BISHAL ROKA MAGAR

Biography

ishal Roka Magar is an independent filmmaker from the western hills of Nepal. Since 2013, he has been learning and making films with his local team and friends. After creating several lesser-known films and music videos, he gained recognition in 2021 with his documentary Gurkha Girl (Lahureni). The film won Best National Documentary at the Nepal International Film Festival 2022, Best Debut Film at Film South Asia 2022, and was selected for many other national and international festivals. Bishal is also the founder of Black Sulpa Production. He learned the basics of filmmaking through a short course in Kathmandu and earned a diploma from Dov Simons’s Cinema Director and Film Production program. Born in 1992, Bishal grew up in a remote village in Rolpa, among the indigenous Magar Khaam community, a region shaped by Nepal’s Maoist insurgency and far from cinema culture. Inspired by the untold stories of his homeland, he uses films to bring the lives, struggles, and dreams of his community to the wider world. His work is a tribute to his roots and his mission to share unseen stories from the heart of Nepal through cinema.