Film director Abinash Bikram Shah has taken on two of Nepal’s touchiest subjects in Elephants in the Fog—the way it treats its trans women and its wild elephants.
It seems an odd combination, but the two come together in his hauntingly beautiful directorial debut at the Cannes Film Festival about the perils of not acknowledging nature, both human and animal.
Shah—the first Nepali to make the festival’s official selection—is no provocateur. So soft-spoken you have to lean in to hear him, he used to work for the Nepal Tourism Board, promoting the stunning Himalayan nation.
But as he told AFP before its premiere on Wednesday, “Nepal is changing” in very big ways.
Last year, the arthritic old order was toppled by a youth revolution, with Gen-Z protesters taking to the streets with the Jolly Roger flag from the manga One Piece.
Then, in March, Nepalis elected 36-year-old rapper Balendra Shah as prime minister—the world’s youngest—by a landslide. Filmmaker Shah—no relation—said he is proud and excited for his homeland.
Nepal is among the few countries that recognize a third gender and is considered a pioneer in LGBTQ+ rights in Asia. But Shah said much of that tolerance “is just on paper,” adding that he remains unsure how his touching thriller will be received at home.
The film centers on the matriarch of a traditional transsexual household in southern Nepal, where villagers nightly try to drive away wild elephants from shrinking forests nearby.
The Kinnar community, known as Hijra or the third sex in India, has deep cultural and religious roots in Hinduism and Islam. They sing and dance, and their blessings are considered auspicious for births and weddings or for warding off evil spirits.
Gender realignment is called “emasculation” in Nepal, Shah said, but the Kinnar use what he described as a “beautiful” word for it: “Nirvana.”
Many live in tightly organized Kinnar families led by a mother figure who answers to a guru.
Shah became fascinated by their little-known lives while scrolling through TikTok during lockdown. He was drawn to the “joyful videos” they posted—singing, dancing, and joking—despite what he called the “shocking hate remarks” they received online.
“Most Nepalese people see Kinnar just as having this ability to bless them or as prostitutes,” he said.
He said he was pleased that the trailer for Elephants in the Fog has so far received a positive response. The film stars Kinnar activist Pushpa Thing Lama, who had never acted before.
“When she is joyful, she is so joyful,” Shah said. “But when she is quiet, she has this calm and silence you can’t take your eyes from.”
Lama attended the Cannes premiere Wednesday wearing a white sari alongside co-stars Jasmine Bishwokarma and Aliz Ghimire.
Shah said he wanted to show how the Kinnar are both central to Nepalese and Indian culture and pushed to the margins.
Many Kinnar begin as sex workers after being rejected by their families, he said, before later joining Kinnar households and taking vows of chastity.
Shah spent two years building trust with the Kinnar community and villagers in southern Nepal, many of whom appear in the film as themselves.
