Parallax Films has taken on international sales for "Private Property," a new short film from director Deepak Rauniyar and writer-producer-actor Asha Magrati, ahead of its world premiere at the 79th Locarno Film Festival. The deal matters as it gives the socially charged short, which tackles immigration and homelessness in America, backing from a distributor with a strong track record, alongside plans for a wider festival, theatrical and streaming push.

The film screens in Locarno's Pardi di Domani strand, competing in the Concorso Corti d'Autore for the Pardino d'Oro for Best Auteur Short Film, and is also nominated for the festival's Pardo for Change Award. Shot in English and Nepali as a US-Nepal-France-Australia co-production, it follows Maya, a Nepali immigrant working nights at a petrol station, whose confrontation with Danny, an unhoused Black veteran, escalates from a legal dispute to a gun. It marks Rauniyar's first appearance in Locarno's official selection, after his earlier features "Highway" and "White Sun" featured in the festival's Open Doors programme.