Friday, February 19, 2021
12:00pm – 1:30pm EST
Join us for a film screening of Baato followed by a discussion on the effects of Globalization on Nepal. Baato won third prize in the international competition at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF).
About the film: Mikma and her family collect medicinal herbs around their home nestled in the Himalaya of northeastern Nepal, before making an annual 300-kilometer migration, partly on foot and partly by ramshackle bus, to urban markets in the lowlands. The extension of the first road to, and through, their village is fitfully underway, promising less walking and perhaps a less arduous life in some distant future. Road engineers take bribes to avoid destroying homes, while laborers produce gravel, hammering down individual stones by hand. The herb collectors plot to avoid shakedowns by police and bus operators as they miraculously make their way to market. This observational film is a deep dive into a way of life that is in a slow and chaotic — and yet inexorable — transition.
Watch the Baato Trailer on Vimeo.