Documentary Short Films / Cannes International Film Week

Documentary Short Films / Cannes International Film Week

The Cannes International Film Week is an online streaming film festival meant to showcase innovative world cinema from around the world by up-and-coming artists.

Share
Documentary Short Films / Cannes International Film Week
  • Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova

    In a world of loneliness, Tokyo Toy Boy searches for a reason to keep going. Through an intimate portrait, the documentary explores the battle between self-destruction and a better day tomorrow. Kazuho, ​​a 24-year-old former host boy in the shady neighborhoods of Tokyo, bears the scars of a lost...

  • Georgie (United States) by Jennie Butler

    An ex-mobster reflects on life, love, and loss after spending 32 years in prison.
    Running time: 00:14:20

  • Unscarred (Belgium) by Théo Roland

    This is the story of the evolving relationship between a mother and her son. The mother is bipolar and has violent outbursts. After years, the mother becomes stable, and they decide to make a film together, playing themselves in it. This move symbolizes the end of their chaotic journey.
    Running t...

  • To My Grandfather by Sofia Samoylova

    Ukraine (Region Poltava), 2026. After the death of her husband, an elderly woman is left alone. In the rooms they once shared, life is meant to go on – slowly, gently, wrapped in grief, pain, but also love and strength. The granddaughter is the author of the film. With this cinematic work, she cr...

  • The Missing Post Office (France) by Clement Lefer

    In the Seto Inland Sea, the abandoned post office of Awashima was transformed into a sanctuary for undelivered letters, sent to the lost, the dead, or no one at all. At 91, postmaster Katsuhisa Nakata continues to care for these fragments of memory. The Missing Post Office is a quiet, cinematic m...

  • Manya (Portugal) by F. Rahiman, C. Amado Restrepo, M. Ivashchenko, J. Jurado

    Manya recalls the night when the Russian forces first attacked Kyiv. One of the initial missiles struck her building, her home. She gradually returns to her work as a foley artist. Manya reflects on the concept of "cool" kids from school who influenced her to try her first cigarette. She will go ...

  • No Longer / Not Yet (France) by Jacquelyn Elder

    No Longer / Not Yet is an intimate observational documentary focusing on the very few moments just before a performer steps on stage. In this interval of time and space leading up to a performers first step on stage we are "no longer" rehearsing, and "we are not quite yet" on stage. Understanding...

  • Dans un Souffle (Belgium, Hungary, Portugal) by Catarina Couto Gonçalves

    Dans un Souffle is a breath caught on ice, tracing, figure skater, Nina Pinzarrone's fragile yet unyielding pursuit of perfection. In blank and white, it traces fleeting shapes and expressions, exploring the quiet resilience behind her graceful facade.
    Running time: 00:15:00

  • The Caretakers | Care for one. Protect the whole. (United States) by Mital Patel

    At Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where biodiversity thrives alongside the last two northern white rhinos on Earth, The Caretakers follows the rangers, handlers, and former caretakers whose lives are shaped by protecting what remains. Through intimate daily rituals of trust, frontline anti-poach...

  • Darlinghurst Eats Its Young (Australia) by Madeleine Preston

    “…the future is known, it's the past that's always changing…” Based on a box of photographs left to Madeleine after her best friend Maggie died by suicide, ‘Darlinghurst Eats Its Young’ is a moving account of a group of friends, artists and musicians living in Darlinghurst (Sydney) in the early 8...

  • The Last Island (Sweden) by Tobias Hansson

    On the far edge of the world lies an island where myth and reality merge. Waves carve the shoreline, voices of ancestors linger in the wind and life follows a rhythm older than time. The Last Island is a meditative journey into solitude, memory, and the fragile bond between humans and nature.
    Run...

  • Caretaker (United States) by Verónica Rose Wood

    When Antonio receives improper care from his doctor and loses his sight, his sister puts her life on hold and moves to Texas to take care of him full time. A story of the generational history of caretaking in an immigrant Mexican family - and the weight, love and breaking points of familial sacri...

  • The Mysteries of the Horizon (France) by Mathieu Sauvat

    Divided into four chapters, The Mysteries of the Horizon is an initiatory documentary narrating the pursuit of a dream at the borders of reality. Beneath its oneiric aspects, this film explores themes of chance, destiny, and human connection. For while this adventure leads us through its twists a...

  • From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America (United States)

    “From Earth to Earth” takes a critical look at the rituals dictated by America’s death-denying culture and asks, “how can people trying to cope with the death of a loved one be better served?” Our documentary takes the viewer deep into the woods of Vermont and the meadows of central New York wher...

  • Simulating Space (United States) by Dave Croyle

    The space industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation, spearheaded by scrappy start ups, ambitious national space programs, and bold innovators. In this documentary, we explore how simulation is revolutionizing the space sector, pushing the limits of innovation, and driving mission succe...

  • Voice Notes on Death (Germany) by Romy Persaud Drennan, Harry Crampton

    A film about mortality. We asked friends and family about their relationship with death, a topic we had not openly discussed with them before. A collection of voice notes are woven together with Super 8 footage. Filmed over the course of one month during winter in Berlin.
    Running time: 00:19:55

  • Situational Awareness (China) by Yuehan Wang

    Situational awareness uses archival footage of Southern California's military operation and invites the audience to an accelerated fall into an interrogation of complicity. Fixating on damaged footages, dropping frames, and layered effects, an affect of resistance emerged.
    Running time: 00:15:14

  • Traveling Flower (Poland) by Alina Dzmitrovich

    Two-year-old Sappie has a childhood with no map, growing up in places where most people fear to go—following her parents, Ben and Eilidh, who work as guides in the planet’s most remote and unusual corners.
    Running time: 00:15:09

  • Because We Are Born Girls (Belgium) by Maggie Lung

    A pregnant woman is told by a Belgian abortion center that she must endure a mandatory 6-day reflection period before undergoing the procedure. Those 6 days of isolation trigger memories and doubts about the future. While trying to give her decision a place, she reflects on what it is like to be ...

  • A Birmingham Symphony (United Kingdom) by Jemma Saunders

    A poetic exploration of Birmingham, inspired by the city symphony films of the 1920s and 1930s, in which a personal place-mosaic is created through a sonic-screen collaboration between filmmaker and composer.
    Running time: 00:12:04

  • Ujvala Jupalli: Asterisk Athlete (United States) by Josephine Harrison

    A meditative documentary following the story of Ujvala as she details what being an athlete means to her and the first time she realized she wasn't just an athlete but a female athlete. We see aspects of her training, and also more reflective moments as she tells her story.
    Running time: 00:09:00

  • Ad Libitum (Mexico) by Antonio Guajardo Lara

    The lead dancer Ernesto Mejica suffered a knee injury during a rehearsal. He has been dancing ballet his whole life. Now he needs surgery and he has no guarantee of dancing again on a professional level. What happens when you are no longer able to pursuit your passion? Who are you if not a dancer...

  • Anima (France) by Elsa Poissonnet-Boyer

    How do we keep our balance when landmarks change?
    “Anima” is a documentary about ethics and commitment in a changing world.
    Through their dances, the film questions five characters: a child, a teenager, a migrant, a pregnant woman and an elderly man, who meet in a collective improvisation and be...

  • Woman Rising (United States) by Matilde Simas

    Woman Rising is a documentary that exposes the dark reality of sex and human trafficking in America. The film follows the journey of Cary Stuart, a young woman from Maine who was trafficked for years, and who managed to escape and rebuild her life with the help of a dedicated network of supporte...