Kathmandu Acting Mayor Sunita Dangol Departs for Cannes Film Festival

KATHMANDU — Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Acting Mayor Sunita Dangol left for France today to attend the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

According to KMC, Dangol is visiting France at the official invitation of the Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard. She is scheduled to participate in various sessions and high-level events throughout the festival before returning to Nepal on May 22 (Jeth 8).

Both Cannes and Kathmandu share a unique global bond as member cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) under the film category. Kathmandu was officially designated as a UNESCO “City of Film” on October 31, 2023.

“The Cannes Festival serves as a premier platform to bring creative cities together. This year’s festival will offer valuable insights into the audiovisual content chain through dedicated sessions titled ‘On-Air’,” Mayor Lisnard noted in his invitation letter to Dangol.

During her visit, Dangol is slated to hold bilateral meetings with Cannes Mayor Lisnard and the festival’s directors to discuss cultural exchanges and city-to-city cooperation.

This year’s festival holds special significance for Nepal, as the Nepali short film Elephant in the Fog, directed by Abinash Bikram Shah, is set to be showcased. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network currently encompasses over 400 cities across more than 100 countries, all leveraging creativity for sustainable urban development.