UK sales outfit Reason8 has picked up world sales for drama horror The Red Suitcase, the feature debut from Nepalese filmmaker Fidel Devkota, ahead of its world premiere Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section.
The mystery story unravels as a pick-up truck driver leaves Kathmandu Airport in Nepal for a two-day drive with a delivery arriving from abroad to a remote mountain village. On the high road, a solitary figure slowly makes his way, wheeling a small red suitcase toward the same village.
It is produced by Nepalese producer Ram Krishna Pokharel’s Icefall Productions, alongside Shova Thapa with Sri Lanka’s Vimukthi Jayasundara serving as co-producer.
Key cast includes Saugat Malla, Prabin Khatiwada, Bipin Karki and Shristi Shrestha.
Filmmaker and visual anthropologist Devkota’s previous credits include short films Shambala: The Story of Paradise Lost and The Last Yak Herder of Dhe.
Devkota said: “The film reflects the spirit of youth in Nepal today, who live with growing political and economic uncertainty. Even though it is a fiction film, threads of the narrative are based on events which may be hard to believe but are related as true in fables, myths, and allegories of the region. I intend to bring my discipline as an anthropologist to bear on the world of narrative fiction and experiment with meticulous ethnographical details that can deepen emotions and drive the narrative forward.”
Reason8’s Denis Krupnov added: “As a company, we always look for auteur driven socially significant and challenging subject matters. The Red Suitcase tells a powerful story and in the current global political climate its theme is more current than ever.”
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