Nepali film 'Elephants in the Fog (They)' has been selected in the 'On Certain Regard' section of the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival. This is the first time a film directed by Avinash Bikram Shah has been selected from Nepal in this category, which is considered the most important after the main competition.

The film, which has been selected in this category that includes young directors and different storytellers, will compete for the 'On Certain Regard Prize' for Best Film, Best Director and Special Jury Prize.

Earlier, director Shah had a dream of returning to Cannes with the short film 'Lori' when it was selected in 2022. Now that that dream has come true, he looks stunned. 'It's a great thing to be selected in such a big festival in the world. When the short film was selected in Cannes, I had promised myself that I would come back with a feature next time. It's a pleasure to be selected as the first feature film," said director Shah. According to Shah, it took about five years to make 'Elephant in the Fog'. "I wrote the story of the film alone. As soon as I went into production, there was a crowd. In post-production, I was alone again. That experience of shooting was a kind of rollercoaster experience," said Shah.

This film, which received mentorship at Cannes, tells the story of a family living in a slum affected by an elephant attack, where the relationship between a mother and daughter is shown. This family represents the sexual and minority community. The film features actors from the minority community in the lead roles. Along with them, the film stars Pushpa Thing, Deepika Yadav, Jasmine Vishwakarma, Shanti Giri, Gauri Malla, Mao Tse Gurung, Sanjay Gupta Dura, Mahima Nawabag, Akanksha Karki, and others.

film producer Anup Poudel is happy that he has taken the film to that point. 'I was taking a feature pitch class when I received the news of the selection via email. As soon as I received the email, I closed the online class without saying anything. And for a moment I thought - is this real? And I quickly closed the class and celebrated alone,' said producer Poudel, 'Maybe I had thought of this when I did this project.'

This film is being produced by two Nepali companies, Underground Talkies Nepal and Jayanti Creations, along with investments from France, Germany, Brazil and Norway. Another Nepali producer, Prachandaman Shrestha, said that he was proud when the film he produced was selected for Cannes for the first time. 'It is a great feeling to have our film selected for a festival like Cannes for the first time in the history of the Nepali film industry. This achievement is our small contribution at a time when Nepali film is spreading worldwide,' Shrestha said, 'I liked the story as soon as I read it. I also supported the production since it was a friend's film.'

Earlier, Avinash's short film 'Lori' received the 'Special Mention' award at the 75th edition of Cannes. This film also created history by being selected for the Cannes short film category for the first time from Nepal and receiving a special mention. This 14-minute long film covers the topic of child marriage. Avinash's previous works 'Kalo Pothi', 'Highway', 'Tatini' had reached various international festivals. Avinash is also the screenwriter of the Shambala and Singha Durbar series.