Nepali writer and director Abinash Bikram Shah’s ‘Lori: Melancholy of my mother’s lullabies’ is among the nine short films selected for the Short Film Palme D’or category this year at the 75th edition of the Cannes Festival, scheduled for May 17 to May 28.

Out of 3,507 short films that were submitted from more than 140 countries across the globe, Shah’s 14-minute movie will be competing against films from China, South Korea, Costa Rica, the United States, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, and Lithuania.

“Abinash’s short film has put Nepal out there on the list of Cannes, which makes the achievement even more important,” said Abhimanyu Dixit, a film critic and filmmaker. “It doesn’t get bigger than Cannes.”

Shah who also teaches scriptwriting has over a decade of experience in the filmmaking industry with critically acclaimed movies like Min Bahadur Bham’s ‘Kalo Pothi’, Deepak Rauniar’s ‘Highway’ and ‘Tattini’ in his bag. His movies have previously also premiered in prestigious national and international film festivals.

Although a few Nepali films like ‘Chaukath’ have made their appearance in the Cannes Festival’s screening and exhibition categories in the past editions, Shah’s ‘Lori: Melancholy of mother’s lullabies’ is the country’s first film in the main competition category.

“This is the biggest achievement to date from the Nepali film industry because this is literally the first time Nepal’s film has made it to the main competition,” said Bham, whose Kalo Pothi wooed a global audience and was Nepal’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.

“As a fellow filmmaker who has worked alongside him in ‘Kalopothi’, I feel elated and proud.”

The award for the short film category will be presented on May 28, as part of the closing ceremony.