Kathmandu. The Nepali narrative film ‘Elephants in the Fog’ has been selected in the ‘On Certain Regard’ category of the world famous 79th Cannes Film Festival. With this, Nepali films have succeeded in making a historic presence at the international level, according to the production side.

Written and directed by Avinash Vikram Shah, this film is produced in collaboration with Underground Talkies Nepal and Jayanti Creations. It also has the cooperation of construction companies from France, Germany, Brazil and Norway.

The film presents the story of a family from a minority community living in a slum affected by the terror of wild elephants. In this story that includes rural reality and social sensibilities, one can see the acting of Gauri Malla, Maotse Gurung, Shanti Giri, Sanjay Gupta Dura, Mahima Navbag, Ashant Sharma and other actors along with new faces.

Anup Poudel is the producer from Underground Talkies Nepal, while Kumudini Gurung Shrestha, Soham Dhakal and Prachandaman Shrestha are the producers from Jayanti Creations. Meen Bahadur Bham, Pravesh Gurung, Kiki Adhikari, Prateek Subedi and other filmmakers have also supported the production.

Director Shah has previously made a name for himself in the Nepali film industry by winning an award at Cannes for his short film ‘Lori’. This is Shah’s first ‘full length’ film, who is the screenwriter of popular films like ‘Kaalo Pothi’ and ‘Shambala’.

The cinematography of the film is done by Noe Bak and Cyril, and the editing is by Andrew Bird and Paris Bergen. According to the production side, an international team is involved in sound, music, art direction and other technical aspects.

This year’s Cannes will start from May 12. In the opening session, the comedy film ‘The Electric Kiss’ directed by Pierre Salvadori, based on the 1920s, is scheduled to be screened.

The jury of the festival will be headed by famous South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Also, it has been announced that Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson will be honored with honorary Palme d’Or this year.

It is said that this is the first film to be officially selected for the Cannes festival in the nearly 6-decade long history of Nepali films. The production team has expressed its commitment to present more powerful Nepali stories in the future by sharing this achievement with the Nepali film industry and the audience.