"The Sky Is Mine" wins €45,000 in TorinoFilmLab Audience Design Fund awards – ScreenDaily
Deepak Rauniyar is a writer, director, and producer who has made history with his acclaimed works.
His films have been showcased at prestigious film festivals and venues around the world, such as Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, Toronto, Rotterdam, Busan, Hong Kong, Sydney, and New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He is a pioneer of Nepali cinema, as his first feature, Highway (2012), was the first Nepali film to be selected for a major international film festival. His second feature, White Sun (2016), won multiple awards, including the Interfilm Award at Venice, the Best Asian Feature at Singapore, the New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize at Palm Springs, and four prizes at Fribourg. He also received recognition from The New York Times, which named him one of “The 9 New Directors You Need to Watch”, and The Los Angeles Times, which commended his “narrative gifts”. Hollywood Reporter described White Sun as “A breath of fresh air from the top of the world”. Rauniyar was honored with Nepal’s National award for best director, presented by the president of Nepal, and The Kathmandu Post listed him among the 25 movers and shakers who helped shape Nepal over the past 25 years. White Sun was also Nepal’s official entry for the 90th Oscar Award. His latest film, Four Nights (2022), competed at Berlinale and won the Best Film Award at the Nepal Human Rights Film Festival. He is currently working on his third feature film, The Sky Is Mine (2024), which won the 2019 TFL World Co-Production Award and received funding from the Norwegian Film Institute’s Sorfond. He is an alumnus of the Toronto and Berlinale Talent Campuses and the Cannes Cinéfondation Atelier and has served as a jury member at Locarno, Sydney, and Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In addition to filmmaking, he has also written and produced for BBC Media Action in Nepal, winning two BBC Global Reith Awards in 2009.
In the News
Even as the director, Deepak Rauniyar, turns opposition into a structuring principle, he creates a satisfyingly holistic work. – nytimes.com
Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has wrapped principal photography on his next feature, “Rajagunj” (“The Sky is Mine”). The film is also one of nine projects to receive funding from the Norwegian Film Institute’s Sorfond. It received NOK625,000 ($57,600). – variety.com
“Rauniyar manages space and time using a tight script and strong directorial choices to set up a lived-in slice of life on the edge of indie filmmaking.”– icsfilm.org/
Four Nights is a forceful film crafted with heart and wit, and Rauniyar returns with another gem after his critically acclaimed long feature films White Sun (2016, Venice) and Highway (2012, Berlinale/ Locarno). – http://ubiquarian.net/
Co-produced by Danny Glover’s New York-based shingle Louverture Films, “White Sun” won the Interfilm award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue at Venice… variety.com/
“That so packed (and pictorially arresting) a scenario is not only well-acted — from the kids to the elders — but handled with emotional intelligence and even eye-rolling humor, speaks to Rauniyar’s narrative gifts regarding matters of his homeland.” – latimes.com/