Indonesia premieres four short films at Cannes Film Festival 2026, the world's most prestigious cinema event. Meet the films and the stories they carry.

Before talking about Indonesia, it helps to understand the room it just walked into.

The Cannes Film Festival 2026, formally known as Festival de Cannes, is the most prestigious and closely watched film event on the planet. In 2026, it returns for its 79th edition, running May 12 to 23 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on the seafront promenade of La Croisette in Cannes, France. The festival was born in 1938 and held its first edition in September 1946. The Palme d'Or, its ultimate award made of 24-carat gold and crystal, was created in 1955.

The 2026 edition is chaired by South Korean director Park Chan-wook as jury president, the first Korean filmmaker to hold that position in the festival's history. Two Honorary Palmes d'Or will be awarded to Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand. Around 200,000 people descend on a coastal town of 70,000 every May for 12 days of screenings, deals, red carpets, and arguments about cinema.

The road to Cannes Film Festival  began weeks earlier. On May 5, 2026, the Institut Français d'Indonésie in Jakarta hosted a press conference introducing the Next Step Studio Indonesia program to the public a gathering of directors, producers, actors, and cultural institutions that marked Indonesia's official step toward the festival.

Press conference for the Next Step Studio Indonesia program at the Institut Français d'Indonésie in the presence of French Ambassador Fabien Penone.

What Indonesia Is Bringing to Cannes Film Festival 2026

The four films are part of Next Step Studio Indonesia 2026, produced by KawanKawan Media, the first Indonesian edition of a Critics' Week talent development program that has previously traveled through Taiwan, Chile, Finland, Denmark, South Africa, Lebanon, Tunisia, the Balkans, Portugal, the Philippines, and Brazil. More than 80 filmmakers have participated across ten editions, with nearly 50 going on to direct their first feature films.

Indonesia is the first Southeast Asian country to be selected as the country of focus.

Each film was co-written and co-directed by an Indonesian filmmaker paired with a Southeast Asian counterpart. All four were shot entirely on location in Jakarta. The screenings at Critics' Week also function as a marketplace, with each director presenting their debut feature concept to acquisition executives and co-production partners.

HOLY CROWD Directed by Reza Fahriyansyah (Indonesia) and Ananth Subramaniam (Malaysia) — 16 minutes

After Ratna rises from the dead during her own 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.

Stars Prilly Latuconsina, Yusuf Mahardika, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin, and Arswendy Bening Swara. Directors Fahriyansyah and Subramaniam described finding their creative common ground before the story existed: "We both like telling stories about social issues, absurdity in society, especially in Southeast Asia," Fahriyansyah said. The pocong who performs miracles is not horror. It is a very precise social observation.

ORIGINAL WOUND Directed by Shelby Kho (Indonesia) and Sein Lyan Tun (Myanmar) — 14 minutes

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.

Stars Agnes Naomi, Omara Esteghlal, and Vivian Idris. Cinematography by Vera Lestafa. This is the film that stays with you in the way grief actually works: not loudly, but through the rooms and objects left behind.

 

ANNISA Directed by Reza Rahadian (Indonesia) and Sam Manacsa (Philippines) — 14 minutes

 

Annisa is a blind teenage girl living in a densely populated housing complex who navigates her environment primarily through sound. During a neighborhood National Day celebration, she finds an unexpected way to make her voice heard, reclaiming her place within the noise that surrounds her.

Stars Choirunnisa Fernanda, Nazira C. Noer, and Shakeel Fauzi. Reza Rahadian met the real Annisa on a film set and decided immediately to tell her story: "I fell in love with her zest for life," he said. He directed her not as someone with a limitation but as someone with full capability. She plays herself. That decision is the entire film.

 

MOTHERS ARE MOTHERING Directed by Khozy Rizal (Indonesia) and Lam Li Shuen (Singapore) — 17 minutes

 

Nia, 50 years old and trapped 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.

Stars Happy Salma, Asmara Abigail, and Yudi Ahmad Tajudin. At 17 minutes, it is the longest of the four films and the one that takes the most time to leave you.

Together, the four films cover resurrection, grief, visibility, and entrapment. Four different surfaces. One shared question: what does survival cost when the structure holding you is also the one breaking you?

The anthology was produced by Yulia Evina Bhara and Amerta Kusuma of KawanKawan Media. Executive producers include Angga Dwimas Sasongko, Dian Sastrowardoyo, and Prilly Latuconsina.

 

Sources of Photos
All photography related to the Next Step Studio Indonesia 2026 anthology and Cannes Film Festival 2026 was sourced from official production and media documentation.

Embassy of France in Indonesia Instagram — @franceenindonesiea

Cannes Film Festival Official — festival-cannes.com

 

 

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