Jio MAMI 2023 | ‘Everyone let the migrant workers down during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar’: Nepalese anthropologist-filmmaker Fidel Devkota

(Right) Nepalese film 'The Red Suitcase', directed by Fidel Devkota is part of the South Asian Competition category at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.

Born in Nepal's Gorkha district, which is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including the mighty Annapurna, Fidel Devkota is a trained filmmaker and a well-known anthropologist. Alarmed by the environmental degradation in the Himalayan region, Devkota has sworn to use cinema to fight climate change. The filmmaker, who shares his time between Berlin and Kathmandu, has dealt with climate change in his non-feature films like Shambala: The Story of Paradise Lost (2011) on Tibetan Buddhism’s reverence of nature to analyse migration and adaptation, The Last Yak Herder of Dhe (2014) about loss of livelihoods from climate change and Wind of Change in Lo Mustang (2016) about how communities in the Lo Mustang region of Nepal perceive climate change. Devkota was well on his way to make his first feature film on the imminent climate catastrophe in the Himalayan region when the coronavirus pandemic pushed him away from the production. Instead, he decided to tell the story of immigrant workers from South Asia involved in the construction of 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums.

The Red Suitcase, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Venice Film Festival's Orizzonti competition category, draws on the Himalayan region's distinct cultures and symbols to paint a poignant tale of loss and despair. Part of the South Asia Competition at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, October 27-November 5, the film sews the scars of of the decade-long civil war in Nepal that led to the abolition of monarchy together with the current tragedy of the country's immigrant workers. Devkota talks to Moneycontrol about the making of the film. Excerpts from an interview:

Fidel Devkota is a trained filmmaker and a well-known anthropologist.

You were working on your first feature film, Kangling, before the pandemic, a project focused on climate change impacting the Himalayan region that was part of the Cannes L’Atelier selection for promoting new works of emerging filmmakers in 2019. How did The Red Suitcase become your first feature film?

As I was trying to get the necessary funding for Kangling, which is from my standard a high budget film pandemic hit us all. It restricted our movement thus the plan for Kangling came to a pause. The pandemic changed our lives in so many ways. As the death toll was rising, I started wondering what if I die here in Berlin. How will they take me back to my roots in Nepal? And so many other questions started to pop in during the lockdown. As I was contemplating my own life as an immigrant in Berlin, I was also following the local news in Nepal, a disturbing one. Almost everyday, numerous dead bodies of migrant workers were coming home from Qatar, who perished while making necessary infrastructures for the FIFA World Cup 2022. One picture on an online portal really grabbed my attention and inspired me to write The Red Suitcase.

What was the development process for The Red Suitcase?

The development of The Red Suitcase was natural and script work was fairly quick. As I shared the first draft with my friend Saurav Rai (Darjeeling-based director of Guras, which is also in the same South Asian Competition at Mumbai Film Festival) and Ram Krishna Pokharel, who produced both our films, they gave their inputs and I did further work and the final draft was ready almost in no time. I was working like someone who was possessed by the bleak news. It was a story that was very personal in so many ways to all of us in Nepal and I had to tell it, soon. Ram Krishna Pokharel, the producer, who was my classmate at our film school, was convinced and determined to produce the film because we wanted the film to come around the World Cup for many reasons so that nobody forgets the brutalities and also the contributions of the migrant workers from the our region. The production followed the philosophy of minimalist cinema, almost, including the budget, which was relatively small. We still faced difficulties as we didn't have state support. Later Vimukthi Jayasundara, the legendary Sri Lankan filmmaker, got involved in the production process. From cinematography to editing and colour to sound we have used talents from Nepal, Sri Lanka and India. So it is totally a South Asian film, which is a unique feat. From the script to the production it took nine months and the post-production took almost a year-and-a-half. The film got selected to Venice festival, which was a dream come true, not just because it was my debut film but it was also the biggest platform where I could tell the story of the migrant workers most of whom perished in obscurity. I think The Red Suitcase will not let them be forgotten in the history of sports, in the history of mankind. it is a tribute to all the migrant workers of the world.

The Red Suitcase, Fidel Devkota's debut feature film, premiered at the Venice festival this year.

The Red Suitcase reflects a dark chapter in the history of FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted by Qatar in 2022. Official figures by Nepal government say 2,100 Nepalese workers died in Qatar since 2010 though Qatar has strongly denied any immigrant workers' deaths. What were its repercussions on the Nepalese society?

There were several negative consequences on Nepalese society. The families, society and local value system are broken and many children are growing up without parents. I fear for the worst in the future as further scars will be visible.

What were your findings about the deaths related to 2022 World Cup during your research for the film in Nepal?

Most of the deaths were due to terrible inhumane working conditions which could have been avoided. But the migrant workers were treated as expendables and they were deprived of basic human rights and dignity and the world chose to look the other way. Everyone, FIFA, human fights agencies, governments, media, United Nations, all of them let the migrant workers down. You can’t imagine how the families of the dead ones are surviving and you hear the news that FIFA made billions in profit.

You employ a dark and surreal visual narrative to bring out the pain and suffering of the Nepalese society from the tragedy. What were your thoughts while writing the script as an anthropologist with years of research experience?

As an anthropologist, it was ‘anthropology at home’ for me. Most part of the film is also very self-reflexive. There are numerous cultural and historical references in the film which come from my anthropological background. Also, I have tried to use the local visual language hoping that we can create and explore our own visual cultures of the region.

The Red Suitcase explores loss and despair in the poignant tale of immigrant workers from Nepal.

The film intertwines the tragedies of the decade-long government-Maoist civil war that ended in 2006 and the story of Nepalese immigrant workers in Qatar. Your comment.

The root causes of mass migration from Nepal are political, economic and environmental instability. I have tried to address these issues in the film in some way or form. The film is also the contemporary history of Nepal.

Are there any governmental or civil society initiatives to help the families of the Nepalese immigrant workers?

Too little, too less. Those who are gone are gone, but those who left their families behind should not be forgotten. Sadly there is no accountability from authorities concerned in Nepal and abroad.

A still from The Red Suitcase.

According to official data, more than a quarter of Nepal’s population have migrated abroad since 1994, a process that is still continuing. How are socio-economic and political factors and environmental degradation in the Himalayan villages because of climate change expediting this exodus?

It will only get worse in the future as we are doing almost nothing about it.

What is your next film?

We are already working on Kangling and trying to get the necessary resources for the film. We are still not there but there are a few positive developments.