Seahorse
A 15 min short film

A love story about coming home

A random encounter. A sudden impulse to follow a stranger. Two Non-Resident-Nepalis, back in Kathmandu after years abroad. Though from different backgrounds, they recognise in each other the homelessness and desperation of being caught between two worlds. During a short and intense love affair, they explore their nostalgic feelings for this place once called home.

Julia is a young Nepali woman who has been living and working in London for the past 14 years. She has a career and friends but part of her still wonders what her life in Nepal could be like. When she returns to Kathmandu for her sister’s wedding she hopes to find an answer to this question. However the reality of home, with pressure from her family to settle and get married, is a place she struggles to connect with.

In a restaurant she meets Girish, who has just come back from working in the Gulf and is taking a breather in the city before returning to his village where he is promised to marry. Acting on a sudden impulse, Julia joins Girish on a rambling journey through Kathmandu.

Recognising a shared feeling of not knowing where they belong, they rediscover the city together.  And as they open themselves up to the magic of Kathmandu, they open up to each other and discover tenderness, intimacy and hope in the midst of their confusion and displacement.

As Julia sees the place she left in a new light, she becomes capable of letting go of her nostalgic attachment to it. The intensity of their connection pushes Girish to realise his own dreams. But is carving a different future, away family commitments a bigger jump than Girish is willing to take? And will the gap between who Julia has become and the place she left prove to be too big?

My first fiction film, a 15 minutes short, was filmed in Kathmandu in June 2011. An amazing and fun process. Now awaits postproduction..

Thanks to all who helped make it happen

- Rasmus