Actress Nisha Adhikari in Snow Flowers
Nepal isn’t exactly well known for its filmmaking industry, but a few movies do come out of the Himalayan country (and have done for the last six decades), and now it’s getting it’s very first gay themes one. The AFP reports that shooting is complete on Snow Flowers, a lesbian love story that some in the local press have (rather reductively) dubbed ‘Brokeback Everest’.
The movie, directed by Paris-based film-maker Subarna Thapa, stars top Nepalese actresses, Dia Maskey and Nisha Adhikari, in a story of two women who are tormented by their feelings for one another. “It’s two individuals falling in love and facing all the controversy and restrictions, and mental, emotional and physical traumas of being a lesbian in Nepal,” Adhikari says, “It’s a simple love story with a lot of complications.”
The film recently finished shooting and in due out in the spring. Many in Nepal are already wondering how the movie will go down in the country. The largely Hindu society is renowned for being pretty conservative, yet conversely the country has some of the most liberal laws concerning gay rights. Discrimination based on sexual orientation has been outlawed by the Supreme Court and is expected to be enshrined in Nepal’s new constitution. However social attitudes aren’t always as forward thinking, and the film deals with the difficulties many gay people still face in the country.
Gay people have been seen in previous Nepalese movies, but have generally been figures of fun. Adhikari says, “The entire movie is based on the trauma – what it is like not being able to come out and live your life because there are so many restrictions. There is no liberty in not living your life the way you want, irrespective of who you are attracted to sexually. This movie will be an eye-opener for a lot of people who have just viewed these issues very superficially.”
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