Deepak Rauniyar

A fellow of TIFF Talent Lab [2013], Berlinale Talents [2012] and National Film and Television School of UK [NFTS, 2010], Deepak Rauniyar has worked as a senior writer/ producer for the BBC World Service Trust, where he wrote and directed several award-winning radio dramas.

His short film Chaukaith (2008) (Threshold) screened internationally and was awarded a Special Jury prize at the Ahmedabad International Film Festival and the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.

His 2012 feature film debut, Highway, which premiered at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, was the first Nepali film ever to screen at a major global festival. Marking this event, BBC wrote, "It has taken nearly 50 years for a Nepali film to be shown at a major global film festival, for a industry which produces about 80 films a year." HIGHWAY provoked a tumultuous response with its realistic characters and their taboo-shrouded issues. The film opened the New York Museum of Modern Art's 2013 ContemporAsian, a series contemporary Asian Cinema and received a week-long run at the Museum. Highway received wide theatrical release in Nepal and Australia, and has screened internationally at festivals, universities and museums. Harvard University has picked the film to include in the syllabus for their world cinema literature course.