Jeonju Festival honors Nepali poet Khatri & team

KATHMANDU: Nepali poet and multidisciplinary artist Jeevan Khatri, along with fellow Nepali poets Sunildipta Rai and Dilip Bantawa, received high honors at the closing ceremony of the 26th Jeonju International Film Festival—one of South Korea’s top three global film festivals.

The trio starred in the poetic documentary “In the Land of Machines”, which was selected as the festival’s official closing film—an honor reserved for the most distinguished entries. According to the organizers, the opening and closing films are considered the “face of the festival,” symbolizing its artistic identity.

The red-carpet tribute also extended to the documentary’s South Korean director and producer Kim Ok-young, assistant director Kim Sun-hae, Nepali language translator E. Giju Muna, and technical lead Mohan Karki, recognizing their collaborative excellence.

This year’s Jeonju International Film Festival received 2,497 film submissions from around the world, out of which 224 films from 57 countries were selected. The festival featured 9,148 feature-length screenings and 76 short films.

Only two films were chosen for the highly coveted opening and closing slots—Romanian director Radu Jude’s Continental opened the event, while the Nepali-Korean collaborative documentary In the Land of Machines concluded it with distinction.

Festival Chairperson Min Woo-beom stated that the 2025 edition marked a record-breaking success in the festival’s history.

Poet Jeevan Khatri expressed pride, saying the international recognition had elevated Nepal’s cultural standing on the global stage.