Elephants in the Fog

In a small Nepalese village bordering a forest where elephants roam, a community of transgender women has made its home. They live together as a chosen family, following their own traditions and rules. The villagers respect them, but also fear them and the powers attributed to them. Pirati, the family’s “mother”, is responsible for her daughters and bound by the community’s rules, but she is secretly in love with a local drummer and dreams of leaving with him. When one of her daughters disappears and the police show little interest in finding her, Pirati decides to search for her herself, forcing her to confront a choice between the life she wants and the family she has built. In his debut feature, Abinash Bikram Shah combines a mystery with an intimate portrait of a community rarely represented on screen, exploring the meaning of a family formed not by blood but through belonging, care and love. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.