Reel Affirmations: The Nation's LGBT Film Festival 2008

What begins as an homage to a celebrated local Irish poet takes a dark turn when the director uncovers suspicions regarding the poet's support of teenage boys in Nepal.

Director Neasa Ni Chianáin accompanies openly gay poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh on one of his annual spiritual journeys to Nepal, where he provides financial support to a community of young Nepalese men and boys. Welcomed into their inner circle, the young men, treat him like a member of their family. The film provides a unique glimpse into the lives of the young Nepali men and their families and demonstrates how the poet has created an extended family and second home in the country.

During the course of filming the documentary, however, the director begins to suspect that all is not what is seems and eventually feels compelled to confront the poet about allegations that his relationships with some of the young men may be inappropriate. The powerful discussion and confrontation are captured on film as the director unexpectedly becomes a critical part of her own documentary.

English, Gaelic, Nepalese (English subtitles)

60 minutes

Preceded by: Escrito

Filmmaker Monica Enriquez poetically describes her identity as a lesbian immigrant living in the US.

...a controversial and brave documentary..."Fairytale of Kathmandu" is a film you will want to see, for a wider variety of reasons than with almost any other documentary. Seattle Film Festival Review

For years, Cathal Ó Searcaigh's trips to Nepal have attracted bemused praise and admiration. People love the idea of an eccentric poet traveling from his hillside cottage in Donegal to the Far East on journeys...in the end, the portrait of him that emerges is of a lonely man...bewildered, as ever, by the rules and mores of civil society and the ways in which they inhibit him. Sunday Independent