WHERE HAVE ALL THE SMILES GONE – DOCUMENTARY FILM

Directed by: Anja Strelec

Producer: Chandra K Jha

Co-producer: Giuseppe Savino

DOP and editing (teaser): Anja Strelec

Editor (film): Sabina Basnet

Music: Mattia Vlad Moreo

Production company: Mountain River Films 

The domestic economy of Nepal is currently being controlled and balanced by remittance. Hundreds of people are leaving their homes in Nepal to pursue their dreams, money, and happiness abroad. The immigration wave each year is increasing, but instead, with economic prosperity, the immigrants are coming back to Nepal in coffins because of bad working conditions. International immigration has become a worldwide concern.

The pursuit of a better life often ends tragically for entire families. Should they continue their pursuit or stay? Should people continue living in bad conditions in their own countries or die as slaves abroad?

List of selected festivals:

• Jagran Film Festival, India, August 2023
• Màs Film Festival Nicaragua, (Human Rights Film Festival), August 2023
• Serbest Film Festival, Moldova, September 2023
• Karama Beirut Human Rights Film Festival, Lebanon, October 2023
• Scandinavian International Film Festival, October 2023
• Chania Film Festival, Greece, October 2023
• Calgary Justice Film Festival, Canada, November 2023
• The Workers Unite Film Festival, New York, November 2023
• Social Impact Film Festival, New York, November 2023
• Goa Short Film Festival, India November 2023
• I Am Tomorrow Film Festival, Brussels, November 2023
• Hummingbird International Film Festival, India, Kolkata, November 2023
• Human Rights Film Festival, Zagreb, December 2023
• Dalmatia Film Festival, Croatia, December 2023
• Nepal Human Rights Film Festival, Kathmandu, December 2023
• Dhaka Film Festival, Bangladesh, January 2024
• International Kolkata Short Film Festival, India, January 2024
• Vieques Film and Human Rights Festival, Puerto Rico, February 2024
• Orion Film Festival, Australia, March 2024
• Courage Film Festival, Berlin, 2024
• Uluslararası İşçi Filmleri Festivali, Turkey, May 2024
• Construir Cine, Argentina, May, 2024
• Kamerat Film Festival, Slovenia, June 2024
• Chain Film Festival, New York, July 2024
• Croatian Int. Film Festival, Sibenik August, 2024
• LAN Working class Film Festival, Bilbao, October 2024
• Human Screen Festival, Tunis November 2024
• International Migration and Environmental Film Festival, Toronto, Canada 2024

SPECIAL SCREENINGS:

• Writers Festival and Politics, Brussels, October 2023,
• Croatian National Theatre, Varazdin, November 2023
• Revija kratkog filma “ISPOD TEPIHA”, Dubrovnik, Croatia, March 2024
• AISEC, ERAC, 2024, Zagreb
• Platforma za Društveni centar Čakovec, October 2024
• Klub studenata sociologije “Diskrepancija”, April 2025