10° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Italian Competition 1992

CHE COSA FA OM PRAKASH A KATMANDU?

WHAT DOES OM PRAKASH DO IN KATMANDU?
by Angelo Fontana
Country: Italy
Year: 1992
Duration: 46'


Om Prakesh and his friends gather plastic bags from the city garbage to sell them and so earn money for their one daily meal. They live in the street and sleep at the entrance ways of the temples or where they can. Sometimes they rob. The city of Katmandu is no longer the ShangriLa of those who were fleeing consumer society in the sixties and seeking refuge in the various "oriental paradises". Rather, it is a city that can hardly stand the impact of an insatiable urbanization.

"We made the film without having written the screenplay beforehand. We decided to apply a very simple working method to follow the children in their daily life and let ourselves be guided by circumstances. The second part of the film follows a trip that takes us to the home villages of the child protagonists of the film one village in the mountains on the Tibetan border the other on the Indian border This sequence grew out of our wanting to investigate more deeply into the causes that could push a child to abandon his home and family." (Angelo Fontana)

Biography

film director

Angelo Fontana

Angelo Fontana (Vercelli, 1951) is involved in ethnographic film. His films Risaia and Des rêves plein les poches were presented at the second Turin Film Festival. Presently he lives and works in Katmandu.

FILMOGRAFIA

Risaia (16mm, 1983), Des rêves plein les poches (16mm, 1984), La faccia sorridente della luna (video, 1986), Jal Dhanab (video, 1987), Gaine (video, 1988), Viaggio nei paesi sopra le nubi (video, 1991), Che cosa fa Om Prakash a Katmandu? (video, 1992).

Cast

& Credits

Director and director of photography: Angelo Fontana.
Editor: Satis Koirala, Francesca Melandri.
Cast: Om Prakash Sing, Narayan Raut Chetri, Binod Raut Chetri.
Production company and Italian distribution: Disvi, via Rossini 13, Asti, tel. +39-0141-593407.

TFF

prizes

SPAZIO TORINO COMPETITION 1992

Second Prize

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