“Shadows of the Moonless Nights”, a short film by a student of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), has been selected for La Cinef Competitive section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
The 24-minute film, directed by Mehar Malhotra, is part of a line-up of 14 live-action and five animated shorts for the segment, which is dedicated to showcasing film school fiction or animated films.
For this year’s edition, the organisers received 2,750 entries from film schools all over the world, the Cannes Film Festival said in a statement.
The film gala’s 79th edition is scheduled to be held from May 12 to 23 in Cannes, France.
The selected films are directed by 12 women and nine men, and represent fifteen countries and four continents, it added.
Malhotra’s film will compete for three La Cinef prizes, which will be awarded by a jury during a ceremony on May 21 in the Bunuel Theatre. Malhotra is a student of direction and screenplay writing course at the prestigious Pune-based institute.
“Shadows of the Moonless Nights” is primarily a Punjabi-language movie which has been written and directed by Malhotra. It is titled “Parchave Masseah Rataan De” in Punjabi.
The story is about Rajan, a weary factory worker, who endures gruelling shifts and a volatile home life, drifting through sleepless nights in the city as he tries to reclaim the rest that always seems just out of reach, according to the official logline posted on Letterboxd.
It features actors Prayrak Mehta, Nikita Grover and Himanshu Kohli.
The crew includes cinematographer Diggant Surti, production designer Rashmi Kushwaha, editor Shreyas Bhopi, sound designer, recorder and mixer Sai Sanjay and music composer Sudin.
Malhotra celebrated the news of the film’s selection in a post on her Instagram Stories. “Some news! Humbled and honoured,” she wrote.
“The FTII is pleased to share that a student film produced by the Institute has been officially selected for the La Cinef programme,” the institute said in a statement.
This marks the fifth FTII student film to be represented at La Cinef since 2017, reaffirming the institute’s continued presence on the globally respected cinematic platform, it added. (PTI)
