Deepak Rauniyar

A native of Nepal, film studies faculty member Deepak Rauniyar has found his home at UNCW as a teacher and a filmmaker. 
 
“This is my third year here, and I have experienced something remarkable. Despite being thousands of miles away from our home, we’ve been lucky to find a new family here,” he said.  
  
Three is proving to be a good number for Rauniyar. In August, he wrapped filming “The Sky Is Mine,” his third feature. The project has the support of several institutions, including the New York State Council on Arts, the San Francisco Film Society, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival of Rotterdam and the Norwegian Film Institute.  
  
A four-member jury from Kenya, France and Norway praised his work in a Variety article:  
“’The Sky is Mine’ offers a poignant portrait of contemporary Nepal on the brink of change, an inside perspective into the struggles faced by marginalized communities such as Madhesis. The script hooked the jury, highlighting strong women in the lead characters. Using the detective genre proves to be a judicious choice for tackling sensitive social issues, such as racism, in a more impactful manner, targeting wider audiences in Nepal and abroad.”  
  
Rauniyar aims to complete post-production of the film by early next year, premiere it at a top-tier international film festival and distribute it worldwide.  
  
In addition, his short film “Windhorse” started its festival journey in India at the Mumbai Film Festival and will travel to the Dharamshala International Film Festival, the International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur in Switzerland and the Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival in Nepal. He is also raising funds for “The Palace,” a horror feature he is producing, and developing his fourth feature, tentatively titled “Shah Chef.”  
  
All while teaching full-time.   
  
“I want to give a shout-out to my amazing students for putting up with me and sharing their life experiences and ideas with me,” he said. “Teaching is a two-way road: as a teacher, you learn as much, if not more, than your students. As a filmmaker, completing a film can take years, but in the classroom, we create something new every week.”