KATHMANDU, May 11: A smartphone filmmaking workshop in Kathmandu ended last week with a screening that left many of its young participants reflecting less on what they had produced, and more on how they now see their surroundings.
Organized under the American Film Showcase program at the U.S. Embassy Kathmandu and led by filmmaker and advertising professional Izzy Chan, the five-day “Smartphone Cinematography and Digital Distribution” workshop brought together emerging Nepali storytellers to create short documentaries using only smartphones.
Participants were divided into groups and assigned themes ranging from food and fashion to technology and social issues, with the aim of producing three-to-five-minute documentary films.
But while the workshop focused on technical learning, several participants said the experience went far beyond filmmaking.
Among the final works was a documentary titled Safaiwala by Gopal BK (27) and Asoq Pathak (28), which focused on sanitation workers and challenged how they are commonly labeled in Nepali society.
The film questions the use of terms that reduce workers to the waste they handle, arguing instead for recognition of their role in keeping cities functional. “We are the ones producing waste, but we call the person who cleans it a garbage man,” the filmmakers said. “That framing itself is wrong.”
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Their documentary follows Shukraj Rai, a young worker at a landfill site near Kathmandu airport, close to the Guheshwori Bridge area. Rai, in his late twenties, sorts waste daily at the site. He describes his job as essential to maintaining a cleaner and less polluted city and says he is comfortable with his work. However, he has not told his girlfriend about his job, instead saying he works at a department store.
The film also captures the physical realities of the work, including improper waste segregation that forces workers to handle hazardous materials directly. Rai shows injuries on his hands, which he says come from sorting mixed waste.
For Pathak, witnessing this changed how he viewed everyday waste disposal. “After seeing his hands, I realized how careless we are,” he said. “From now on, I will make sure to segregate waste properly.”
For several participants, the workshop’s impact extended beyond learning how to shoot and edit on smartphones.
Rojina Adhikari , 18, who recently began working in content creation, joined the workshop expecting to build technical skills and connect with people in the field. Her team worked on a documentary featuring a wheelchair developed by Nepal’s National Innovation Center. The device, priced around Rs 86,000 is designed to improve accessibility for users and reflects growing local efforts in assistive technology.
For Adhikari, the workshop offered both exposure and practical learning- from shooting on smartphones to understanding how accessible storytelling can be. “I joined to learn and meet people working in this field,” she said.
Another group worked on a documentary centered on momo, using the popular Nepali dish as a lens to explore food culture and everyday consumption- part of a wider set of themes that included technology, fashion, and social issues.
Participants said working within such varied subjects allowed them to approach storytelling in different ways, even within a short production timeline. At the end of the workshop, participants were awarded certificates for completing the training, marking the conclusion of the five-day program.
While the workshop was designed as a technical introduction to smartphone filmmaking, participants said it ultimately became something more reflective, and a way of seeing both stories and society differently.
For some, it was about reframing how labor is perceived. For others, it was about accessibility, innovation, or everyday culture. But across all groups, a common thread emerged: the process of filming stories also changed how they understood them, with the workshop’s impact extending beyond the screen.
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