Abinash Bikram Shah’s “Elephants in the Fog” has expanded its international rollout, with Best Friend Forever revealing a new wave of distribution deals across 10 territories as the film continues its festival run at the Toronto Film Festival.
The sales announcement arrives with several major markers already in place for the film: “Elephants in the Fog” won the Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, has been confirmed as Nepal’s submission for the Oscars international feature category, and is leading the Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominations with nods for best film, best director and best performance.
Best Friend Forever has closed new agreements with MetFilm Distribution for the U.K., Filmin for Spain, Vedette for Benelux, Trigon for Switzerland, Lev Cinema for Israel, Jayantii for Australia, EFAR Films for India, PT Falcon for Indonesia and the Film Development Council of the Philippines. An inflight deal with Silk Route is also part of the latest sales package.
Those deals build on previously announced distribution agreements in France with Arizona Distribution and Les Valseurs Distribution, in Germany and Austria with missingFILMs, in Brazil with Imovision, and in Nepal with The Tea Folks Films for local distribution.
A pan-Latin America deal is expected shortly, while North American rights are currently in advanced negotiations.
“Elephants in the Fog” follows Pirati, the matriarch of a Kinnar community in a forested village in Nepal, as she investigates the disappearance of one of her daughters during a nightly patrol against wild elephants.
The film is produced by Underground Talkies Nepal, Les Valseurs and Die Gesellschaft DGS. Its co-producers are Enquadramento Produções, Bubbles Project, Zischlermann Filmproduktion, Storm Films, Jayantii Creations and ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel & ZDF/ARTE.
Shah previously directed the short film “Lori,” which received a Special Mention at the Cannes Short Film Competition in 2022.
Best Friend Forever is also arriving at TIFF with several other titles on its slate. The company is handling Midnight Madness selections “Vintage Violence,” directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko, and “Half,” directed by Samjad. Its lineup also includes the French adult animation “Blaise,” which won best film honors at both the Annecy Contrechamp competition and Fantasia, as well as Canada’s Oscars submission “Nina Roza,” directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles.
The Brussels-based sales company launched at Cannes in 2019 as a sister outfit of Paris-based Indie Sales. It is managed by Martin Gondre, Charles Bin and Indie Sales co-founder Nicolas Eschbach.
What Happens Next?
With Toronto exposure, Nepal’s Oscar submission confirmed and further rights activity still in motion, the next key developments for “Elephants in the Fog” are expected to include a pan-Latin America deal and the outcome of ongoing North American rights negotiations.