Entertainment
Kathmandu Film Festival begins on Friday, October 30, with Kathmandu Metropolitan City now publishing participation information and a detailed programme for the three day event. The official KMC notice was published on October 28 at 10:23 am Nepal time and links to the festival programme. Its opening schedule places the inauguration at Juddha Salik in Basantapur at 7:00 pm NPT on October 30.
The same outdoor programme lists the short films Citizen, God of Love and Do You Dream in Color? from 7:00 pm, followed by the classic Nepali film Sindoor at 8:30 pm. These are scheduled times rather than reports of completed screenings. The festival continues through Sunday, November 1, with free entry, but several indoor sessions require advance seat reservations and availability can change.
This is a practical update to the earlier partnership announcement because audiences now have named films, venues and session times rather than only the overall festival dates.
The main weekend screenings are divided between Jai Nepal Cinema and Rastriya Sabha Griha. The public reservation schedule lists Dear You at 11:00 am and Bayaan at 1:30 pm on Saturday at Jai Nepal, followed by an international short film package at 4:30 pm and La Gradiva at 6:30 pm. Saturday’s City Hall programme begins with Nepali Short Films I at 11:00 am and a group of Yamagata UNESCO Film City shorts at 1:30 pm.
On Sunday, Jai Nepal is scheduled to show The King’s Warden at 11:00 am, Not a Hero at 1:30 pm, No Good Men at 4:00 pm and The Godfather at 6:30 pm. City Hall’s Sunday schedule includes Kumari at 1:30 pm, Nepali Short Films II at 4:30 pm and Nepali Short Films III at 6:30 pm. Some sessions were already marked sold out when the schedule was checked on October 30, while others still showed free seats.
Readers should therefore verify availability through the current booking page rather than assuming that free admission guarantees entry.
The festival also includes discussions, masterclasses and heritage focused activities. OnlineKhabar reported on October 27 that Indian actor Shabana Azmi will participate in a conversation on cinema, festivals and a meaningful life at the Nepal Tourism Board on October 31. The same report says Japanese director Takayuki Nakamura will present material connected with Yamagata, another UNESCO Creative City of Film, at Rastriya Sabha Griha.
It also records that ten works were selected from seventy five submissions for the Nepal Panorama Shorts section, with each selected film receiving a Rs 100,000 incentive award. Nepali Times reported on October 28 that the full festival will showcase forty feature films and documentaries from fourteen countries, including a retrospective celebrating Nepali cinema from the 1970s and 1980s.
That report identifies Kumari as Nepal’s first colour feature film and confirms that screenings and events are free.
The programme’s structure is important beyond any single guest or screening. It links commercial cinemas, public halls and heritage spaces while giving emerging Nepali filmmakers a place alongside international work and restored classics. The use of Basantapur for the opening also presents film as a public cultural activity rather than an event confined to ticketed auditoriums.
At the same time, visitors need to distinguish free admission from unlimited capacity. Reserved indoor sessions can fill, individual venues have different timetables, and a film listed in the programme can still be subject to an operational change. The safest planning approach is to confirm the latest session status, venue and reservation requirement before travelling.
This update preserves the festival’s earlier confirmed dates and partnerships while adding the practical information audiences need now that the event has entered its opening day.
Source publication date: 2026-10-28. Event or reporting period: Kathmandu Film Festival runs from October 30 to November 1, 2026.
Sources:Radio Nepal / RSS, October 21, 2026 at 9:05 am NPT; current KMC partnership announcement and original article featured image · Kathmandu Metropolitan City official participation notice, October 28, 2026 at 10:23 am NPT; programme and opening schedule · Kathmandu Film Festival public reservation schedule, checked October 30, 2026; weekend screening times and live seat availability · OnlineKhabar, October 27, 2026; Shabana Azmi, programme activities and Nepal Panorama selection details · Nepali Times, October 28, 2026; forty films from fourteen countries, free entry and programme context
Source: GPT News Feed
