Set in Nepali village ‘’ The Mirage’’ is a poetic, meditative journey of Manish who embarks to his uncle’s house with his mother at the time of civil war. Through this journey, he discovers a beggar who changes his religion for liberation, a rebellion fighting for emancipation from capitalism and his uncle who wants freedom from rebellion group. In this ecological narrative he discovers three different life heading in a different way to achieve the common value of liberation that seems like mirage.

Director Biography - Santosh Dahal

Santosh Dahal is a Nepal-based filmmaker, graduated from screenwriting and film direction from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He worked as an assistant director in the Nepali Independent feature film ‘’Dying Candle’’ which won the best cinematography award at Queens world film festival, USA, 2016, and got selected in numerous film festival around the globe.

His graduation short film ‘’The Pledge’’ has been showcased at film festivals including the Singapore International film festival, 2016, and Queen's world film festival, 2017. He is one of the Bikalpa Cinema Society founder members and also he worked as an instructor for scriptwriting at the Everest film academy, Nepal.

Director Statement

I was raised in the period of the civil war that going on in Nepal. I witnessed the fear of war in many people’s faces.

My uncle used to work in the government office when I was a child. The Maoists banned him from working with the government and threatened him to resign from the job. When a rebellion group forced him to join the Maoist party, my uncle hide in his house. Due to the uncertainty of the ongoing civil war, he planned to escape to Assam (India).

I didn’t know much about the Maoists, nor did I know that uncle was about to leave his home. When I recall those incidents, it just appears like the images from movies. All those moments still haunt me. I still remember the moments I spent with my uncle, my journey with rebellion groups, and the beggar who shouted the values of life with the melody of music.

When I think about the ultimate goal of life, three characters of my childhood memories always hook into my head, a beggar who changed his faith from one religion to another religion, a Maoist guerrilla who fought in the war for liberation, and my uncle who escaped from his home to get rid of the threat.

Each of them has the same goal i.e. liberation, but they have their own way to achieve it. In this short film “The Mirage”, I am obsessed with presenting the impressions of my childhood memories of the civil war in a poetic way.