– CANNES 2026: The Australian festival has brought five works in progress to the Marché du Film, with a selection taking in indigenous resistance, war-torn Ukraine, female crisis and adolescent grief
Tiber by Dominic Allen
The Adelaide Film Festival has presented five works in progress at this year’s Marché du Film as part of the Goes to Cannes strand. The showcase, Adelaide Goes to Cannes, unspooled on 15 May, from 14:00-16:05, at Palais K in the Palais des Festivals and was open to Marché du Film badge holders.
The Adelaide Film Festival is South Australia’s premier screen event and one of the country’s leading film festivals. Held annually in October, it showcases bold cinema, local and international premieres, red-carpet events, exhibitions, talks and parties. The gathering also supports the industry through initiatives such as the AFF Investment Fund, which invests in Australian productions, helps launch careers and promotes local stories internationally.
The five projects selected for Adelaide Goes to Cannes are rooted in personal and political upheaval, ranging from documentary portraits of indigenous mobilisation and childhood amid war to fiction works exploring fatherhood, self-destruction, friendship and grief.
Death of a Shaman – Dan Jackson (Australia/Ecuador)
Produced by the helmer himself for Future Paradigm Pictures, this 104-minute documentary is an Australian-Ecuadorian production spoken in English, Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar. In this project, ancient wisdom meets modern political resistance as a shaman’s family rises against IMF-backed oil forces, catalysing an indigenous uprising that seeks to oust the Ecuadorian president. The work suggests a forceful combination of family chronicle, environmental struggle and anti-extractivist resistance.
Polina – Agnes Burrell (Australia/Ukraine)
Produced by Shane Burrell and Michael Wrenn for Invisible Republic, this 105-minute, Ukrainian-language documentary is being co-produced by Australia and Ukraine, and is slated for completion in 2027. In 2022, ten-year-old Polina’s village near Kyiv is destroyed, forcing her family to live beside the remains of their home. War becomes both her everyday environment and the setting of her adolescence, pointing to an intimate portrait of childhood, survival and the long-term emotional landscape of displacement.
Tiber – Dominic Allen (Australia)
Produced by Margarita Decoster for Windy Lighthouse Studios, this 84-minute drama-cum-road movie is an Australian production spoken in Italian and English. After losing his job in Rome, art historian Marco returns to Tuscany and sets out with his young daughter Lucia towards the River Tiber. Travelling through an Italian summer shaped by art, history and memory, he is drawn towards a reckoning with the loss he has long tried to contain. The project appears to blend father-daughter drama with a reflective journey through place, heritage and mourning.
Wilderness – Martin McKenna (Australia)
Produced by Mat Govoni for Future Pictures, this 100-minute, English-language drama follows Allie, whose poor choices unshackle her from life as a doctor, mother and wife. When she ventures into the Victorian high country with former school friend Kaz, the trip spirals into conflict, danger and near disaster, forcing her to confront her life and discover the power of listening. The film promises a character-driven survival drama shaped by emotional rupture and confrontation with the self.
River – Zane Borg (Australia)
Staged by Gabriel Carrubba for Pancake Originals, this 95-minute, English-language coming-of-age drama was completed in 2025. After her mother’s death, 16-year-old River struggles to navigate a teenage existence reshaped by grief. She finds solace in an unlikely friendship with Marcus, a troubled teen with wounds of his own. Together, they steal a car and drive to South Australia in search of Marcus’s estranged mother. The project is set to combine road-movie momentum with a tender exploration of loss, adolescence and chosen companionship.
