KATHMANDU: Award winning film-maker Min Bahadur Bham’s Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen) is one of the seven titles competing in the International Film Critics’ Week of the 72nd Venice Film Festival. With this Kalo Pothi has become the first Nepali feature film to participate in the prestigious film festival to be held in Italy from September 2 to 12, a press meet held at Nepal Tourism Board on August 2 informed.

“It is a big step for Nepali film industry,” Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, one of the producers of the film expressed about the movie’s selection at the film fest. “And I am excited and lucky to be a part of this project — though it was not easy to make the movie, its success has proved that you always get the fruit of hard work.”

The Critics’ Week line up has 10 debut works from different parts of the globe — seven works competing in section, and Kalo Pothi is one of them. The other countries to make it to this section include Australia, UK, Italy, Portugal, China, Turkey, and Singapore.

Bham’s directorial debut is basically a story of two young close friends — Prakash and Kiran — with the decade-long civil war of Nepal in the backdrop. In the midst of the war, a ceasefire is announced and the two friends also start feeling the change. Though divided by caste and social creed, the duo remain inseparable and start raising a hen — with hopes to save money by selling its eggs. But the hen goes missing. To find the missing hen, they embark their journey relentlessly, completely unaware of the tyranny brought by broken ceasefire where they witness various unimaginable events.

But when will the film be released in Nepal? “Sometime in Mangsir or Falgun, the date has not been finalised yet but will be released within this year,” informed Bham adding, “After Venice, it will be released in 34 different countries around the world.”

Shot in Mugu district of Nepal, the film is a co-production of Nepal, Switzerland, Germany, and France. The film’s screenplay is by Bham and Abinash Bikram Shah. Made in a budget of Rs 30,000,000, the movie stars Khadka Raj Nepali, Sukra Raj Rokaya, Jit Bahadur Malla, Hansha Khadka, Benisha Hamal, Nanda Prashad Khatri, Bipin Karki, and Pravin Khatiwada.