POKHARA - Travelling Film South Asia 2004 kicked off in Pokhara this week with full house back-to-back screenings of the top films from this year's documentary fesitval. This is the first time that a documentary festival has been held in Pokhara, and the organisers Himal Association were surprised by the turnout. "It was amazing, the two halls were sold out for every film and we had to screen some of the Nepali films twice," said Basanta Thapa of Himal Association.

The event was co-organised in Pokhara by Ex-Gandaki Boarding School Alumni Association (EGBOSA). Fourteen films from Travelling Film South Asia, which will be screened internationally from January, were shown along with other documentaries of interest to Nepalis. The festival ended with the screening of Tony Hagen's Uhileko Nepal with archival footage of Pokhara 40 years ago. The enthralled audience broke into applause twice during the screening. The last two screenings of Bhedako oon jasto and Uhileko Nepal drew 1,000 viewers in the 600 capacity hall.