Nepali
Nepal
Kumar Darnal, a Nepali metal worker and farmer reckons with his choice to convert from Hinduism to Christianity in the hopes of shedding his caste: What he has gained, lost, and how becoming Christian has affected his social standing and personal safety.
Kumar Darnal, along with his family, has suffered from discrimination their whole lives because of their Dalit status. His family went without food because Hindus from a higher caste refused to pay them for metal working services with the excuse that the days were auspicious. Hurt and anger live in Kumar’s memory from when he was a boy and a shopkeeper forced him to kiss his feet after he accidently touched the man’s shoe. Kumar moved to Kathmandu at 13 in hopes of earning money to send home and to escape his low station only to find more economic and emotional harm after numerous landlords raised his rent after learning his last name.
Feeling alienated by his Hindu community, Kumar accepts an invitation to go to church from a neighbor. He and his family convert shortly afterwards.
In Nepal in 2021, the conservative RPP party marched in the streets for the return to a purely Hindu state. Neighboring India declared Dalits who have converted to Christianity no longer have the right to government subsidies or affirmative action programs.
To Belong is an intimate reflection on Kumar Darnal’s decision to convert to Christianity, and asks if it has improved his life.
"Despite the limitations for filming due to the pandemic, the film unearths the complexity of disappointment Kumar is experiencing after converting. He finds that neither religion, Hinduism or Christianity, has provided the opportunities he had hoped. Both entities want something from him, rather than a place for him to grow and connect with others. While he still attends church on occasion, his search for belonging continues. Kumar found the process of making the film a key component for survival during the strict lockdown in Nepal during COVID. It not only provided income in a desperate time but it was a way of processing the trauma he has suffered due his poverty and Dalit status. Kumar continues to film video diaries of himself as a way of processing his feelings of discrimination. He shares them with us for a future documentary project. Video is our method of exploring social and cultural geographical topics in Nepal. Our ongoing collaboration with the Darnal family as filmmakers explores the switching up of authorship, focusing on process and relationship rather than product."