The 2026 Cannes Film Festival continues to spotlight emerging filmmakers from around the world, as the jury announced the winners of the 29th La Cinef Selection on May 21.
Dedicated to student filmmakers, La Cinef featured 19 films selected from 2,747 submissions representing 662 film schools worldwide. The awards ceremony took place at the Buñuel Theatre and was followed by screenings of the winning films.
This year’s Short Films and La Cinef Jury was presided over by Carla Simón and included Ali Asgari, Salim Kechiouche, Ji-Min Park and Magnus von Horn.
The First Prize went to Laser-Cat (Laser-Gato), directed by Lucas Acher from New York University in the United States.
Second Prize was awarded to Silent Voices, directed by Nadine Misong Jin from Columbia University in the United States.
The Joint Third Prize winners were Never Enough (Aldrig Nok) directed by Julius Lagoutte Larsen from La Fémis in France, and Growing Stones, Flying Papers directed by Roozbeh Gezerseh and Soraya Shamsi from Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf in Germany.
The Cannes Film Festival awarded grants of €15,000 for First Prize, €11,000 for Second Prize and €7,500 for Third Prize winners.
The awarded films will also receive a special screening in Paris at the Cinéma du Panthéon on June 2 at 6 p.m.
For more information on the selected films, visit Festival de Cannes.
