Cannes Un Certain Regard Title ‘Elephants in the Fog’ Lands First Deals (EXCLUSIVE)

“Elephants in the Fog,” which will world premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, has landed its first distribution deals. It is sold internationally by Best Friend Forever. The trailer debuts below.

The film will be co-distributed in France by Arizona Distribution and Les Valseurs Distribution. Germany and Austria rights were sold to missingFILMs and Brazil was picked up by Imovision. The Tea Folks Films will handle domestic Nepalese distribution.

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“Elephants in the Fog” is the debut feature by Abinash Bikram Shah, whose short film “Lori” received the Special Mention at the Short Film Competition at Cannes Film Festival in 2022. He previously co-signed the screenplay of “Shambhala” by Min Bahadur Bham, which screened in Berlinale Competition in 2024.

The film is set in a small Nepalese village nestled in the heart of a forest populated by wild elephants, where Pirati is the matriarch of a Kinnar community. She dreams of escaping to a “normal” life with the man she is in love with. But when one of her daughters disappears, she must investigate and choose between love and responsibility to her community.

“Elephants in the Fog” is produced by Underground Talkies Nepal (“Lori”), Les Valseurs (“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”) and Die Gesellschaft DGS (“Goodbye Julia”). It’s co-produced by Enquadramento Produções (“Los Silencios”), Bubbles Project (“I Only Rest in the Storm”), Zischlermann Filmproduktion (“Two to One”), Storm Films (“Shambhala”), Jayantii Creations and ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel and ZDF/ARTE.

Best Friend Forever’s Cannes lineup also includes the French comedy animation “Blaise,” which will premiere in Cannes ACID. The company also represents “Nina Roza” by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, which won the Silver Bear for best screenplay in Berlinale Competition, and two animation titles, the Japanese animation “Chimney Town: Frozen in Time” and the Brazilian animation “Papaya,” both premiering in the Generation section.

The company was launched in Cannes in 2019 and is a sister company of Paris-based Indie Sales. The management is handled by Indie Sales’ former head of marketing and festivals, Martin Gondre, and former entertainment lawyer Charles Bin, alongside Indie Sales’ co-founder Nicolas Eschbach.