Eric Lavallee

Making his second splash in Cannes after seeing his short Lori land a Special Mention in 2022, Nepali filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah looks towards balancing realism with spirituality in a text that is an intersection between politics, faith, gender identity, and communal survival in Elephants in the Fog.

Set within a tightly knit Bedouin community in Lebanon, Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep unfolds less as a traditional drama than as a sensory experience, gradually revealing the constrained realities faced by women navigating systems of patriarchy, family obligation, and communal expectations. With its slow intimate cinema of Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Abbas Kiarostami vibes, Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi looks at conflict and confrontations through everyday routines and rituals.

Gent, Belgium born filmmaker Felix van Groeningen has steadily offered cinema that explores intimate relationship dramas, family sagas, addiction narratives, and coming-of-age stories, and it all began back in 2004 with Steve + Sky.