Nepal’s Oscar entry Elephants in the Fog is carrying its international momentum into the Toronto International Film Festival, where Abinash Bikram Shah’s Cannes-winning debut is gaining another North American platform while attention around the film is also being directed toward flood relief in Nepal. The film, selected for the 2027 Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category, has already become a landmark for Nepali cinema, and its latest international exposure is arriving alongside efforts to support communities affected by floods and natural disasters at home. For a film about belonging, the gesture gives its festival journey a grounded purpose beyond awards and sales.
The film’s Cannes journey established that momentum. Elephants in the Fog became the first Nepali feature selected for the festival’s Un Certain Regard section and went on to win its Jury Prize. At its world premiere, the film received an eight-minute standing ovation, an unusually strong response that placed Abinash Shah’s first feature firmly on the international cinema map. It was also nominated for the Caméra d’Or and Queer Palm, adding further recognition around its Cannes debut.
Its Toronto appearance now extends that journey. The film is screening in TIFF’s Centrepiece programme, giving audiences and industry professionals another opportunity to encounter a Nepali story that has moved from Cannes acclaim to festival circulation, Oscar consideration and international sales. Recent distribution deals have taken the film into 10 territories, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and India, with Best Friend Forever handling international sales.
The film’s social purpose is closely tied to its subject. Ahead of its Nepal theatrical release, the team organised a fundraising screening in Kathmandu, with contributions from guests and producers deposited into the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.
A special preview in Paris, ahead of the film’s French theatrical release, is also being organised under the banner “In Solidarity with Nepal.” Proceeds received by the French distributor from that screening will support a government fund for people affected by floods and other natural disasters. TIFF itself provides a wider international platform for the film, while these screenings turn its growing visibility into practical support.
At the centre of Elephants in the Fog is a Kinnar community living in a Nepalese village surrounded by forests and wild elephants. Pushpa Thing Lama, a real-life Kinnar activist, leads the cast as Pirati, with much of the cast making their cinematic debuts. Shah’s decision to work with performers connected to the community gives the film a lived-in quality and keeps its portrayal grounded in experience rather than stereotype.
The film also uses the rhythmic clapping associated with the Kinnar and Hijra communities as part of its cinematic language. Rather than treating the sound as something strange or threatening, Abinash Shah uses it to express identity, defiance and liberation. The title carries a related metaphor: as shrinking forests push elephants toward villages where they can face hostility, marginalised people in the film also move through a society that often denies them a secure place to belong.
That connection between place, belonging and visibility helps explain the film’s international reception. Elephants in the Fog currently holds a 100% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes from 10 reviews, while its expanding sales suggest that festival recognition is translating into access for audiences beyond Nepal.
For Nepali cinema, the significance of the film now extends beyond one Cannes prize. Its path through Cannes, TIFF, international distribution and Nepal’s Oscar campaign shows how a locally rooted story can enter a global conversation without losing its cultural identity. By using that growing visibility to support people affected by disaster, Elephants in the Fog is making its international journey meaningful not only for the film, but also for the country and communities that shaped it.
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