BAFTA-nominated Afghan filmmaker Elham Ehsas returns with There Will Come Soft Rains, now officially Oscar® and BAFTA-qualified and entering the 98th Academy Awards® race as one of the year’s most urgent and resonant works.
Starring Olivia D’Lima (100 Nights of Hero, The Killing Kind) as Mira, the film tells the story of a British-Pakistani woman haunted by the threat of rising sea levels who digs up her father’s grave to move him to higher ground. That single act sets faith, family, and the climate crisis on a collision course, forcing her to face tradition, authority, and her longing for sisterhood.
Developed in close collaboration with global narrative-change organisation Climate Spring, There Will Come Soft Rains challenges how climate stories are told on screen. Rather than relying on common tropes of dystopia and personal blame, spectacle or statistics, the film embeds the crisis in an intimate human story of grief, courage, and connection. It is one of the first films to explore climate change through the lens of Muslim faith and female defiance, voicing an urgent appeal to reimagine how we live, adapt and respond as we face the hottest year on record.
Ehsas, whose acclaimed short Yellow earned both a BAFTA nomination and an Academy Award® shortlist, is known for illuminating unseen perspectives with emotional clarity and unflinching humanity. With There Will Come Soft Rains, he continues this bold trajectory, casting a woman’s defiance as a metaphor for resilience in a changing world.
The film’s visual identity is crafted by cinematographer Yiannis Manolopoulos (Utopia, The Empire) and production designer Rana Fadavi, an award-winning Iranian artist, builds symbolic spaces that embody both faith and fracture. The score is composed by celebrated South Asian musician Rushil Ranjan featuring Abi Sampa.
Produced by Lorraine Bhattachary (Love Sarah) and Shakyra Dowling (Incompatible), the film is a daring collaboration between MonoFilm Productions and Azana Films, championing bold, director-led storytelling with cultural urgency.
Executive Producers include Ellie Bamber (Moss & Freud), a passionate advocate for climate action, alongside Zoe Bamber (Dam Films), Dale Vince, Stefan Allesch-Taylor, Robin Saunders, Charlie MacGechan, Kristin Tarry (Flying Colours Productions), and Lucy Stone and Josh Cockcroft from Climate Spring.
Co-funded through Climate Spring and Film London’s Hot House Shorts Competition 2023, the production was also one of the first to adopt the Green Rider Handshake Agreement, ensuring a low-carbon, sustainable shoot.
Following its recent Best UK Short win at the Raindance Film Festival, There Will Come Soft Rains has been celebrated on the international circuit, screening at Aspen Shortsfest, HollyShorts, and more. Its dual qualification for the Academy Awards® and BAFTAs cements it as one of the standout contenders of the season, both a cinematic triumph and a climate-conscious statement.
A powerful reminder that the climate crisis is both personal and universal, There Will Come Soft Rains reframes climate cinema as a story of faith, defiance, and human connection. It arrives as a film for our burning moment, timely, defiant, and unforgettable.
