$44,000: Final funding gap for Nepali AI drama

A Nepali feature film about a grandmother's stories and artificial intelligence has completed shooting and is now seeking $44,000 to finish post-production. The project, titled "Shirjara: Song of Grandmother," aims to secure a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2027.

The film has a total budget of $296,000. Producer Subash Bhusal of Kingdom Network Pvt. Ltd. stated that 85% of that amount has already been raised and spent. The remaining 15% is needed to complete the picture.

Director Bikash Subedi wrote and directed the speculative drama. He said the story originated from his childhood memories of listening to his 90-year-old grandmother tell stories by a hearth in the high Himalayas. As an adult working with digital screens, he became interested in why humans teach machines to understand people while still learning about themselves. He described the film as a personal journey from technology back to ancestral knowledge.

Principal photography wrapped at an altitude of roughly 4,000 meters in Dhorpatan, Nepal. The team shot on Arri Alexa 35 cameras and has assembled an 80-minute rough cut. Bhusal noted that the high altitude created logistical challenges but said the story justified the effort.

The remaining funds will cover DI color grading, picture finishing, the creation of a master DCP, and a custom six-minute sequence combining AI and visual effects. Subedi refers to this stylistic approach as AnI Cinema, or Ancestral Intelligence. He explained that he is interested in how technology can engage in a deeper conversation with history and humanity.

The team is currently attending the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, which operates as part of TIFFCOM, the content market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival. They are seeking Japanese co-producers to help with post-production work. The team also hopes to sign a sales company to handle international rights and find distributors across Asia.

Bhusal said supporting the project allowed them to back a filmmaker with a distinct perspective. Subedi is already developing the next installment in his AnI Cinema movement, which will focus on ancient trans-Himalayan trade routes. Kingdom Network also has other Asian projects in development that are grounded in specific local cultures.