Crawling Crows, Director: Zaun Yonzan, Nepal, 2024

In the slums of Kathmandu, newlyweds Rabindra and Sarita, an inter-caste couple, face a harsh reality. Rabindra, a waste picker with an idealistic outlook on life, struggles to provide for their modest tent home, while Sarita depends on his meager earnings. When Sarita is mistakenly threatened by outsiders over a minor confusion, she insists they move to a concrete room elsewhere in the city. As Rabindra and his friend Sherap search for a new home, Sarita takes up cleaning and washing jobs. She starts working for a wealthy woman and begins to dream of a better life. However, an accident involving Rabindra’s cart changes everything, pushing them further into hardship. As his health worsens, he struggles to find the balance between his ideals and the reality he is dealing with. In a nuanced, slow-burning narrative, Crawling Crows explores, with dignity, the glaring wealth disparity faced by the people at the margins of the society of Nepal.

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