Kathmandu, Sept. 26 -- Abinash Bikram Shah had his ear torn for watching television.

Every night after dinner, his mother, Sudha Shah, would assign him homework and do the dishes. But he would sneak out, skipping the work, to his neighbour's house and watch the glaring screen, agape.

It was in one such escapade that his infuriated mother stormed up the stairs and dragged her son by his ear. The upper attachment of the cartilage gave way in the process.

Almost four decades later, Shah won the Jury Prize at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival's 'Un Certain Regard' for his film 'Tiniharu'.

Sitting across from me at his Lalitpur office table, Shah picks at the tea bag tag hanging from his mug. Less than a week remained until the release of 'Tin...