The 2026 Cannes Festival has announced the winners of its Short Film and Immersive Competition categories. The Short Films and La Cinef Jury, presided by Carla Simón and comprising Ali Asgari, Salim Kechiouche, Ji-Min Park, and Magnus von Horn, awarded the La Cinef Prizes during a ceremony at the Buñuel Theatre, followed by screenings of the winning films. La Cinef featured 19 student films selected from 2,747 submissions from 662 film schools worldwide.
La Cinef Prize Winners
The first prize was awarded to Laser-Gato (Laser-Cat) directed by Lucas Acher (NYU, USA). The second prize went to Silent Voices by Nadine Misong Jin (Columbia University, USA). The third prize was a joint award, shared by Aldrig Nok (Never Enough) directed by Julius Lagoutte Larsen (La Femis, France) and Growing Stones, Flying Papers directed by Roozbeh Gezerseh and Soraya Shamsi (Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany). The Festival de Cannes provides a €15,000 grant for the first prize, €11,000 for the second, and €7,500 for the third. The awarded films will be screened at the Cinéma du Panthéon on Tuesday, June 2 at 6 p.m.
Immersive Competition Award
The Jury of the Immersive Competition of the 79th Festival de Cannes awarded the Best Immersive Work Award to Katàbasis, created by Ugo Arsac, presented at the Plage des Palmes. The Jury also gave a Special Jury Mention to The Black Mirror Experience, created by David Bardos and Damià Ferràndiz. The jury was chaired by Franco-Spanish artistic director Blanca Li and included French director Céline Tricart, Dutch composer and director Michel van der Aa, English director and producer Mary Matheson, and Taiwanese director Hsin-Chien Huang. Blanca Li described Katàbasis as a magnificent immersive work that is deeply human, authentic, and emotionally powerful, allowing viewers to reconnect with what binds ordinary human beings. Returning for its third edition, the Immersive Competition was hosted at the Carlton Hotel, welcoming up to 200 guests per showcase and generating over 3,000 bookings throughout the festival. This year's official Immersive selection featured nine works from eight countries.
Hot Docs Cinema June Lineup
The excitement of this year's Hot Docs Festival continues as Hot Docs Cinema releases its programming lineup for June, featuring special events, guests, returning series, and festival favorites at the historic theater at 506 Bloor Street. Highlights include the return of Pride Projected with three Pride Month events hosted by local film lovers and makers, the four-week Curious Minds lecture series Toronto: Cinema City, and several special guests introducing films or participating in post-screening Q&A sessions. Pride Projected is back with three special events hosted by queer film icons. Critic, editor, and film curator Saffron Maeve presents Shades of Feeling: Five by Pratibha Parmar, a collection of five shorts by British filmmaker Pratibha Parmar from 1988-1991. Hot Docs 2026 Opening Night filmmaker Michelle Mama (Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions) presents Jeffrey Schwarz's I Am Divine, the story of John Waters' diva Divine. Writer, broadcaster, and Queer Cinema Club curator Peter Knegt opens the series with Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's The Celluloid Closet, assembled from 120 films to show the changing face of cinema sexuality. For more information on Pride Projected, presented in partnership with Inside Out, visit the Hot Docs website.
Pitcher Festival Partners with Out There Media
The Pitcher Festival of Creativity has announced a new talent-development partnership with Out There Media (OTM), a global leader in data-driven rich messaging and mobile advertising technology. Through this collaboration, OTM will offer internship opportunities to winners of the Future Pitcher Competition, the culminating challenge of the Future Pitcher Student Academy (FPSA). FPSA, now in its 19th year, serves as the entry point into Africa's creative industry pipeline, introducing outstanding students to creativity, strategy, storytelling, cultural insight, and collaboration. The program concludes with the Future Pitcher Competition, where top-performing students are recognized as emerging creative leaders. Out There Media will provide selected winners with remote internship placements across several African markets, including Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. Interns will gain hands-on experience in areas such as ad operations, creative digital development, digital trading, account management, and sales. OTM will also provide a monthly stipend to support participants during the internship period. This collaboration strengthens the bridge between education and industry practice, offering young creatives the opportunity to work on real campaigns for global brands and mobile operators while learning from industry experts. The Pitcher Festival celebrates this partnership as a meaningful step toward expanding career pathways for Africa's next generation of creative professionals. For more information about FPSA, visit www.pitcherfestival.com/fpsa.
