Cannes Docs

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: February 2028

Production stage: Development

1st feature: No

Looking for: Connection With Funds, Broadcasters, Distributors, Sales Agents

Synopsis:

In Waorani territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon, ancient trees are felled as the first road cuts into the forest. Two grandmothers envision opposing futures: Nancy yearns for the privileges of life beyond the forest, Huanginkamu strives to protect her ancestral territory. As the filmmaker questions what her presence sets in motion, the three women co-imagine together a world rooted in care rather than power.

Director ‘s Profile:

Clara López Rubio, a graduate of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB), spent nine years following the Assange case, culminating in her documentary Hacking Justice (2021), broadcast across European public television. She is an alumna of Documentary Campus, Doklab Navarra, CIMA Mentoring 1 & 1, and CIRCLE, and has received support from ICAA, DAMA Proyecta, Berliner Projektfonds, FFA, and NRW Filmstiftung.

Producer ‘s Profile:

Laura Dauden is a Brazilian director, writer and producer, and co-founder of Forward Films. Her work, including Unsubmissive and Occupation Inc., has screened at major festivals such as Málaga, São Paulo and San Sebastián.

Isabella Parra is an Ecuadorian producer and former programmer of Cero Latitud and La Orquídea film festivals. She has produced award-winning fiction and documentary films and currently focuses on projects by women addressing gender and environmental activism.

Anke Petersen founded Jyoti Film in 2013 after a long career in commercial production. She specializes in international documentary co-productions, short films and digital projects, and is a Documentary Campus alumna and certified green consultant.

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: November 2027

Production stage: Production

1st feature: No

Looking for: Co-Producers, Financing, Distributors/Sales Agents, Buyers, Festivals, Strategic Guidance

Synopsis:

Rebelling against the traditions of her Polish family during her American upbringing, Julia forges her own path in countercultures, documenting her queer, polyamorous life over 15 years. The birth of her daughter brings her back to Europe to confront her mother and the inherited scripts of womanhood. Together, they come to see liberation not as a destination, but as a negotiation with time, body, and power.

Director ‘s Profile:

Julia Maryanska is a Polish-American filmmaker and photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating work at the intersection of justice, eros, and culture-building. She has contributed to award-winning films including My Reincarnation and Regarding Susan Sontag, and co-directed the feature documentary The Village of Lovers, which toured internationally and streams on Films for Action. Her directorial debut, Intimate Revolutions was developed within the CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator and presented at When East Meets West as well as for the Krakow CEDOC Market. Julia has worked as an editor and producer of short films for boutique production companies, NGOs, and co-founded Re/Culture Media, producing films and immersive theater events.

Producer ‘s Profile:

Marc J. Francis is a director, producer and cinematographer. He was chosen by Harper’s Bazaar magazine as one of their top ‘Household names of the future’, and named by the Observer newspaper as one of Britain’s ‘Rising Stars’. His most recent film Walk With Me about Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as narrator, launched at the SXSW Film Festival and was a global box office hit before being released on Netflix and Amazon. His current directorial work includes a documentary featuring Elizabeth Gilbert (Author: “Eat, Pray, Love”) and her former Syrian-American partner Rayya Elias – who passed away after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Marc’s early directorial work includes Black Gold which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: May 2027

Production stage: Late Development

1st feature: No

Looking for: Financing, Co-Producer, Festivals, Sales Agents

Synopsis:

Andrea is a young Romani woman in eastern Germany who runs toward love at sixteen, eloping with her boyfriend. He is unfaithful, but leaving him is not simple. Over seven years we follow Andrea through love, betrayal and motherhood, weaving in stop-motion animation into an ongoing dialogue with the filmmaker about compromise and the choices we make.

Director ‘s Profile:

Rand Beiruty is a writer, director and creative producer. She holds a practice-based PhD from Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, focusing on questions of representation and participatory filmmaking. Her debut feature documentary Tell Them About Us premiered at CPH:DOX 2024 and received the German Documentary Film Award 2025 for an emerging filmmaker and the ECFA Award for Best European Feature Documentary for Young Audiences. Her short animated documentary Shadows premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and went on to screen at 100+ festivals, winning over 20 awards.

Producers ‘s Profile:

Rand Beiruty and Jude Kawwa are the Amman-based founders of Shaghab Films, a company on the lookout for talent with a strong artistic vision and social commentary. The company focuses on international co-productions and has invested in establishing and implementing capacity-building incubators and training programs. Current slate includes Murad Abu Eisheh’s A Calling from the Desert to the Sea (short fiction, Cairo IFF, 2022), Rand Beiruty’s debut documentary Tell Them About Us (CPH:DOX, 2024) and Shadows (short animated documentary, Venice, 2024

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: February 2027

Production stage: Production

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Gap Financing, Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers, Strategic Guidance

Synopsis:

In a remote institution in former Czechoslovakia in the late 1950s, Catholic nuns care for teenage girls labeled mentally disabled, hidden from society. One nun holds a camera and films their daily lives. Decades later, survivors revisit these images, revealing a powerful story confronting women’s place in society, politics of institutional care, and enduring inequality.

Director ‘s Profile:

Tereza Bernátková studied International Relations and Media Studies at Masaryk University and Documentary Directing at FAMU in Prague. Her early films, including Solos for Members of Parliament (2018, Special Mention) and Techsquat (2015), were selected for Czech Joy at Jihlava IDFF. She has directed several archival-based films for Czech TV and explores archives as a living source of alternative histories that challenge dominant narratives. Sisters is her debut feature documentary.

Producers ‘s Profile:

Dagmar Sedláčková graduated in Film Studies and Production from FAMU in Prague. Her films have premiered at prestigious festivals, including Cannes, Locarno, Berlinale, and Annecy. She is an alumna of Eurodoc and EAVE, and a co-founder of Girls in Film Prague, a platform that represents, champions and connects the new generation of female-identifying creatives in the film industry.

Natália Pavlove holds an MA in Producing from FAMU and an MA in International Relations and Management. Her films have screened at festivals such as Venice IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF, Cairo IFF, PÖFF, and SEMINCI and she is a recipient of the Czech National Film Award. An alumna of IDFAcademy, EAVE Puentes, Rotterdam Lab, and EURODOC, Natália fosters long-term creative collaborations with a global and inclusive vision.