FOUR SØRFOND-SUPPORTED FILMS SET TO PREMIERE IN CANNES
A total of four films supported by Sørfond will premiere in the various programs during this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Two of the films – Ben’Imana (Rwanda) and Elephants in the Fog (Nepal) – will premiere in Un Certain Regard, The Station (Yemen) will premiere in Critics’ Week, and 9 Temples to Heaven (Thailand) will premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.
Elephants in the Fog
Elephants in the Fog is the debut feature of Nepalese director Abinash Bikram Shah and will have its premiere in the Un Certain Regard section during the festival. The film is a co-production between Nepal, France, Germany and Norway, and received 600 000 NOK in 2024. The Norwegian co-producer is Verona Meier from Storm Films.
Elephants in the Fog. Photo: Underground Talkies.
About the film:
The film is set in a small Nepalese village nestled deep within a forest inhabited by wild elephants. Pirati is the matriarch of a community of transgender women. She longs for a “normal” life with Master, a moustachioed man she loves. But when one of her girls disappears, she must choose between love and her responsibility to her community.
Ben’Imana
Ben’Imana is the feature-length debut of director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo and will premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. The director participated in the Sørfond Pitching Forum in 2024 and received 700 000 NOK from Sørfond in 2025. The Norwegian co-producer is DUOFilm. This is the first feature by a Rwandan director to be selected for the Cannes Official Selection.
Ben'Imana. Photo: DUOFilm
About the film:
Rwanda, 2012. The country is emerging from an era of silence after the 1994 Tutsi genocide, and people’s courts are being set up with the aim of bringing justice and reconciliation. Veneranda, a survivor, is convinced of the need for these trials. Despite pressures, she organises discussion sessions between victims and the families of the executioners.
Therapy for some, an act of betrayal for others, these testimonial sessions revive and reveal the traumas that each of them try to overcome, in their own way. The wounds of Veneranda’s past are exposed again when she learns of her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy and the identity of the father. Veneranda has to face her own contradictions and the dark parts of her past.
The Station
The Station, from Yemen, will premiere at the Critics’ Week during the festival, and is the first fiction film directed by Sara Ishaq. The film was presented during the Sørfond Pitching Forum in 2020, and received the 700 000 NOK from Sørfond in 2024. The Norwegian co-producer is Barentsfilm.
The Station. Photo Barentsfilm
About the film:
Layal runs a women-only petrol station in Yemen, a rare safe haven in a war-torn country. There, the rules are simple: no men, no weapons, no politics. When Layal’s younger brother faces enlistment, she reunites with her estranged sister to save the one life they still can.
9 Temples to Heaven
Sompot Chidgasornpongse's feature film, 9 Temples to Heaven, will premiere in Directors’ Fortnight during the festival. The film received 600 000 NOK in Sørfond support in 2025, and the Norwegian co-producer is Renée Mlodyszewski from Needle in the Haystack. The film is a co-production between Thailand, France, and Norway, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of its producers.
9 Temples to Heaven. Photo: Kick the Machine
About the film:
After a fortune teller warns him that his elderly mother may die soon, Sakol sets out on a one-day pilgrimage to nine temples as a remedy. Just two weeks before her birthday, he brings his ailing mother, along with his wife, brother, sister, and children, on the trip amid the splendor of Thai architecture. From temple to temple, the nine family members are forced to bridge their clashes, while the grandmother grows physically and mentally weary.