Nepali director Abinash Bikram Shah is walking the red carpet at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival with his debut feature ‘A Story of a Bunch of Junkies Living in My Neighbourhood’, selected for the prestigious International Critics’ Week sidebar.
For Shah, the selection is not just a personal milestone but an opportunity to shift how the world sees Nepali cinema – from an exotic curiosity to a universal voice.
The film that got him here
Shah’s film follows a group of young men in a suburban Kathmandu neighbourhood, trapped in cycles of addiction, poverty, and friendship. The title is deliberately literal – what you see is what you get.
“When people hear ‘Nepali film’, they expect mountains, monasteries, and spiritual enlightenment,” Shah told The Hindu in an interview on the Cannes terrace overlooking the Mediterranean.
“I show none of that. My film is set in a dusty, chaotic Kathmandu suburb. It is about people who are not photogenic. But their struggles are universal. That is my goal – to move the audience from ‘them’ (those poor Nepali junkies) to ‘us’ (human beings dealing with pain).”
From Kathmandu to Cannes
Shah did not take the traditional path. He studied film editing in London, worked as a freelancer for years, and made short films that travelled to festivals in Europe and Asia. His short ‘The Flute’ (2022) played at Busan and Clermont-Ferrand, establishing his visual style – long takes, natural light, and non-professional actors.
But a feature was a different beast. He wrote the script over three years, drawing from real people in his own neighbourhood.
“I did not have to research drug addiction from a distance. I lived next to it. These are my neighbours. Some of them are dead now. I made the film because someone had to tell their story before they were completely forgotten.”
The funding struggle
Despite the Cannes selection, Shah insists making the film was brutal. Nepali cinema has no state funding mechanism for independent films. He pieced together the budget from savings, small grants, and a crowdfunding campaign that took 18 months to reach its target.
“There is no magic moment where someone hands you a cheque. I edited the film in my bedroom. My sound designer worked from a borrowed laptop. We did colour correction in a friend’s garage because we could not afford a studio.”
When the film was invited to Critics’ Week, Shah says he cried. “Not because I was happy. Because I realised every single sacrifice had meaning.”
What critics are saying
Early reviews from the Cannes screening have been positive. Screen Daily called it “a gritty, tender portrait of masculinity in crisis” while a Le Monde critic described it as “the Nepali answer to Larry Clark’s ‘Kids’ – but with more heart and less exploitation.”
The film has not yet found a distributor for India, though Shah says talks are underway.
Nepal’s slow cinema awakening
Shah is part of a small but growing wave of independent Nepali filmmakers whose work has begun appearing on the international festival circuit. His contemporary, Min Bahadur Bham, directed ‘Shambhala’ (2024), which premiered in Berlin. Nischal Basnet’s ‘Tattini’ (2025) played at Busan.
“Cinema in Nepal is still dominated by commercial action films and melodramas,” Shah notes. “But there is a new generation that grew up watching international cinema on the internet. We are not replicating Bollywood or Hollywood. We are trying to find our own language.”
What comes after Cannes
Shah is already working on his second feature – a family drama set during the 2015 Nepal earthquake. He plans to shoot next winter.
For now, he is determined to enjoy Cannes, however surreal it feels.
“I walked up these steps yesterday and saw photographers screaming at famous actors. For a second, I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ Then I remembered my neighbour, who died of an overdose in 2022. I am here because of him. I am here because no one else would tell his story.”
The final goal
When asked what success would look like for him after Cannes, Shah does not mention awards or distribution deals.
“If one person watches my film and says, ‘I have never been to Nepal, but I recognise these people,’ that is enough. That is moving from ‘them’ to ‘us’. That is cinema doing its job.”
