kimff 2026: JURY
KIMFF 2026 brings together a distinguished panel of filmmakers, programmers, critics, and storytellers to evaluate this year’s official selections. We are honored to welcome the following jury members across our International and Nepal Panorama categories.
International Jury
Chalida Uabumrungjit
Director, Film Archive (Thailand)
Chalida Uabumrungjit graduated in film from Thammasat University and film archiving from the University of East Anglia, UK. She is one of the founding members of the Thai Short Film and Video Festival, which she has served as Festival Director since 1997. She has been involved in making a number of experimental films and documentaries. She was a member of the selection committee of AND (Asian Network of Documentary) Busan International Film Festival from 2006–2018. From 2013–2022, she was on the Executive Committee of FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives). She has served as the Director of the Film Archive, Thailand since 2019.
Deepti DCunha
International Film Programmer
Head of Jury Deepti DCunha is a Mumbai-based Film Programmer specialising in Contemporary Indian & South Asian Cinema. She is currently a Consultant with Fondazione Prada Film Fund. She served as Artistic Director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2023 and 2024. She has been the sole features curator and programmer for the ‘Viewing Room’ section and the ‘Work-in-Progress Lab’ for India’s largest Film Market, NFDC Film Bazaar, from 2011–2022. She has worked as a South Asian Consultant across prestigious Indian and International Film Festivals for the past fifteen years, including Venice, Rome, Locarno, Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Pingyao and other Chinese festivals, and the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. She is passionate about sourcing cinematic talent and providing a festival platform to independent filmmakers from South Asia.
Kumar Nagarkoti
Writer & Dramatist (Nepal)
Kumar Nagarkoti is widely regarded as one of Nepal’s most experimental and intellectually engaging contemporary writers. His literary creations have cultivated a devoted readership in Nepal and among the Nepali diaspora, particularly among young intellectuals, creative professionals, artists, filmmakers, and literary enthusiasts. His writings and performances are noted for their thought-provoking content, artistic innovation, and deep engagement with social and philosophical realities. Through both print and audiovisual mediums, he continues to contribute significantly to Nepal’s contemporary creative and cultural dialogue. His dramatic works Coma, A Political Sex and Jhyalincha have been internationally performed and critically appreciated, demonstrating his strong command over dramatic structure, visual imagination, and performance aesthetics.
Luca Bich
Artistic Co-Director, Cervino CineMountain Festival (Italy)
Luca Bich graduated from the DAMS faculty in Bologna with a thesis in visual anthropology on the cinema of Jean Rouch. In 1992, he launched Filmontagna, a travelling mountain film festival, now in its 34th edition. In 1998, together with the municipality of Aosta, he organized the first edition of Strade del Cinema, which later became the Festival of Silent Films with Live Music. Since 2007, he has been, alongside Luisa Montrosset, artistic co-director of the Cervino CineMountain International Film Festival, now in its 29th edition, and a member and founding partner of the IAMF (International Alliance for Mountain Film). He is a member of the Comité du Film Ethnographique, which organizes the Jean Rouch Festival at the Quai Branly in Paris. Luca has worked as a film director and is a producer for L’EUBAGE, a production company based in the Aosta Valley, Italy. He specializes in creative and investigative documentaries, both feature-length and short.
Nepal Panorama Jury
Lucie de Barros
Culture & Communication Coordinator, Alliance Française Kathmandu
Lucie de Barros is the Culture and Communication Coordinator at Alliance Française Kathmandu. She has worked in similar roles in Bangladesh and Myanmar, with a strong focus on promoting cultural exchange. Passionate about cinema, Lucie has also worked as a film programmer for a French film festival.
Nabin Chauhan
Filmmaker & Founder, Artmandu (Nepal)
Nabin Chauhan is a Nepali filmmaker, writer, and director whose work explores the emotional and cultural textures of life in eastern Nepal. Originally from Satterupa, Panchthar, he is the founder of Artmandu, a creative platform through which he has created a series of widely acclaimed musical films, recognized for their lyrical visual language and deep cultural resonance.
His debut feature film Unko Sweater (ऊनको स्वीटर) marks a significant voice in contemporary Nepali cinema, offering a tender and immersive portrayal of interwoven communities in Nepal’s hill regions. With a keen sensitivity to human relationships and social nuance, Nabin crafts stories that are both locally grounded and universally relatable.
Blending realism with a poetic sensibility, his work reflects an ongoing engagement with identity, memory, and belonging—positioning him among a new generation of filmmakers shaping the evolving landscape of Nepali cinema.
Reena Moktan
Film Critic, Kantipur Daily (Nepal)
Reena Moktan has been writing film reviews, in-depth reports, and analytical articles related to film in Nepal’s national daily Kantipur for the past seven years. In 2025, she was invited as a press delegate to the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. She was selected as a Berlinale Talent 2026 at the Berlin International Film Festival, in Talent Press—the first in this category from Nepal. She is Vice President of the Film Critics Society of Nepal (FICSON) and believes cinema has the power to change thoughts, shape perspectives, and ultimately transform society. Despite a burgeoning film industry, Nepali films have started making their presence felt in prestigious global festivals like Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. As someone actively involved in the field, she understands the importance of criticism in shaping both Nepali films and the industry.