Kathmandu. The short film ‘The School Wall’ has reached the finals of the Russian Kino Festival. Another Nepali short film ‘Paulo’ has also been selected for the film festival to be held on Krestovoy 5 in Russia from September 12 to 16. Based on child psychology, ‘The School Wall’ was previously selected at the Edo State International Film Festival in Nigeria, the Roshad International Education and Scientific Film Festival in Iran, the Varsity Film Expo in Zimbabwe and the Liftoff Filmmaker Sessions in the UK.
“The School Wall” was selected in the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival which was recently concluded in Kathmandu and was screened at the National Assembly House. In the short film, Shlok Sah played the lead role. Other famous actors Subas Prasad Gajurel, Saroj Lamichhane, Chandra Prasad Pandey, Geeta Sri Thapa, Ayusha Gautam, Bidur Prasad Sigdel, Nishta Dahal, Rehan KC, Khem Raj Koirala, Uddhav Dangal and other students of Celebration School are acting. The short film has been produced by Surendra Chhetri along with the casting direction.
In ‘The School Wall’, poverty, situation and responsibility are presented as a wall. According to the production side, the story of the struggle of a boy from the Terai who polishes shoes near the school is presented in the short film. When the students are going to school from the front of the work place, the desire to study also drags him to the school. Amid family, financial problems and forced situations, he succeeds in entering the school by adopting various measures, but that happiness does not last long and the story takes a different turn. Its producer Surendra Chhetri says that the film tries to show what a child can do to achieve his desire to read.
Another Nepali short film ‘Paulo’ which was selected in Russia, was previously nominated by India’s CMAS, International Children’s Film Festival ‘ICFC’. In the short film ‘Paulo’, which has the story of shoes, Prashant Humagain, Subas Silwal, Mohan Shrestha, Uddhav Dangal, Naren Bhattarai, Nischal Karki, Munna Dahal, Liejesh Thapa and Sandesh Thapa are acting. The short film ‘Paulo’ is the story of a street child without a family living in the Pashupati complex. In which the main character from the beginning to the end is the shoes. A person is born, grows up, gets married, if the husband or wife dies after marriage, there are incidents in the society where he/she marries another person.
It is not the artist or the character that moves the shoes, but the shoes move the characters of the story. The same shoes make someone happy or make someone cry or make the same person sad as time goes by. The short film ‘Paulo’ also has a lively story and a realistic depiction of society. The main essence of this short film is that shoes are not only a material, but also human experiences. ‘Paulo’, which is a story about shoes, is sponsored by Black Horse Shoe Company. Black Horse has been producing and distributing branded shoes and slippers in Nepal.
Scenes of both short films shot in Kathmandu were shot by Narayan Ji. Editing and color combination of the short film is by Anil Kumar Maharjan and assistant director is Karan Saud. Mohan Abhilashi has written and directed the short films ‘The School Wall’ and ‘Paulo’ produced by Aina Atrus. His short films ‘Bhau’, ‘Ghurra’, which he has produced before, have been selected in various international film festivals and have been screened in various countries. Filmed in one shot, ‘Ghurra’ also won the award for best short film at the Nepal Cultural International Film Festival held in Nepal some time ago.