Entertainment
The second Kathmandu Horror Film Festival has selected 26 films from 21 countries following an international call for entries. Onlinekhabar published the selection announcement on Monday, October 5 and reported that the programme contains eight feature films and 18 shorts. Five of the selected titles are Nepali productions or international co productions involving Nepal. The lineup spans horror, thriller, supernatural, dark fantasy and folklore based cinema, giving the festival a wider genre range than its name alone might suggest.
The festival is organised by the Nepal Film and Cultural Academy as a sister event to the Nepal International Film Festival. Its official website describes the Kathmandu event as a dedicated home for horror, fantasy and folklore cinema and says the first edition took place in 2025. Russian House Kathmandu, which supported the inaugural edition, is again listed by Onlinekhabar as the venue partner. The organisers say the broader goal is to develop an audience for genre filmmaking while encouraging Nepali creators to work with local myths, traditions and folklore.
Selection carried several published eligibility conditions. The official festival rules state that competition films had to be completed on or after January 1, 2023 and carry at least Nepal premiere status. Feature films were accepted at 50 to 100 minutes, while short and student films generally run from five to 30 minutes. The festival also provides categories for micro shorts under five minutes and animation or AI assisted work. Competition entries require English subtitles, an important condition for a programme bringing films from many countries to a Kathmandu audience.
Selected filmmakers now face a production deadline. The official rules say any missing press materials and the final DCP screening file must reach programmers by October 15. Required materials may include a synopsis, poster, credits, director biography, images and a trailer or teaser. The organisers state that a selected film can be rejected if the necessary screener does not arrive. That means the October 5 list is a major programming milestone, but the final screening schedule still depends on the delivery and technical preparation of the chosen titles.
There is currently a one day discrepancy in the published festival dates. Onlinekhabar’s October 5 announcement says the event will run from October 30 to November 1. The official festival About page and footer display October 31 to November 2. Because both sources are current and the organisers had not published a complete screening timetable when checked, audiences should confirm the final dates and session times on the official schedule before making plans. This article records October 30 as the announced opening date while clearly noting that the official site presently shows a different three day window.
For Nepal’s film sector, five Nepali productions or co productions in a 26 title international selection provide a concrete measure of local representation. That does not reveal their final awards prospects or audience reception. It does show that Nepali work will appear within a programme built around genres that can draw directly from the country’s storytelling traditions. The festival’s own description treats masked rituals, folklore, domestic hauntings, dystopia, animation and very short work as distinct creative approaches rather than a single commercial horror formula.
Ticketing, the full timetable and individual screening times were not included in Monday’s report. Audiences should therefore avoid assuming that every selected film will play on every festival day or that the event begins at a particular hour. The confirmed development is the 26 film selection, including eight features, 18 shorts and five Nepali productions or co productions. The next useful updates will be the final programme, resolved dates, venue sessions, jury details and ticket information from the organisers.
Source publication date: 2026-10-05. Event or reporting period: 2026-10-30.
Sources:Onlinekhabar · Kathmandu Horror Film Festival films and rules · Kathmandu Horror Film Festival about page
Source: GPT News Feed
