Abinash Bikram Shah creates a strong sense of place and masterfully sustains the tension in his haunting feature debut as writer-director, Elephants in the Fog (तिनीहरू, Tinīharū), which made history at Cannes as the first Nepali feature to be included in the festival’s official selection. Nominated for the Camera d’Or and Queer Palm, the film went on to win the Un Certain Regard jury prize and makes its North American premiere at TIFF 2026.
Guru Mata (Umesha Pandey) speaks with a gentle whisper but leads their rural Kinnar community of third-gender people with an unforgiving strictness. One rule is celibacy, but respected matriarch Pirati (Puspa Thing Lama)—whom the guru has chosen as their successor—is having an illicit affair and dreaming of escaping village life for Delhi with her man, the city-dwelling drum master (Aashant Sharma). The affair is an open secret among Pirati’s chosen family of daughters and when she is confronted by Apsara (Aliz Ghimire) for her behaviour, the gender-expansive idyll quickly begins to fall apart.
It is striking to be immersed in a community of trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming characters—not defined by their gender identity—centred in their own story, where it is the outside world that is the other. While the dangers of stigma, prejudice and familial rejection pervade society, the village itself is surrounded by a forrest where wild elephants roam and pose a constant threat. Villagers share the responsibility for keeping watch, building scarecrows, chanting to help discourage the elephants, and sounding the alarm when they are vulnerable to a lethal stampede.
Following her heated quarrel with Pirati, Apsara—who has been disowned by her blood family—disappears into the perilous forrest and the film shifts to a gripping thriller, with Pirati determined to find her daughter. With her richly expressive face and stoic presence, Puspa Thing Lama is captivating as the matriarch conflicted by her sense of responsibility to her community and her desire for a different life; her wisdom, strength and a lifetime of experience is palpable. Largely populated by first-time actors, Elephants in the Fog is filled with beautifully natural performances which Noé Bach’s cinematography captures with intimate closeups contrasted with the expanse of the threatening surrounding forrest. Well paced and plotted, the defiance and resilience of the film’s rousing ending is powerful and satisfying.
By James Kleinmann
Elephants in the Fog received its North American premoere at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival.
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