After garnering critical acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival last February, Deepak Rauniyar's highly anticipated Highway will finally hit Nepali theatres on June 15.

Set against the backdrop of a banda, Highway weaves together five different stories in which all the characters come together during an ill-fated bus ride from eastern Nepal to the capital.

However, making the film was quite a struggle itself. Rauniyar recounts, "We faced a lot of difficulties during production. We had to cope with fuel crisis and strikes. There were changes in shooting locations at the last hour. And just as we were about to wrap up the shooting, we also had to deal with a budget shortage."

Fortunately one of the executive producers Mita Hosali introduced Rauniyar to Joslyn Barnes of New York based Louverture Films. "Not only did Joslyn but her partner and founder of Louverture, Danny Glover showed trust in the movie and agreed to co-produce it," says Rauniyar. Glover also connected the film with an online funding site call kickstarter.com. Highway created history by raising Rs 2.7 million on kickstarter, which covered all post production costs.

The film is made under Aadi Productions in association with Louverture Films along with Sameer M Dixit and Lonim P Dixit as the other two executive producers.

Despite stiff challenges, the cast and crew are happy to have the backing of renowned technicians like Golden Globe winner Richard Horowitz who composed the background score and David Barker who edited the movie.

Rauniyar brims with confidence and says, "Highway will be a turning point for our film industry. It will encourage independent filmmakers to make movies with a difference and put Nepali cinema on the global map."