Kathmandu’s Next Big Screen Adventure Has a Dark Side

QFX Cinemas interior. Contextual cinema photograph; not the announced horror-festival venue.

A familiar place can become unsettling on screen with a different camera angle, an unexplained sound or a story nobody quite finishes telling. Kathmandu’s horror-film festival makes room for that kind of imagination—and for Nepali filmmakers who want to take local storytelling somewhere darker.

Twenty-six films, many ways to be afraid

Onlinekhabar’s October 5, 2026 announcement reported a selection of 26 films for the festival’s second edition: eight features and 18 shorts, spanning 21 countries. Five were identified as Nepali productions or co-productions. The report named Russian House Kathmandu as the venue partner.

Those numbers suggest a programme worth approaching with curiosity rather than a single expectation of what horror must look like. A short film and a full-length feature have different amounts of time to build suspense. A supernatural story can sit beside a thriller without asking the audience to enjoy both for exactly the same reason.

The announcement is a programme overview, not a review of films we have watched. Individual screening times, access arrangements and the final running order should be checked with the festival before planning a visit.

A place for the stories that are difficult to classify

The festival’s own website describes its focus as horror, fantasy and folklore. It identifies the Nepal Film & Cultural Academy as organiser and the Nepal International Film Festival as a sister event. Its stated ambition is to bring genre films to a live Kathmandu audience.

That emphasis on folklore creates a particularly interesting opening. A filmmaker can begin with a local story, landscape or unsettling idea and give it a cinematic form. The creative challenge is to make it work as a film, allowing characters and atmosphere to carry the audience rather than relying on a familiar label.

The event’s website, checked on October 6, lists October 30–November 1, 2026. Some other organiser pages still displayed different dates, so the festival’s live programme is the best place to confirm details before attending.

Let the audience be surprised

For viewers, the attraction is the chance to step outside an ordinary watchlist. Arrive willing to encounter an unfamiliar director or a short film from a country whose cinema you rarely see. Leave room for discussion afterwards: the most effective moment may be a silence, a visual detail or a story that refuses to settle neatly.

Nepal’s screen culture deserves space for experiments like this. A country can tell stories about itself through laughter, tenderness, suspense and unease. Kathmandu’s darkened screening rooms offer another place to try.

From the OMG Nepal archive: Creativity in the Films – Young Nepali Filmmakers in Action.