Get ready for Cannes with DAFilms! In order to contextualise new films, we follow the key festivals by looking at how their current lineup connects to the previous documentary work by the premiering filmmakers.
This selection traces connections between the 2026 Cannes lineup and films available on DAFilms — including both newly released acquisitions and titles already part of the catalogue — revisiting earlier documentary works by directors showing their new films at Cannes this year.
In Competition
American independent filmmaker Ira Sachs returns to the Competition with The Man I Love. On DAFilms, his short documentary Last Address streams worldwide for free and offers a reflection on the AIDS crisis through the memory of those who disappeared from New York’s artistic communities.
Belgian filmmaker Emmanuel Marre, now premiering A Man of His Time in Competition, is represented by Castle to Castle, a work already marked by his attention to drifting characters and fragile social spaces.
Un Certain Regard
The selection includes We, Students! by Rafiki Fariala, whose new feature Congo Boy screens this year in Cannes. We, Students! is on DAFilms for a limited time: available until 28. 5. 2026.
Quinzaine des Cinéastes
Several filmmakers returning to Cannes through the Quinzaine des Cinéastes appear here with earlier works that move between fiction, documentary, and essayistic forms.
Clio Barnard is represented by The Arbor, her formally inventive portrait of playwright Andrea Dunbar that blends documentary testimony with staged performance.
Jorge Thielen Armand appears with La Soledad, while Radu Jude — a recurring presence across major festivals — is included with Semiotic Plastic, one of his sharpest experiments in collage and media archaeology.
Critics' Week
Bruno Santamaría Razo, whose new work appears in this year’s Semaine de la Critique selection, is represented by Things We Dare Not Do, a sensitive coming-of-age documentary observing friendship, masculinity, and queer desire in a small Mexican town.
The Short Films Competition
The short film programme highlights filmmakers working with memory, youth, and fragmented experience in distinct ways.
Summer 96 by Mathilde Bédouet transforms adolescent memory into tactile animation, while ANHELL69 by Theo Montoya merges documentary, fiction, and spectral autobiography in a portrait of queer youth in Medellín.
The selection also includes Strawberry Boys by Michał Toczek, attentive to fleeting gestures and states of transition.
ACID Cannes
The independent ACID section is represented by Centar by Ivan Marković, a precise observation of waiting, uncertainty, and suspended movement.
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