The Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar that runs alongside the main Cannes Film Festival, has unveiled the four short films created for its Next Step Studio initiative from four young directors from Indonesia.

The first edition of Next Step Studio has given them a voice by enabling them to co-write and co-direct shorts. which will be screened during the 65th edition of the Critics’ Week. 

Its Next Step workshops aim to support young talent in world cinema and allow them to move from short to feature films. “Continuing the concept initiated by La Factory at the Directors’ Fortnight since 2013, the program supports the emergence of new voices in cinema around the world,” Critics’ Week organizers said. “Each year, it takes place in a different country and highlights local cinema, bringing together eight emerging directors – four local and four international – to co-write and co-direct four 15-minute short films.”

The first 10 editions explored film talent from Taiwan, Chile, Finland, Denmark, South Africa, Lebanon, Tunisia, five Balkan countries, northern Portugal, the Philippines, and the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil. More than 80 filmmakers have participated in the program and nearly 50 first feature films have been made. 

This year’s edition, produced by Yulia Evina Bhara, Amerta Kusuma and Dominique Welinski, creator and curator of the program, is co-produced by Indra Sashi Kalanacitra, VMS Studio, Visinema Pictures, Navvaros, Entertainment, Poplicist Publicist, Salaya Yachts, Arungi Films, Prodigihouse, Titrafilm, A La Plage Studio, Jakarta Film Week, The Jakarta Provincial Government and the Ministry of Culture of Indonesia in partnership with the French Embassy in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and ASEAN, and the French Institute Indonesia.

Here is a look at the four short films that will screen during the Critics’ Week in Cannes, which runs May 13-21.

Holy Crowd
Directors: Reza Fahriyansyah (Indonesia) and Ananth Subramaniam (Malaysia)
Indonesia, France – 2025 – 16′ – language: Indonesian

Synopsis: “After Ratna rises from the dead during her funeral, her silent body begins performing unexplained healings, turning her husband Arif into the reluctant center of a growing frenzy. As villagers, opportunists, and religious authorities descend, faith and exploitation collide, and the miracle spirals beyond control.”
Cast: Prilly Latuconsina, Yusuf Mahardika, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin, Arswendy Bening Swara
DOP: Vera Lestafa, Indonesian Cinematographers Society
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad

Original Wound
Directors: Shelby Kho (Indonesia) and  Sein Lyan Tun (Myanmar) 
Indonesia, France – 2026 – 14′ – language: Indonesian

Synopsis: “After their mother’s death, a brother and sister remain in the house shaped by her control, negotiating conflicting memories of abuse and care. As ritual, body, and memory intertwine, their grief exposes a deeper entrapment, one that persists beyond her absence.”
Cast: Agnes Naomi, Omara Esteghlal, Vivian Idris
DOP: Vera Lestafa, Indonesian Cinematographers Society
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad

Annisa
Directors: Reza Rahadian (Indonesia) and Sam Manacsa (Philippines)
Indonesia, France – 2025 – 14′ – language: Indonesian

Synopsis: “In a crowded housing complex, Anissa, a blind teenage girl navigates a world mainly shaped by sound. As a neighborhood national day celebration unfolds around her, she finds an unexpected way to be heard, reclaiming her place within the noise that surrounds her.”
Cast: Choirunnisa Fernanda, Nazira C. Noer, Shakeel Fauzi
DOP: Faozan Rizal, Indonesian Cinematographers Society
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad

Mothers Are Mothering
Directors: Khozy Rizal (Indonesia) and Lam Li Shuen (Singapore)
Indonesia, France – 2025 – 17′ – language: Indonesian

Synopsis: “Nia, 50, in an abusive marriage, navigates a fragmented inner world where desire, memory, and ritual intertwine. A reunion with a former lover reawakens intimacy but exposes the persistence of violence and entrapment. As reality dissolves into hallucination, she reaches for a final, elusive escape.”
Cast: Happy Salma, Asmara Abigail, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin
DOP: Deska Binarso, Indonesian Cinematographers Society
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad

Hot Docs, the major nonfiction film festival in Toronto, has announced award winners for the event’s 33^rd edition.

Earning Best International Feature Documentary was House of Hope, directed by Marjolein Busstra, a film set in the occupied West Bank that focuses on an elementary school run by a couple who teach their young Palestinian students non-violent resistance, “offering a refuge from the escalating uncertainty that surrounds them.”

The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation) and automatically qualifies the film for Oscar consideration.

“A powerful and unsentimental film that bears witness to a family-run Waldorf school in the West Bank and its profound commitment to nurturing the humanity of children,” writes the jury comprised of Robyn Citizen, Daniela Michel, and Lina Rodriguez. “For its clear-eyed portrait of educators whose quiet everyday resilience stubbornly insists on hope under the shadow of occupation and genocide, the jury enthusiastically presents Marjolein Busstra with the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award for House of Hope.”

Best Canadian Feature Documentary went to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen. The film reveals “the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo, ‘Saigon Execution,’ confronting family secrets left in the wake of the Vietnam War, exposing the resilience of survivors and blurred legacy of wartime memory.”

The award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Telefilm Canada). Hot Docs hosted the world premiere for Saigon Story.

The jury, comprised of Avril Benoît, Jason Gorber, and Yiqian Zhang, writes, “For this film’s illuminating look at the story behind an iconic image and the city where it was captured, its compelling analysis of the lasting effects of a conflict from more than a half century ago, and its deep dive into the complex historical, political and emotional aspects that expand well beyond the frame of one of the most haunting moments ever captured on film, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary award to Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom.”

Coincidentally, a short documentary about the legacy of the Eddie Adams “Saigon Execution” photo — On Healing Land, Birds Perch, directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood – made the Oscar shortlist this past year.

The Hot Docs 2026 Awards Presentation was held Friday at El Mocambo in Toronto. The festival continues through Sunday. The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced on Sunday – with the winner receiving a $50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers. Winners of the Hot Docs Audience Award for feature and short documentary will be announced on Monday (May 4).

Scroll for the winners of awards in competition announced on Friday.

The festival’s Best International Short Documentary was presented to Replikka, directed by Piratá Waurá. “The short film offers an unforgettable look at Waura culture and their efforts to protect Indigenous land, traditions, and stories,” writes the jury, comprised of Fazila Amiri, Martin Edralin, and Shonna Foster. “Its beautiful cinematography and rhythmic sound design made a strong impression on the jury, in addition to its urgent call against the erasure of Indigenous culture and memory, and its unique perspective from within the Waura community.”

Best Canadian Short Documentary went to My Body Goes to Work, directed by Fernanda Molina. “In just 12 minutes, Fernanda Molina Perez Diez crafts an intimate and humanizing portrait of a Toronto sex worker, revealing the complexity behind job titles and underscoring the nature of care work in all its forms,” write jurors Amiri, Edralin, and Foster. “Raw and observant, the film left the jury in reflection on the everyday realities of sex work, reframing a life too often reduced to a label.”

Both Replikka and My Body Goes to Work earned $3,000 cash prizes and by virtue of winning at Hot Docs they automatically qualify for Oscar consideration.

Along with the above-mentioned films, these are the Hot Docs awards winners announced on Friday:

The Lindalee Tracey Award, which honors an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor, was presented to Özgün Gündüz. The Lindalee Tracey award includes a $5000 cash prize from the Lindalee Tracey Fund, $5000 in-kind voucher from the Picture Shop and a beautifully glass blown sculpture by Andrew Kuntz.

Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award is awarded to the documentary that receives the highest rating in the student audience poll was presented to Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min). At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighborhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.

The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. The award, which includes a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of the Earl A. Glick Family, was presented to Sébastien Trahan, the director of Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min). An investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault, unravelling our national pastime and questioning the institutions that hold the sport accountable.

Jury Statement: “For its journalistically rich examination of accountability and power and privilege within Canadian hockey, as well as the film’s amplification of voices calling for justice, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award to Sébastien Trahan for Code of Misconduct.”

Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, sponsored by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund, which recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs 2026 official selection film who find and tell compelling stories that inspire social or political change, and encourage their audiences to change their attitudes or behaviours or strive for policy change, went to directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim of The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min).

[Film description]: When martial law was shockingly declared in 2024, the people of Seoul took to the streets to protect their democracy. Driven by memories of past dictatorships, this urgent reportage-style film captures a night of chaos and powerful, collective citizen resistance.

A $10,000 cash prize accompanies the award, supported by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund.

Jury Statement: “For a film of great urgency that speaks to the vagaries of political upheaval, the power of protest, and the foundational need for any free society to have an engaged press ready to pursue the truth in all of its messiness and meaningfulness, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary to the film team behind The Seoul Guardians, the directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim.”

Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award, supported by the R&M Lang Foundation, was awarded to Dawood Hilmandi, director of Paikar (D: Dawood Hilmandi | P: Frank Hoeve, Katja Draaijer | Netherlands | 2025 | 97 min). From exile in Amsterdam, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar, the Persian word for warrior. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during a pandemic transforms a lifetime of displacement into a story of survival.

The award is given to an international filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film, and includes a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the R&M Lang Foundation.

Jury statement: For its poetic meditation on transgenerational trauma that evocatively navigates the entanglement of memory, war and exile from a deeply personal perspective—initiating a moving dialogue across a lifetime of displacement, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award to Dawood Hilmandi for Paikar.”

Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary, sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was presented to Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min). At Nuxalk Radio, a ramshackled station on the edge of the world, an inquiry into the vanished ooligan fish uncovers a chilling history rooted in the attempted erasure of the Nuxalk people and their enduring resilience.

The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario.

Jury Statement: “For this film’s poignant look at Indigenous resistance and reclamation of past-traditions, illustrating a community grappling to resuscitate unceded lands, all while showing how the actions of a Nation foster healing by respecting what came before while working towards a better future, the Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature goes to Banchi Hanuse’s Ceremony.”

Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary, in memory of long time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was given to The 49th Year (D: Heidrun Holzfeind | P: Heidrun Holzfeind | Austria, Germany, Japan | 2026 | 88 min). Through thoughtful letters from prison, an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 reflects on his radical past. This meditative portrait pairs humane narration with contemporary Japanese landscapes, exploring the quiet tensions between aging, political militancy and time itself.

Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $5,000 cash prize, in memory of Joan VanDuzer.

Jury statement: “For its astute view on political ideologies and its meditative exploration of the true costs of radical action beyond isolated moments of protest and conventional electoral politics—and the ways in which periods of dissent can fade into enforced consensus, the jury recognizes Heidrun Holzfeind’s elegiac yet piercing attention to one man and the echoes of his resistance with the Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary.”

Canadian producer Jennifer Holness received the Hot Docs Don Haig Award, announced earlier in the Festival. The Award is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the Festival in recognition of their creative vision, entrepreneurship and track record for nurturing emerging talent, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.

Deep in the middle of a tough reelection campaign, Karen Bass has discovered the middle of the road can be a very politically dangerous place with few good options. To that, the incumbent Mayor has today snagged the Hollywood production and competition proposals of her most threatening rival.

Just like Councilmember Nithya Raman and most of the candidates for Gov. Gavin Newson’s job, Bass now wants California’s $750 million film and TV tax incentives program to be uncapped. Also like her one-time City Hall ally Raman, the former state legislator and Congresswoman is now against Paramount‘s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery, kinda.

“I cannot support a deal that results in massive job losses,” Bass said late this May Day. “I urge federal regulators to enforce job protections and creative freedom during the approval process, and I call on Paramount’s leadership to redouble its commitment to the industry workers in our city,” she add in a statement that is already DOA.

Bass’ throw down on PARA-WBD comes just over a week after an all smiles Oval Office meeting with Paramount owner David Ellison‘s dinner and UFC pal Donald Trump over wildfire relief. Trump and key members of his administration have been big supporters of Paramount’s bid for WBD, in no small part because of the control of CNN it will give “good friends” Ellison and his Oracle founder father Larry Ellison.

Estimated to come with a debt load of $78 billion and obvious overlaps in roles and departments, the melding of the two iconic studios under one corporate umbrella is widely assumed to come with deep deep job cuts. Since Skydance founder Ellison’s takeover of Paramount last year, the home of CBS has seen thousands laid off. Under David Zaslav’s expensive leadership the past four years, WBD has also had more than its fair share of cuts.

Jumping into the race for City Hall on the last possible day, Raman, who is married to producer/writer Vali Chandrasekaren, has promised “to be the loudest advocates for the most expansive possible film tax credits at the state and federal level, guaranteed multiple years into the future so that producers and studios can count on them.”

Even with the 2025 expansion of the state tax credits and a recent and much Bass touted small quarter-over-quarter rise uptick in days in LA, production in the home of Hollywood has been way down in the past few years.

That harsh decline has seen job losses and larger economic ramifications as the tax base, vendors and the region overall has taken hits. Add the growing presence of AI in the industry to the mix, and the situation is critical. Also, the tub thumping of the shoot day rise has rubbed many the wrong way as it is suffers from the false equivilency of comparing the holiday filled end of last year with the first few months of 2026.

In office since 2022 and a vocal advocate for tax credits that she played a pivotal hand in back in her Sacramento days, Bass finally created a film office in City Hall last year under the direction of Board of Public Works President Steve Kang. Along with the delay in prioritising the production downturn, Bass has been widely panned for picking Kang due to his lack of industry experience.

Having cut fees and some other measures for filming in the City of Angels, Bass has Friday also joined the movement for a federal incentive program to counter moves in the UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere to lure production. “We are in a global battle for entertainment jobs, and we must hold nothing back in our fight,” Mayor Bass said tonight. “This is about an industry that is essential to our middle class and who we are as a city.”

With The Hills alum Spencer Pratt also running with a MAGA inspired campaign, the L.A. Mayor’s race takes places in two ballot stages with a primary on June 2. If neither Bass nor Raman garners more that 50% of the vote, as occurred in the now incumbent’s battle with developer Rick Caruso in 2022, then the election goes to a runoff on November 3, the same day as the potentially seismic midterms.