Professional
Clinik.Kathmandu
(Documentary Residency)
Peer support residency for Asian filmmakers.
Personal work exploration, Peer based learning
APPLICATION OPEN (October 2025)
Key Information
Duration
- 30 days Residency
Focus Area
- Documentary film
- Multidisciplinary Video, Photography
- Sustainable Media
Eligibility: South – South East asian filmmaker aged 21 and above.
Location : Dhulikhel Farm
dates: October 2025 (TBD)
Application : Ongoing
Fee:
800 USD. The program will not provide food and production materials.
Features
- Multi cultural team work
- Peer reviewed, supported skill growth
- Work in distinct spaces of Nepal
Introduction
Docskool’s, Clinik.Kathmandu (Documentary Residency), is a 30 day residency for filmmakers to spend time exploring personal work with an emphasis on peer support. Organised in a mixed cultural setup at Docskool’s farm campus in Kathmandu the residency helps filmmakers look at different aspects of documentary film and their work in the larger context.
Launched in 2018 as Clinik DocLab, this program is otherwise also held as a pitch training and community media workshops. The 2025 version will be held as a residency for filmmakers from South East and South Asia. The lab encourages filmmakers to work on their personal style while at the residency as we provide flexible time and space to work on any materials of choice. Clinik DocLab sees Documentary cinema at a crucial cross road between opportunities presented by commercial platforms while also contradicting with significant rise in surveillance and subjugation of artists across the region. We believe filmmakers coming together to forge alliances is a major step towards redefining how non-mainstream cinema and documentary in particular has traditionally been seen and treated.
The 2025 Clinik Documentary Residency is only open to 6 participants. The residency will be held for 30 days concluding with a village based exhibition. Participants can join from different creative disciplines.
Residency Structure
This residency is structured through personal reflection and appraisal sessions with participants taking the seat of co-advisors.
Participants shall be involved in ideating and executing 3 short documentary projects
during this period. Participants work on an open topic for the first two personal films. The first of which should be made at the participants home location. Upon arrival participants will make a second project with similar treatment
in context of the residency. Each project is followed by a peer and personal appraisal.
The third and final film can be made as a group. All projects will be displayed at an exhibition held at the end of the program. Production of films is mandatory requirement of the residency.
What to expect
Expect to spend time at Docskool’s farm, stroll the large forest in our neighbourhood – work with the local community while being surrounded with filmmakers you can talk to and work alongside. Work on any format of your choice ensuring the final projecty falls within broader category of ‘documentary’.
Mentors and Advisors
The Residency is not mentored. Peer support forms the main basis of advisory for the program with all participants taking on the responsibility to guide one another and work alongside. A resident filmmakers will join the program to assist through orientation.
Clinik DocLab is fortunate to have been supported by a wide range of professional professionals in the past. The residency could be used as a platform to complete ground work for a proposed film in development.
Advisors who have been part of the Clinik Documentary Lab in the past include. (the residency is not mentored)
Salome Jashi – Filmmaker, Georgia
Albert Elings – Editor/Filmmaker, (Netherlands Film Academy)
Prof. Nilotpal Majumdar – Project consultant, Editor (DocedgeKolkata)
Heidi Gronauer– Advisor, Consultant (Zelig School of Film)
John Badalu – Producer, Festival Consultant (Indonesia)
Rawyan Shayema – Filmmaker, Cinematographer (Bangladesh)
Tazeen Bari – Filmmaker, (Documentary Association of Pakistan)
Clinik.Kathmandu program advisors include
Marten Rabarts – Script advisor, Cultural campaigner
Gabriel Kelly – Writer, Producer, Trainer (AFI, Sundance, Vgik)
Dominique Welinski – Distributor, Producer (Torino, DW Production)
Nilotpal Majumdar – Documentary advisor, Trainer (DocedgeKolkata)
Industry Partners
Clinik.Kathmandu maintains partnerships with film labs, festivals, film markets among others. These benefit the participants attending Clinik.Kathmandu as it may support networking in favourable situations. Docskool does not commit to provide positions at any labs/markets.
Partners from past and present include:
International Film festival Rotterdam – Rotterdam Labs
Locarno International Film festival – Open Doors South Asia
Hongkong Asia Film Financing Forum
NFDC Labs, NFDC India
Midpoint Institute, FAMU
Dhaka Doclabs – Bangladesh
Goteborg Film Festival, Goteborg Film Fund
Mediacorp Singapore
Docedge Kolkata, India
Alumni
Women in Cinema Support
Women and Queer applicants of the Clinik Documentary Lab qualify for Docskool’s Women in Cinema support. Please refer to specific page for further details and contact information. (Available under Professional)
Getting Here
The residency will be held at Docskool’s Ehwa Arts Collaboratory/ Farm. The farm sits on a mountain top with a grand view of the himalayas and a vast valley which opens in the north. We neighbour a lush community forest with significant wildlife presence. (please visit Campus page for details)
Visa to Nepal is on arrival. Flights to Kathmandu are available from all South Asian countries except Afghanistan.
We recommend road/train for travellers from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan or Sri Lanka. Airport pickup will be available.
To Apply
– links to 2 recent projects
– Statement on how you wish to use the month at Docskool and in what ways you expect the residency to be useful.