Cannes 2025 Shorts Competition will be presided by German Director Maren Ade – Here are the Contenders

German director, screenwriter Maren Ade known for her 2016 Cannes breakout film ‘Toni Erdmann’ will be heading the chair as the President of the Cannes Film Festivals’ short film competition along with ‘King Richard’ filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green, multifaceted Camélia Jordana, Academy Award nominee Nebojša Slijepčević and Spanish cinema legend José María Prado. 

Director Maren Ade led team will evaluate 11 short film submissions in the Short Film Palme d’or and 16 student films submissions aiming for three Conef Prizes. The short film nominations are shortlisted from 4781 total submissions with nine fiction and two animated shorts, with five helmed by female directors. The Cinef prize shortlist was selected out of the pool of 2700 Global Submissions. 

The Short Film Palme d’or Awards will be presented at the last day of the festival’s closing ceremony on 24 May 2025. The Cinef Prizes are set to be announced on 22 May in a separate ceremony in the Buñuel Theatre. 

Short Films Nominations

• Gabriel Abrantes – Arguments in Favor of Love (Disputes en Faveur de l’Amour – 9 minutes.
• Adnan Al Rajeev – Ali – 15 minutes.
• Tawfeek Barhom – I’m Glad You’re Dead Now – 13 minutes.
• Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero – Agapito – 15 minutes.
• Sandra Desmazières – Fille de l’Eau – 15 minutes.
• Martine Froissard – Hypersensitive (Hypersensible) – 9 minutes.
• Grégoire Graesslin – Dammen – 15 minutes.
• Bálint Kenyères – The Spectacle – 15 minutes.
• Zhaoguang Luo and Shuhan Liao – Nvhai (Lili) – 14 minutes.
• Inês Nunes – A Solidão dos Lagartos (The Loneliness of Lizards) – 15 minutes.

Dian Weys – Aasvoëls (Vultures) – 15 minutes

La Cinef Student Films Nominations

• Laura Anahory – O Pássaro de Dentro (The Bird From Within) (Escola das Artes – UCP, Portugal – 5 minutes.)
• Marc Camardons – Per Bruixa i Metzinera (The Sorceress Echo) (ESCAC, Spain – 24 minutes.)
• Juan Ignacio Ceballos – Tres (Three) (UCINE, Argentina – 24 minutes.)
• Helmi Donner – Matalapaine (The Lightning Rod) (AALTO University, Finland – 21 minutes.)
• Oumnia Hanader – Bimo (Ciné Fabrique, France – 23 minutes.)
• Joecar Hanna – Talk Me (NYU, U.S. – 19 minutes.)
• Heo Gayoung – First Summer (KAFA, South Korea, 30 minutes.)
• Mikkel Bjørn Kehlert – Måske i Marts (Maybe in March) (Super16, Denmark, 24 minutes.)
• Natalia Mirzoyan – Winter in March (Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia, 16 minutes.)
• Polina Piddubna – My Grandmother is a Skydiver (Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany, 13 minutes.)
• Qu Zhizheng – 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony (Beijing Film Academy, China, 16 minutes.)
• Vida Skerk – Ether (NFTS, U.K., 15 minutes.)
• Andrei Tache Codreanu – Fursecuri si Lapte (Milk and Cookies) (UNATC “I. L. Caragiale”, Romania, 21 minutes.)
• Miki Tanaka – Ginger Boy (Separated) (ENBU Seminar, Japan, 48 minutes.)
• Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay – A Doll Made Up of Clay (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, India, 24 minutes.)
• Jules Vésigot-Wahl – Le Continent Somnambule (The Land of Slumber) (La Fémis, France, 26 minutes.)