parliament to raise the voices of gender and sexual minority. Gurung hopes that people who love transgender will vote her which will be instrumental in her victory.
She is encouraged to receive support from voters.
Members of gender and sexual minority are campaigning in favor of Gurung.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS/AWARDS
1. Korea Queer Film Festival - Official Selection (Korea, 2018)
2. Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival - Official Selection (Canada, 2018)
3. Tasveer South Asian Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
4. My True Colors Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
5. Global Peace Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
6. San Francisco Transgender Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
7. Melanin Pride Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
8. LesGaiCineMad, Madrid International LGBTI Film Festival - Official Selection (Spain, 2018)
9. QueerX - Official Selection (US, 2018)
10. Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival - Official Selection (Canada, 2018)
11. Queen Palm International Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
12. Nassau Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
13. OutlantaCon Short Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
14. FLY Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
15. Peekskill Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
16. 2019 Great Lakes International Shorts Festival - Official Selection (US, 2018)
17. 3rd Vintage International Film Festival - Official Selection (India, 2018)
18. International Shorts - Official Selection (AUS, 2018)
19. Harrogate Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2018)
20. Changing Face International Film Festival - Finalist (AUS, 2018)
21. Official Trans Pride Brighton Annual Film Event - Official Selection (UK, 2018)
22. The Bangalore Queer Film Festival - Official Selection (India, 2018)
23. Tag! Queer Shorts Festival - Official Selection (US, 2019)
24. Pleasure Dome - Official Selection (Canada, 2019)
25. Festival Filministes - Official Selection (Canada, 2019)
26. Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival - Official Selection (Nepal, 2019)
27. Leeds Queer Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2019)
28. Zeitgeist Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2019)
29. YVE International Youth Film Festival - Official Selection (China, 2019)
30. Queerbee LGBT Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2020)

GAI JATRA

Traditionally, Gai Jatra is literally translated to the procession of cows and an age-old festival commemorating the death of loved ones.
Sharing of sorrows and truly understanding each other’s grief brings out the human in humans and that’s what this festival champions.
The newest development brings an important twist to this narrative.
Since 2001, LGBTI people in Nepal has been taking Gai Jatra festival
as a medium to appear in the public, flaunt their true selves with pride
and pay tribute to the deceased member of their community, because members of the LGBT community until the recent past were not commemorated by their family. One of the objectives of this parade on the day of Gai Jatra is to pay tribute to people within the LGBT community – someone who’ve died a natural death and others who’ve killed themselves for being unable to live a life of shunning. Also, the week-long festival has come to become a platform from where expression takes wings to reach for the sky and hover over the city.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS/AWARDS
1. Milestone Worldwide Film Festival - Official Selection (Italy, 2019)
2. The Lift-Off Sessions - Official Selection (UK, 2019)
3. Meraki Film Festival - Official Selection (Germany, 2019)
4. Courage Film Festival - Semi-finalist (Germany, 2019)
5. qFLIX Philadelphia 2019 - Official Selection (US, 2019)
6. Hyperwave Film Awards - Semi-finalist (US, 2019)
7. Finisterra Arrábida Film Art & Tourism Festival - Official Selection (Portugal, 2019)
8. Grecanica International Film Festival - Official Selection (Italy, 2019)
9. Music Shorts Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2019)
10. Scumdance - Official Selection (US, 2019)
11. LGBTQ Shorts Film Festival - Official Selection (US, 2019)
12. SUBURBINALE - Official Selection (Austria, 2019)
13. Scottish Queer International Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2019)
14. International Shorts - Official Selection (AUS, 2019)
15. Queerbee LGBT Film Festival - Official Selection (UK, 2020)

IN SEARCH OF THE SEARCHMAN

The place is Kathmandu of Nepal, where a youth who had come out of the city sees countless ‘KHOJA’ (SEARCH) words graffiti and inscriptions on the road, walls, footpaths etc.
This makes him very much concern and curious. Feels the word is much significant, weighty and meaningful, unique and unheard of. So, he comes out to film this, searching the people behind this and the meaning and the purpose of the ‘KHOJA’. Inquiring many peoples and getting different opinion and views, he finally reaches an 88 years old “KHOJABA”, who has written more than 8 million’KHOJA’ words during his 30 years’ campaign. A few days the youth indulges in the ‘KHOJA’ and at the end, he becomes highly influenced, getting his concern, curiosity, and quest answered, the youth goes out to his way, his own usual work and life.
The ‘KHOJABBA’ keeps on writing ‘KHOJA’
He is still writing.

WHEN SHALL I SEE MY DADDY

The child is Bikash whose father is in USA, living, and working since long. Sometimes the father sends photographs and he also makes regular phone calls back home, Nepal.
To show him, at home the family records and sends family video. They have been sending the family video to the USA since past 3 years. This is the situation, and in it the main character of this film 14 years Bikash reviews the old family video and analysing and comparing all the things of then and now he narrates you how they have become, how much have his home, family, and environment changed in 3 years and what he doesn’t know about his father. He introduces you to his modern Hindu family and shows you children’s life, lifestyle, culture and many interesting and strange things in it and shares you his one very personal story.