Ready to do what it takes to tell the story
Kalani Gacon has been on a journey to fulfil his childhood dream of creating cinema since he was seven years old. He was born and raised in the small, beautiful, misty town of Katoomba, Australia, but since his teenage years, he has lived and worked in Nepal as a social worker and filmmaker, where he has developed a unique cross-cultural voice, telling stories about the intersection of East and West.
Kalani has made films across four continents, including a chapter working on Hollywood productions such as Disney’s Upside-Down Magic and the television series Riverdale.
His recent film Family Man (2025), set in the remote Himalayan village of Gatlang, Nepal, premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and is enjoying a strong festival run, with selections including the Melbourne International Film Festival and Encounters Film Festival. Family Man won the Audience Choice Award at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.
In 2021, Kalani established Mountain of Youth, a filmmaking mentorship organisation that trains and empowers underprivileged young people through the power of storytelling. His productions Soles (2022) and Dreamlink (2023), created through this program, have screened at Academy Award and BAFTA-qualifying festivals, including Aesthetica Film Festival and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. In 2023, the organisation received a $100,000 state government grant recognising its contribution to community wellbeing and youth mental health. Kalani is currently leading Tell Me a Story, Grandma, an intergenerational filmmaking project pairing isolated elders with young filmmakers to create collaborative short films.
Kalani’s debut feature, Home Before Night, set between regional Australia and Nepal, is currently in development and has received development funding from Screen Australia.
Kalani’s earlier works include Bhukampa (2016), a hybrid documentary about the 2015 Nepal earthquakes told from the perspectives of children; Journey to the Centre of the Heart (2019), a feature documentary about outward migration in Nepal and the inward migration of foreigners to the same land; and Sapana ko Awaz (The Sound of Dreaming) (2021), a short film about lucid dreaming and soulmates set in Nepal, which screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival, LA Shorts, and Busan International Short Film Festival, and won the Jury Special Mention Award at the Oldenburg International Film Festival.
Outside of filmmaking, Kalani also loves languages, trout fishing, freestyle rap, writing poetry, playing football, and soul music.
Life Experiences
• 2002–present – Made films across four continents
• 2009–2019 – Other work has included taxi driver, disability support worker, waste bin delivery, and tour guide
• 2014–2016 – Hitchhiked across Iceland (circumnavigation), Japan (north–south), and Australia’s east coast
• 2015 – Founded The Bhukampa Project, an NGO established during the Nepal earthquakes, supporting earthquake survivors to establish small businesses and delivering anti-human-trafficking initiatives
• 2020 – Co-founded and ran an emergency food-relief cooking program during COVID-19 lockdowns in Kathmandu
• 2020 – Arrested while filming in Nepal, put into jail and subsequently banned from the country for two years
• 2021 – Kicked out of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS)
• 2021 – Caught a trophy rainbow trout in the Coxs River, NSW
• 2022 – Founded Mountain of Youth, a filmmaking organisation supporting at-risk young people through storytelling and mentorship
• 2024 – Selected by the NSW Minister for Youth and Mental Health to advise the NSW Government on youth issues in the creative industries
• 2025 – Became the first person to ride a motorbike from Jhong to Tetang, Upper Mustang, Nepal
• 2025 – Met His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 30th birthday
Film Career Highlights
• 2012 – Won the Youth National Talent Competition “Shoot It” with short film Egbert
• 2015 – Bhukampa, a hybrid docu-fiction about the Nepal earthquakes from the perspective of children, released internationally as an impact campaign for the film’s participants
• 2017 – Independently completed feature-length documentary Journey to the Centre of the Heart, awarded 2nd Place at Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival
• 2019 – Moved to Vancouver to gain hands-on experience on large-scale Hollywood productions, including Riverdale, Disney’s Upside Down Magic, and The Magicians
• 2021 – Sapana ko Awaz (The Sound of Dreaming) premiered at Busan Shorts, selected for Melbourne International Film Festival, and received a Special Mention at Oldenburg Film Festival
• 2022 – Selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival Accelerator Lab
• 2022 – Selected for AIDC (Australian International Documentary Conference) Leading Lights Lab
• 2022 – Soles, produced through Mountain of Youth, selected for Rhode Island International Film Festival
• 2023 – Dreamlink, produced through Mountain of Youth, selected for Aesthetica Film Festival, with Japanese rights acquired by Samansa
• 2023 – Mountain of Youth received a $100,000 NSW Government community projects grant
• 2024 – Debut feature film Home Before Night selected for the NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market
• 2025 – Family Man premiered at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, selected at Encounters Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Tasveer Film Festival, and won Audience Choice Award at Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival and Best International Film at Psarokokalo International Short Film Festival
• 2025 – Home Before Night received Screen Australia Development funding
• 2025 – Recipient of Creative Australia MATCH Lab funding for intergenerational filmmaking project Tell Me a Story, Grandma
• 2025 – Short film Estai Raicha reached 100,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours