Nepal’s Academy Awards entry “Elephants in the Fog” is using its moment on the international festival stage to draw attention to flood relief efforts in Nepal, where the disaster has affected communities connected directly to the film.
The film, directed by Abinash Bikram Shah, is the sole Nepali title at the Toronto Film Festival. Its Toronto presence arrives as flooding has hit parts of Nepal, including Nuwakot district, identified in the source material as one of the worst-affected areas. Lead actress Puspa Thing Lama is from Nuwakot, and co-producer Prachanda Man Singh Shrestha, also from the district, has lost his home.
“There is something difficult about watching a film travel internationally while people close to it are dealing with the loss of homes and livelihoods,” Shah told Variety.
Film team turns screenings into relief support
The “Elephants in the Fog” team has already mounted a fundraising screening in Kathmandu, with proceeds directed to the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund. The production has also worked with the Zonta Club and Rotary Clubs to support children affected by the Bhotekoshi flooding.
The relief push is extending beyond Nepal. On Sept. 17, the film’s French production and distribution partners are set to hold a Paris screening, with Nepal’s Ambassador to France among those expected to attend. Distributor revenue from that event will go to Nepal’s flood-relief fund.
“We know that a film cannot solve a disaster,” Shah said. “But cinema can gather people in a room, create attention and sometimes turn that attention into action.”
The floods have also affected the film’s rollout at home. “It is hard to ask people to go to a cinema when many are dealing with displacement, loss and uncertainty,” Shah said. Even so, “Elephants in the Fog” has moved into its second week in Nepal after opening Sept. 4. The film earned approximately NPR69 lakh, or $45,000, in its first seven days.
For Shah, the response has not been measured only in ticket sales. “But the conversations after screenings have meant just as much to us as the box office,” he said.
A first-time screen actor at the center of the film
“Elephants in the Fog” centers on Pirati, the matriarch of a Kinnar community in a forested Nepalese village. The role is played by Lama, a first-time screen actress who has spent decades as an LGBTIQA+ rights advocate.
Shah described the character as more than a symbolic figure. “She is not simply a representative of a ‘third gender’ community. She is a mother and a leader, with authority, affection, fears and contradictions,” he said.
Lama traveled to Cannes when “Elephants in the Fog” won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and is now in Toronto with the film. Shah said her presence in those spaces carries particular significance given her long advocacy work.
“There is something powerful about seeing someone who has spent decades working to make her community visible now occupying these spaces in her own right, not as a subject being discussed, but as an artist whose performance is being recognized,” he said.
The recognition has continued beyond the festival circuit. The Asia Pacific Screen Awards have nominated Lama for best performance, while “Elephants in the Fog” also received nominations for best film and best director.
Shah said he was drawn to the Kinnar community because of “the richness and complexity of the community beyond the marginalization.” As the project developed, the relationships between the women became central to the film: a story about mothers and daughters, and about people forming family when surrounding structures have rejected them.
International sales expand
The film’s global profile has also grown through a series of distribution deals handled by sales company Best Friend Forever, which has closed agreements across 14 territories.
New deals place “Elephants in the Fog” with MetFilm Distribution in the U.K., Filmin in Spain, Vedette in Benelux, Trigon in Switzerland, Lev Cinema in Israel, Jayantii in Australia, EFAR Films in India, PT Falcon in Indonesia, the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Silk Route for inflight distribution.
Those agreements join previously announced deals with Arizona Distribution and Les Valseurs Distribution in France, missingFILMs in Germany and Austria, Imovision in Brazil and The Tea Folks Films for domestic distribution in Nepal.
A pan-Latin America deal is expected shortly, while North American rights are in advanced negotiations.
“The film has traveled much further than we ever expected, but its meaning remains rooted in the place where it began,” Shah said.