Profile details

Deepak Rauniyar

Director

Before directing features, Deepak Rauniyar wrote about cinema as a critic. That grounding in film culture fed into Highway, his debut feature, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2012 and made him the first Nepali director to compete at a major international film festival. Rauniyar followed Highway with White Sun, a drama that premiered in Venice in 2016 and travelled through major festival programmes. The film's international path brought awards at several festivals and became Nepal's submission for the Academy Awards. Alongside directing, he has developed his practice through the Berlinale and Toronto talent programmes and the Cannes Cinefondation programme. His third feature, Pooja, Sir, placed a police investigation within the discrimination faced by Madhesi communities. It screened in the Orizzonti section at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, confirming his continued interest in stories where personal lives meet questions of identity, power and belonging.