Mumbai:The international festival dedicated to documentaries on the Himalayan region ‘The Himalaya Film Festival’ will be held from August 14 to 22 at NHK Fureai Hall, Tokyo in Japan. The festival normally held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is hosted this year by Japan to enhance Nepal-Japan relationship.

Launched in 2003, the international film festival is the only one dedicated to documentaries on the Himalaya region.

“The Tokyo festival will rethink the relationship between humans and nature in the context of the Himalayas. The festival will also help Japan explore Nepal’s natural beauty,” said Nima Nuru Sherpa, a noted Nepali tourism entrepreneur. He pointed out that Nepal is known as the Himalayan country.

The year 2006 happens to be the 50th anniversary of the successful ascent of Mt. Manaslu in Nepal by a Japanese climbing expedition and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan.

16 documentaries will be screened over eight days during the festival. They are James Heyward’s The Fatal Game (52 minutes), Neal Michaelis’s A Higher Calling (45 minutes), Geoff Browne’s Call It Karma (48 minutes), Sapana Sakya and Ramyata Limu’s Daughters of Everest (56 minutes), Richard Heap’s Meltdown (50 minutes), Alex Gabbay’s A Man Called Nomad (40 minutes), Sean White’s Into The Thunder Dragon (47 minutes), Mohan Mainali’s Timber To Tibet (30 minutes), Dhurba Basnet’s Schools In The Crossfire (52 minutes), Tsering Rhitar and Sherab Lhawang’s The Spirit Doesn’t Come Anymore (40 minutes), Gajiro Yamanoto’s Climbing Manaslu (100 minutes), Kiran Krishna Shrestha’s Bhedako Oon Jasto…in search of song (55 minutes), Kesang Tseten’s On The Road With The Red God: Machhendranath (75 minutes) and William Dalrymple’s Indian Journeys: Shiva’s Matted Locks (50 minutes) Most of them have captured the scenery of Nepal. With the exception of Climbing Manaslu in Japanese only, the other films will feature English, Japanese or Nepali subtitles, as applicable.