The Cannes Film Festival’s La Résidence is welcoming Harry Lighton, Emma Branderhorst, Joecar Hanna, Saulé Bliuvaité, Mansi Maheshwari and Oliver McGoldrick to their 51st session. From March 16th to July 31st, this next generation of international filmmakers will reside in Paris where they will benefit from a personalized screenwriting residency program and a collective program of meetings with film professionals. Lighton took the Un Certain Regard section by storm with his fun queer dom rom com Pillion (read review) while Saulé Bliuvaité won the big daddy prize Golden Leopard at Locarno with Toxic (read review). All six will be part of the festivities in Cannes this May. Here are their bios:
Harry Lighton is a writer-director based in London. His debut feature, Pillion, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, made a strong impression at its premiere at the 2025 Festival de Cannes, where it won the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Screenplay. The film went on to achieve both critical and commercial success, notably winning Best British Independent Film at the BIFAs, and receiving three BAFTA nominations. His short film Wren Boys had previously been nominated for Best British Short Film at the 2018 BAFTAs.
Emma Branderhorst is an Amsterdam-based filmmaker known for intimate, character-driven stories that explore social dynamics from a distinctly female perspective. Her short films Under the Skin, Spotless (Crystal Bear winner) and Ma Mère et Moi were selected for the Berlinale. Alongside her fiction work, she also directed the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winning short Piece of Me, and regularly makes narrative-driven commercials across Europe. She works in a naturalistic, performance-led style, revealing emotion between the lines. She is currently developing her debut feature This Will Not End Well.
Joecar Hanna is a Spanish filmmaker of Chinese-Lebanese descent who before moving to NYC, worked as a professional editor on many feature films and a TV series. During his time in the NYU Grad Film program he received the Black Family Prize and the Ang Lee Scholarship, and was selected for the Marcie Bloom Fellowship (Sony Pictures Classics). His short premiered at SXSW 2023 and was acquired by Canal+. His second short , executive-produced by Spike Lee, premiered at Cannes 2025, won Best Short at TIFF, and premiered in the U.S at SXSW 2026. As an actor, he made his feature debut in by Alex Rockwell, a film that received an award at the Warsaw Film Festival. Joecar will make his debut feature in the U.S. in Fall 2026 and will develop his second feature at the Cannes Residence 2026.
Saulė Bliuvaitė is a Lithuanian film director, screenwriter, and editor. She graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2018 and began her filmmaking career with several short films, while also co-writing Isaac, Lithuania’s submission for the 2021 Academy Award for Best International Feature. Her debut feature, Toxic, premiered in the International Competition at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Golden Leopard. Since its debut, Toxic has been screened at around 100 film festivals worldwide, garnered numerous international accolades, and was nominated for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI at the European Film Awards.
Mansi Maheshwari, born in 1998, is an Indian animation director whose work blends humour with emotionally grounded storytelling. She began in fashion, using clothing to tell stories, before pursuing narrative more directly through an MA in Animation Direction at the National Film and Television School, UK. Her graduation short film Bunnyhood premiered at Cannes, winning Third Prize in La Cinef Selection competition, and later screened at Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand. Drawing from personal memory, her films explore family, reunions, and the quiet chaos of human connection through warmth, absurdity, and character-driven storytelling.
Oliver McGoldrick is an Irish filmmaker and doctor based between New York City and County Down, Northern Ireland. He studied Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2017, before earning his MFA in Film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is a BAFTA North America Scholar and an alum of the Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy. His previous short, Three Keenings, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024, screened at over 50 festivals worldwide and won best short film at the Galway Film Fleadh. His next short, Melter, executive produced by Spike Lee, is currently in post-production. He is in development for his debut feature Barnyard, through the Munich Film Up Program and La Residence of the Festival de Cannes.
