Fairytale of Kathmandu Scoops Two International Awards
Director Neasa Ní Chianáin has picked up a number of awards for her controversial documentary Fairytale of Kathmandu,. The film has scooped the Best Director (Documentary) prize at the Ourense International Film Festival in Spain and the Film Critics Jury Award for Best Documentary at The 8th Barcelona Gay & Lesbian Film Festival over the past week.
Fairytale of Kathmandu, which was funded by RTE, Bord Scannan na hEireann/the Irish Film Board and Northern Ireland Screen, had its world premiere at IDFA in November 2007, followed by an Irish premiere in Dublin, a USA premiere in Seattle and a UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June.
The jury citation at Ourense stated that Ní Chianáin was given the Best Director award for her courage in putting herself into the film and confronting her subject. Fairytale of Kathmandu was chosen for Ourense Festival from over 500 entries, with a final competition selection of only 11 films.The Barcelona GLBT Festival was the 7th gay festival that the film has been selected for, including San Francisco, New York, Turin, Washington and Sydney, and next up on the gay circuit will be the 2nd oldest gay Festival in the world, the Reeling Festival in Chicago in November.
Fairytale of Kathmandu has also recently received funding from Culture Ireland to take her film to an event in Taiwan in December this year, and to the Adelaide International Film Festival in Australia in February 2009.