Highway to Dhampus – A Nepal Love Story

Highway To Dhampus is a romantic drama movie made by producer John de Blas Williams and director Rick McFarland. Along with the American actor, Gunner Wright, who has previously worked in movies like, ‘Love’ and ‘Dead Space”, Nepalese movie star, Raj Ballav Koirala was also seen sharing space in the movie. The movie was released on September 2015.

When Mr. Rick McFarland visited Nepal in 2010, he was utterly impressed by Nepali culture, people and the beauty of the country. He fell in love with this beautiful country. A visit to Nepal in 2010 gave him a clear picture of the story he wanted to tell to the world. Nepal was not only the setting for the story, but a character too.

“I wrote the film not only to represent my experiences, but as an homage to a country and people that I had fallen in love with,” Rick McFarland wrote in an email interview to *The Himalayan Times.*He is the director of the film that stars Hollywood and Nepali actors — Rachel Hurd-Wood, Raj Ballav Koirala, Suesha Rana, Gunner Wright and Desh Bhakta Khanal. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Annapurna mountains, the film is about “learning to live well, to love, to give… to change”.

Shooting in Nepal was the most challenging yet the most rewarding thing for McFarland. “I fell more in love with Nepal with each visit, and hardly a day goes by without missing some aspect of it. Right now I’m craving for daal bhaat,” he writes. The movie has been screened in many film festivals around the world. It bagged the 2014 Heartland Film Festival Best Premiere Award Winner, Narrative Feature and  also won the Best Feature Film and Best Lead Actress at the Madrid International Film Festival, among others.

“It is always interesting to see your own culture portrayed through someone else’s eyes. Since Nepal is such a great character in the film, I would think it would be a rewarding thing on that level alone. But I believe that at the heart of this film are themes and values that I share with the Nepali culture. I was so shocked to find that there were so many similarities to my own world. I feel the story circles around themes that resonate with the Nepali people — spirituality, love, compassion, goodness, change, tragedy and hope.”

40% of profit earned from Nepal screening of Highway to Dhampus was contributed towards the relief of people affected by the April earthquake and other to social activities through and NGO called Mind The Gap Worldwide.

To find out more about Mind The Gap and to learn how you can make a donation, go to: www.mindthegapworldwide.com

This post has been excerpted from the original blog post up on thehimalayantimes.com . Click  the link below to read the full version:

http://thehimalayantimes.com/entertainment/a-nepal-love-story/