Cannes 2026 selections for Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart films

IFFR-backed films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and presented at CineMart are once again making their mark on the Cannes lineup – this year with five titles across the Official Selection and the Semaine de la Critique. The selections span reconciliation in Rwanda, wild elephants and a disappearing daughter in rural Nepal, a Japanese boarding school for teenage mermaids, a women-only petrol station in Yemen and a moving reflection on family wounds in 1990s Mexico City.

Ben’imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo – Un Certain Regard

HBF Development 2022
Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway

With her debut feature, self-taught Kigali-born filmmaker Dusabejambois becomes the first Rwandan filmmaker in the Cannes Official Selection, presenting a portrait of Rwanda as it strives to rebuild itself following the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. Set in 2012, the film follows Veneranda, a survivor, who organises sessions between victims and perpetrators’ families as people’s courts pursue justice and reconciliation following the genocide against the Tutsis. 

Through predominantly female characters, the film explores intergenerational trauma as love and hate, resentment and reconciliation intertwine. The film is an African majority co-production, with a cast composed almost entirely of non-professional actors.

Dusabejambois previously explored these themes with the short film Lyiza which screened in Tribeca. Her work has screened widely at international festivals and won prizes including the Ousmane Sembene Award at ZIFF and the Golden Dhow in 2016.

Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah – Un Certain Regard

HBF Development 2021, HBF+Europe 2023, BoostNL 2023
Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil, Norway

In a small Nepalese village nestled in the heart of a forest populated by wild elephants, Pirati is the matriarch of a Kinnar community. She dreams of escaping to a “normal” life with the man she is in love with. But when one of her daughters disappears, she must investigate and choose between love and responsibility to her community.

The thriller is the debut feature feature from Shah, who has a strong track record at major festivals with his most recent short Lori (2022) receiving a Special Mention for the Palme d’Or Short at Cannes, while films he wrote – including Highway (2012, Berlinale) and The Black Hen (2015, Venice Critics’ Week) – have travelled widely. 

Titanic Ocean by Konstantina Kotzamani – Un Certain Regard

CineMart 2019
Greece, Germany, Romania, France, Spain, Japan

In the scintillating teenage universe of a special boarding school in Japan that trains teenage girls into professional mermaids, 17-year-old Akame will find her siren voice, discover first love and experience a metamorphosis. Set in Japan, in a closed, female universe, the film explores sexual awakening, obsession and transformation in a world where fantasy is choreographed and bodies are trained.

This is the debut feature from Greek filmmaker Kotzamani who has premiered her short and medium-length work at Berlinale, Locarno, Venice and the International Critics’ Week. The project was presented at IFFR’s co-production market CineMart at IFFR 2019.

Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul (Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building) by Bruno Santamaría Razo – Semaine de la Critique

HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2024
Mexico, Brazil, Denmark

Mexico City, early 90s. The day Bruno turns 11, his growing feelings for his best friend Vladimir clash with the sudden announcement that his father has HIV. Like in salsa songs, his family tries to sing and dance their pain away. Thirty years later, Bruno films and reimagines the memory of what he could not quite perceive as a child.

In his fiction feature debut, Mexican filmmaker Razo creates a moving universe with family gatherings and hidden wounds, shared music and dances, the tenderness of first love and a gentle nostalgia for the 1990s, all captured beautifully on 16mm.

His documentary Cosas que no hacemos (2020) won the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Grand Prize at BAFICI. The film is Mexico’s first feature-length film to premiere at Critics’ Week in two decades.

The Station by Sara Ishaq – Semaine de la Critique

HBF Development 2018, CineMart 2020, NFF+HBF 2021, HBF+Europe 2022
Yemen, Jordan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar

Layal runs a women-only petrol station in Yemen, a safe haven in a war-torn country. There, the rules are simple: no men, no weapons, no politics. When Layal’s younger brother faces enlistment, she reunites with her estranged sister to save the one life they still can.

Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker Ishaq is known for her documentary work, including Karama Has No Walls (2012), nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA New Talent Award, and The Mulberry House (2013, IDFA). Since 2022 she has managed the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk, and at IFFR 2026 she sat on the Big Screen Competition Jury. The Station is her debut fiction feature.

“The world of The Station distills what I cherish about Yemeni society into a fragile utopia”, Ishaq told Deadline, “constantly shadowed by turmoil beyond its walls. This film is about people in all their complexity, contradiction and resilience. It is an ode to the people of Yemen, who have endured years of war with dignity, humour and strength.”

Alumni in the selections

Hubert Bals Fund alumni are well represented elsewhere in the selections. Colombian filmmaker Theo Montoya, supported for his upcoming Falso positivo, presents Pelotón Trueno in the Short Films Competition. Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor – Tiger Award winner at IFFR 2012 for De jueves a domingo and later Tarde para morir joven (IFFR 2019) – brings La perra to the Quinzaine des cinéastes, alongside long-time HBF and IFFR collaborator Lisandro Alonso with Double Freedom. Haitian filmmaker Gessica Généus, whose HBF Development-supported debut Freda screened in Bright Future at IFFR 2022, presents Marie Madeleine in the Cannes Premiere section.

Payal Kapadia returns to Cannes as President of the Jury for the Semaine de la Critique, following the IFFR-supported success of All We Imagine as Light at Cannes 2025.

HBF+Europe support

Three films in the Cannes selections received support through HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support – a scheme through which the Hubert Bals Fund uses Creative Europe – MEDIA funding to encourage European producers to co-produce films by filmmakers from HBF-supported territories: Elephants in the Fog (2023), The Station (2022) and Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul (2024).

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