The 79th Festival de Cannes has unveiled its short films and La Cinef selections.
Selected from 3,184 films, 10 short films will be presented this year in Competition, coming from productions and co-productions across 136 countries.
The Short Film Palme d’Or will be awarded on Saturday 23 May, during the closing awards ceremony of the festival.
The list of short films featured is available below.
- FRESH CUT — Hadrien Bels
- THE LAST SPRING — Mathilde Bédouet
- SISTERS’ SWIM — Lola Degove
- THE END — Niki Lindroth Von Bahr
- PARA LOS CONTRINCANTES (For the opponents) — Federico Luis
- PELOTON TRUENO (Thunder Platoon) — Theo Montoya
- GIẤC MƠ LÀ ỐC SÊN (The dream is a snail) — Thien An Nguye
- ALGUMAS COISAS QUE ACONTECEM AO LADO DE UM RIO (A few things happening by a river) — Daniel Soares
- SPIRITUS SANCTUS — Michal Toczek
- NIKO NIŠTA NIJE REKAO (Nobody said anything) — Tamara Todorović
Meanwhile, for its 29th edition, La Cinef has selected 14 live-action and five animated shorts from among the 2,750 sent by film schools all over the world.
Directed by 12 women and nine men, they represent 15 countries and four continents.
Two of the schools are invited for the first time: Hongik University (South Korea) and ISAMM (Tunisia).
On Thursday 21 May, La Cinef Prizes will be given by the jury at a ceremony in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the awarded films.
The list of films screening is available below, including UK selections Pickled and Left Behind, Still Standing:
- LASER-GATO (Laser-Cat) — Lucas Acher, NYU – USA
- PHOTOGRAPH OF AN INSANE WOMAN TO SHOW THE CONDITION OF HER HAIR — Arwen Aznag, LUCA School of Arts Brussels – Belgium
- TÚ, YO Y LA VACA (Me, You and the Cow) — Aina Callejón, ESCAC – Spain
- PICKLED — Fanny Capu, NFTS – UK
- BIRD RHAPSODY — Wonjung Choi, Hongik University – South Korea
- ALWAYS WANTED TO BE GOD, NEVER WANTED TO BE GOOD — Noa Epars & Marvin Merkel, HEAD – Switzerland
- PREKO PRAGA (Over the Threshold) — Tara Gajović, FDU – Serbia
- GROWING STONES, FLYING PAPERS — Roozbeh Gezerseh & Soraya Shamsi, Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf – Germany
- SUNDAY’S CHILDREN — Reuben Hamlyn, NYU – USA
- SOMEWHERE I BELONG — Youssef Handouse, ISAMM – Tunisia
- SILENT VOICES — Nadine Misong Jin, Columbia University – USA
- TRAKCJE (Axles) — Jakub Krzyszpin, The Polish National Film School in Łódź – Poland
- ALDRIG NOK (Never Enough) — Julius Lagoutte Larsen, La Fémis – France
- TIAN TIAN DE MI MI (Our Secrets) — Lenti Liang, USC Cinematic Arts – USA
- SHADOWS OF THE MOONLESS NIGHTS — Mehar Malhotra, FTII – India
- TJ28 (28 Days Left) — Yasmin Najjar, Aalto University – Finland
- LEFT BEHIND, STILL STANDING — Vida Skerk, NFTS – UK
- ONDE NASCEM OS PIRILAMPOS (Where Fireflies Sparkle) — Clara Vieira, ESTC – Portugal
- WILL IT RAIN AGAIN TODAY — Wong Chau-Hong, Nihon University College of Art – Japan
The two picks from the UK come from the National Film and Television School.
“This rare double selection at La Cinef builds on the NFTS’ exceptional track record at Cannes, marking the first time the school has achieved a dual entry since 2015 and 2005,” the NFTS said.
“Continuing its upward trajectory at Cannes, it marks the sixth consecutive year NFTS films have featured at La Cinef and follows the landmark selection of first-year student film Ether in 2025.”
Left Behind, Still Standing was created by an international team of filmmakers and crew in their final year at the NFTS, led by director Vida Skerk, produced by Dóra Gálosi and lensed by Kaysar Kasim.
The film explores themes of displacement, labour and belonging. When the steel factory she’s working to dismantle comes back to life one night, immigrant Morana must face the fragility of her own existence – and how much she truly has in common with the laid-off workers.
The eight-minute stop-motion animation Pickled explores a deeply personal story of family legacy, capturing both the joy it brings and the weight it can carry.
Also created as a final year project, it was directed by Fanny Capu, produced by Dóra Gálosi and lensed by Hayley Grant.
The vision for the film involved inventive stop-motion solutions, from using scrunched camera gels instead of real liquid and glass to animate over 2,000 handmade green jars, to crafting highly expressive puppets with hand-sculpted features, multiple replacement faces and movable hair and joints to bring emotional depth to the characters.
NFTS director Jon Wardle commented: “To have two films selected for world premieres at La Cinef in the same year is a truly outstanding achievement. It speaks to the sheer talent of our students and graduates and the collaborative environment at the NFTS.
“We couldn’t be prouder to see this new generation of filmmakers already making a significant impact internationally.”
