79th Festival de Cannes Unveils Short Film and La Cinef Selections

Cannes, France – The 79th Festival de Cannes has announced the official selections for its prestigious Short Films Competition and La Cinef section, highlighting emerging talent and diverse cinematic voices from around the globe. This year’s festival promises a compelling showcase of short-form storytelling, culminating in the awarding of the Short Film Palme d’or and La Cinef Prizes.

 

The Short Films Competition

From an impressive pool of 3,184 submissions, 10 short films have been selected to compete for the Short Film Palme d’or. These films represent productions and co-productions from 136 countries, underscoring the international scope and appeal of the festival. The highly anticipated Short Film Palme d’or will be presented on Saturday, May 23rd, during the closing awards ceremony of the 79th Festival de Cannes.

 

Selected Short Films:

Title	Director	Duration
FRESH CUT	Hadrien BELS	15’
THE LAST SPRING	Mathilde BEDOUET	15’
SISTERS’ SWIM	Lola DEGOVE	15’
THE END	Niki LINDROTH VON BAHR	15’
PARA LOS CONTRINCANTES (For the Opponents)	Federico LUIS	15’
PELOTON TRUENO (Thunder Platoon)	Theo MONTOYA	15’
GIẤC MƠ LÀ ỐC SÊN (The Dream is a Snail)	Thien AN NGUYEN	15’
ALGUMAS COISAS QUE ACONTECEM AO LADO DE UM RIO (A Few Things Happening by a River)	Daniel SOARES	14’
SPIRITUS SANCTUS	Michal TOCZEK	15’
NIKO NIŠTA NIJE REKAO (Nobody Said Anything)	Tamara TODOROVIĆ	15’

La Cinef Selection

Now in its 29th edition, La Cinef has chosen 19 films—comprising 14 live-action and 5 animated shorts—from a total of 2,750 submissions sent by film schools worldwide. These selections were directed by 12 women and 9 men, representing fifteen countries and four continents.

 

Notably, Hongik University (South Korea) and ISAMM (Tunisia) are participating for the first time in La Cinef. The La Cinef Prizes will be awarded by the jury on Thursday, May 21st, at a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by a screening of the winning films.

 

Selected La Cinef Films:

Title	Director	School – Country	Duration
LASER-GATO (Laser-Cat)	Lucas ACHER	NYU – USA	22’
PHOTOGRAPH OF AN INSANE WOMAN TO SHOW THE CONDITION OF HER HAIR	Arwen AZNAG	LUCA School of Arts Brussels – Belgium	6’
TÚ, YO Y LA VACA (Me, You and the Cow)	Aina CALLEJÓN	ESCAC – Spain	20’
PICKLED	Fanny CAPU	NFTS – United Kingdom	9’
BIRD RHAPSODY	Wonjung CHOI	Hongik University – South Korea	6’
ALWAYS WANTED TO BE GOD, NEVER WANTED TO BE GOOD	Noa EPARS & Marvin MERKEL	HEAD – Switzerland	21’
PREKO PRAGA (Over the Threshold)	Tara GAJOVIĆ	FDU – Serbia	15’
GROWING STONES, FLYING PAPERS	Roozbeh GEZERSEH & Soraya SHAMSI	Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf – Germany	12’
SUNDAY’S CHILDREN	Reuben HAMLYN	NYU – USA	19’
SOMEWHERE I BELONG	Youssef HANDOUSE	ISAMM – Tunisia	21’
SILENT VOICES	Nadine Misong JIN	Columbia University – USA	17’
TRAKCJE (Axles)	Jakub KRZYSZPIN	The Polish National Film School in Łódź – Poland	7’
ALDRIG NOK (Never Enough)	Julius LAGOUTTE LARSEN	La Fémis – France	25’
TIAN TIAN DE MI MI (Our Secrets)	Lenti LIANG	USC Cinematic Arts – USA	15’
SHADOWS OF THE MOONLESS NIGHTS	Mehar MALHOTRA	FTII – India	24’
TJ28 (28 Days Left)	Yasmin NAJJAR	Aalto University – Finland	24’
LEFT BEHIND, STILL STANDING	Vida SKERK	NFTS – United Kingdom	22’
ONDE NASCEM OS PIRILAMPOS (Where Fireflies Sparkle)	Clara VIEIRA	ESTC – Portugal	18’
WILL IT RAIN AGAIN TODAY	WONG Chau-Hong	Nihon University College of Art – Japan	16’

This year’s selections underscore the Festival de Cannes’ ongoing commitment to discovering and promoting new cinematic talent, offering a platform for both established and emerging filmmakers to share their visions with a global audience.