Nepali film 'Elephants in the Fog' directed by Avinash Bikram Shah has won the 'Jury Prize' at the world's prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The film won the award in the 'Closing Ceremony' under the second important category 'On Certain Regard' after the main competition of Cannes.

The main award in this category, 'On Certain Regard Prize', was won by Sandra Wulner's film 'Everytime'. The second main award (Jury Prize) was won by a Nepali film.

The film tells the story of a family living in a slum affected by an elephant attack and shows the deep relationship between a mother and daughter. This family represents a sexual and gender minority community in the film, where people from the same community have acted. As soon as the award was announced, the cast danced on stage to celebrate.

actress Pushpa Thing presented director Shah with the national flag of Nepal immediately after winning the award. Earlier, the film had also received a lot of praise during its premiere in Cannes on 6th Jestha. On the day of the premiere, the ‘Sal Dubusi Theater’ was full of viewers. After the ‘press screening’, the audience rushed to buy tickets after hearing the buzz about the film. After the film ended, the actors became emotional due to the ‘standing ovation’ they received from the audience. Actor Pushpa Thing and producer Anup Poudel hugged director Avinash and exchanged happy words, while tears of joy were visible in the eyes of all the actors present in the hall.

producer Anup Poudel, while talking to Kantipur, said, ‘The premiere was a huge success, everyone loved the film. After all these years of hard work, it is very emotional to reach there and receive a standing ovation.' According to him, the Cannes audience has really liked the acting of the 'non-actors' (non-professional artists) in the film and even while walking on the road, people were seen discussing the film. The film has the main roles of people from the gender minority community. The film features Pushpa Thing, Deepika Yadav, Jasmine Vishwakarma, Shanti Giri, Gauri Malla, Mao Tse Gurung, Sanjay Gupta Dura, Mahima Nabbag and Akanksha Karki among others.

Bollywood's famous film director Anurag Kashyap has also praised the film openly after watching it at Cannes. He wrote through 'LetterboxD', a platform for evaluating and reviewing films, 'This is the best final scene I have seen in Cannes so far. Nepali cinema has taken a big leap forward with Elephants in the Fog.’

After winning the historic award, actress Keki Adhikari expressed her happiness on social media Facebook, writing, ‘A historic victory for Nepalis and the art sector.’ Actor Dayahang Rai has also mentioned this as a proud moment for the Nepali cinema sector.

Not only in the film circle but also in the political circle, Nepal has expressed its happiness over this historic success. Minister for Information and Communications Bikram Timilsina has mentioned that this important achievement clearly highlights the remarkable progress made in the capacity, creativity and international competitiveness of the Nepali film sector. ‘Also, it is a matter of pride for the nation to successfully present Nepali stories, culture and social realities on the world’s prestigious stage,’ he said. This is not the first time that director Shah has achieved historic success for Nepal at Cannes. Earlier, in 2022, the 14-minute short film ‘Lori’ directed by him won the ‘Special Mention Award’ at Cannes, which covered the issue of child marriage.