The Karnali International Film Festival (KIFF) places climate action at the heart of its festival vision, recognizing cinema as a powerful medium for raising awareness, inspiring dialogue, and encouraging meaningful change. Through compelling stories and visual narratives, films can bring the realities of climate change closer to audiences and help communities understand the environmental challenges shaping their future.
Karnali, with its mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, biodiversity, and rich cultural heritage, is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Changing weather patterns, natural disasters, water insecurity, ecosystem degradation, and the growing risks to traditional livelihoods are creating new challenges for local communities. KIFF seeks to bring these stories from Karnali and other vulnerable regions to national and international audiences.
The festival will provide a dedicated platform for climate-focused films, documentaries, short films, and visual storytelling that explore environmental challenges, climate resilience, conservation, sustainable development, and community-led solutions. These films will not only document the problems but also highlight hope, innovation, indigenous knowledge, and practical responses to the climate crisis.
KIFF believes that storytelling can turn awareness into action. By connecting filmmakers, environmental experts, researchers, activists, young people, local communities, policymakers, and tourism stakeholders, the festival will create opportunities for meaningful conversations around climate change. Panel discussions, workshops, film screenings, and community programs will encourage participants to explore how creative industries can contribute to environmental advocacy and sustainable development.
The festival also promotes sustainable film production and responsible tourism. KIFF aims to encourage filmmakers and festival participants to reduce environmental impacts through responsible production practices, waste reduction, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and respect for local ecosystems and communities. At the same time, the festival will promote Karnali as a destination for responsible film tourism that values nature, culture, and local livelihoods.
Through the Cinema and Climate Action focus, KIFF seeks to build a stronger connection between environmental storytelling and real-world action. The festival will encourage filmmakers to become climate storytellers and audiences to become informed and engaged citizens, demonstrating that cinema can be a powerful catalyst for conservation, social responsibility, and climate resilience.
Ultimately, KIFF envisions a future where film becomes a bridge between people, nature, culture, and climate action. By bringing powerful stories from Karnali to the world, the festival aims to inspire a new generation to protect the planet, preserve cultural heritage, support sustainable communities, and take collective action for a safer and more resilient future.
This year’s programme explores the role film can play in expanding the conversation around climate adaptation in the Himalayas.