Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

"In a remote Nepalese village, Prakash and Kiran, two 12-year-olds, who despite belonging to different castes, are inseparable best mates. They decide on a plan to raise a hen to earn some money by selling its eggs. Their new business venture seems to be working, but as times get hard, Prakash's father sells off all his chickens including the boy's hen. Prakash and Kiran find out that their hen has been sold to an old man many villages away and set out on an adventure to liberate their prized fowl. However, in their single-minded obsession, the youngsters are oblivious to the growing civil war brewing in the region and they soon find themselves travelling through some very dangerous territory, where their friendship will be put to the test" - from the London Indian Film Festival.

Director Min Bahadur Bham was the first Nepali director to have a film presented at Venice Film Festival - his 2012 short 'The Flute'. In 'The Black Hen', his first full feature film, he brings alive his own childhood in eastern Nepal, drawing incidents and stories from his own life, showing harsh lives unravelling in a devastated land, with a deft combination of humour and tragedy. This film, too, won Best Film at the critics week in Venice and was the Nepalese choice for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Like 'The Crow's Nest' last year, we expect 'The Black Hen' to bring a couple of likable young lads to our screen, but this one should have a lot more added bite with the background of the civil war in Nepal.