The Karnali International Film Festival has been organizing various programs this year. As part of this initiative, the Rara Film Tourism and Climate Summit was held for the first time on the banks of Rara Lake to contribute to the development of the overall Nepali film industry and tourism in the Karnali region.

Another key objective of the summit was to raise awareness about climate change from the Rara region and to initiate a campaign combining film tourism with climate consciousness. The summit was organized effectively and had a significant impact.

The chief guest of the summit was Mr. Manjan Bahadur Karki, Chairperson of the Mugu District Coordination Committee. Special guests included Mr. Dinesh DC, Chairperson of the Film Development Board; Mr. Bishnu Kumar Bham, Mayor of Rara Chayanath Municipality; Mr. Top B.C., Chairperson of Gurans Rural Municipality; Mr. Keshar Jung Shahi, Vice-Chair of Soru Rural Municipality; Ms. Shiva Khadka, Vice-Chair of Gurans Rural Municipality; along with various ward chairpersons.

Veteran actress and director Deepashree Niraula, actor Pradeep Khadka, senior officer of the Nepal Tourism Board Mr. Gopal Bhandari, and several local representatives including ward chairs and community leaders from Soru Rural Municipality actively participated in the summit.

All speakers emphasized that such summits have brought the voices of Karnali to national and international platforms and expressed strong commitment to future collaboration.

Prior to this, festival events were successfully held in Surkhet and Dailekh. The closing and award ceremony of the festival will be held in Kathmandu.

With the slogan “Let’s travel Karnali, let’s watch Karnali,” the festival aims to promote Nepali cinema while also highlighting the tourism and climate issues of the Karnali region on international platforms.