By: DHERRAN TITHERINGTON
It began for Nepali at 14, when a blonde-haired charitable woman arrived at her orphanage in Nepal with a collection of cameras. The photography project that ensued, led Nepali on a lifelong pursuit of filmmaking. She speaks of her initial moments with the camera, and how instantly she knew this was going to be her ticket to a better life.
The journey was a tumultuous one, as evidenced by the documentary film produced by her old friend, Sue Carpenter, the original catalyst to the story. Upon Sue’s departure from the orphanage, the cameras were removed, and Nepali’s hopes flattened. A few years later, now an adult, the dawning realization of her minimal education and prospect of genuine employment, forced her to succumb to marriage. A year later she delivered a baby girl, to her abusive and alcoholic husband’s dismay.
Low-caste girls, like Belmaya, are effectively at the very bottom of the social hierarchy. They have virtually no liberty. They have no hopes of education, for they are needed in the fields and the domestic chores of the house. The promise of marriage portends to act as a gateway to a better life, only to reduce the woman to property of the husband and his family. 40% of Nepalese women are married under the age of 18: these figures are terrifying.
The cycle can only be broken through education. Belmaya’s intention in creating her films is to expose the elements of female oppression in modern-day Nepal that go undiscussed, whether that be due to shame or stigma, or simply the absence of someone who will listen. There is no escape once the credits roll, for Belmaya still lives within the confines she exposes. Her films are made by someone who lives within the oppression that they explore.
Her first film, ‘Educate our daughters’ is a powerful and ambitious narration of the necessity for girls to arm themselves with the very tools in which they can escape their own confines of poverty. It won the Short Film Competition at UK Asian Film Festival in 2019 and was selected for the online archive at Women’s Voices Now. Nepali’s work has been selected for various film festivals across the world and continues to illuminate her intense passion for women’s right to education.
A powerful symbol within Belmaya’s first film, and the documentary of her life, is her young daughter. She is perpetually joyful and energetic. She does not yet know that her life should have followed the predetermined path of her mother and those many women before her.
Belmaya refuses to allow her daughter to receive this fate, and through her film one views her powerful maternal love, which refuses to put her daughter through the same hardships she had to endure. Bipana is educated and raised by a mother who is working to forge her own paths in life.
‘I am Belmaya’, co-directed by herself, and Sue Carpenter, is available on Netflix, and details her journey to where she is today.
I recommend watching her short films, ‘Educate Our Daughters’ and ‘Rowing Against the Flow’ to celebrate and enjoy the work of this inspirational emerging filmmaker