Prior to the Palme d’Or short competition section being revealed, we have another section featuring the best in short film cinema that is worth keeping tabs on as several of these filmmakers will be talked about in the decade ahead. The Critics’ Week selection committee have outlined the 13 short films that line up their 2026 selections and we find some recent Cannes alumni in Ali Cherri and Elie Grappe offering new oeuvres. Cherri saw his 2022 film Dam premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section and he follows this with a 29-minute short called La Sentinelle which features the Swiss army knife of languages in actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Eric Cantona (the ex-footballer turned actor will have quite the Cannes this year being featured as the subject in Cantona by David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas, and having acted in Avril Besson’s Les matins merveilleux). Grappe makes his second showcase in the Critics’ Week section with I Think you Should be Here – which comes directly after showcasing his feature debut Olga back in 2021. Here are the selections:
Special Screenings
I Think You Should Be Here — Elie Grappe, Anna-Marija Adomaityté
La Sentinelle (The Sentinel) — Ali Cherri
Love Story — Laïs Decaster
Competition
Adgwa-Ata — Zsuzsanna Kreif
À Quoi Rêvent les Maknines (What Do the Maknines Dream Of) — Sarra Ryma
City of Owls — Zhenia Kazankina
Klasės Nuotrauka (Class Photo) — Arnas Balciunas
Man’mi — Aude N’Guessan Forget
Üs (Nafron) — Daood Alabdulaa
Skinny Bottines (Skinny Boots) — Romain F. Dubois
“Vaterland” or a Bule Named Yanto — Berthold Wahjudi
Visit into Irradiated Land — Anne-Sophie Girault
หาอะไร? (What Do You Seek in the Dark?) — Tossaphon
