American Pavilion Announces Lineup for 2026 Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival is just around the corner, and The American Pavilion presented by IndieWire will be offering programming that helps filmmakers at all stages of their career learn, grow, and network. One of the most exciting events on our schedule is the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, sponsored by Gold House, which gives emerging filmmakers and students from some of the best film schools in the world a chance to show their work during the biggest film festival of the year.

The lineup features 20 shorts from a diverse group of filmmakers, including multiple alumni of AmPav’s Cannes program. Deepening AmPav’s partnership with Gold House, this year’s showcase highlights films and filmmakers whose work reflects the rich diversity of global perspectives, cultures, and identities, underscoring a shared commitment to elevating underrepresented voices and fostering meaningful cultural impact.

“I’m proud of this year’s showcase for shedding light on the emerging filmmaker’s creative storytelling and diverse voices in their narrative shorts, documentaries, and animated films,” Monika Skerbelis, director of the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, said in a statement.

“We’re so excited to be a part of the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase again this year. We’re continually on the lookout for the next leading voices, and to meet these talented filmmakers at the most prestigious festival on the circuit is extra special,” Gold House co-founder and Chief Brand Officer Christine Yi added.

The 2026 Emerging Filmmaker Showcase will take place at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on May 19 and 20. The complete lineup can be found below and more info on the showcase can be found here.

LGBTQ+ SHOWCASE FILMS

BIG BASS
2024, 13:46 min., USA, Documentary, LGBTQ+
Director: Drew Dickler
Producer: Nikki F Heyman, Jennie Kamin, David Sherwin
Cast: Drew Dickler, Cheryl Bruttomesso, Eva Malkasian 
What does it mean to feel seen by others before you’re ready to see yourself? A filmmaker travels back to 1997 to revisit a dream-like memory from second grade that centers around her queer identity, her legendary PE teacher and a mysterious large plastic fish.

DANDELION
2025, 19:59 min., USA, Drama, Comedy, Coming-of-Age, LGBTQ+, American Film Institute Conservatory
Director: Fiona Obertinca
Writer: Corey Pinchoff
Producer: Tori Ichikowitz
Cast: Vic Michaelis, Ava Lalezarzadeh, Kristin Carey, Butch Klein, Sarah Cortez
In 1970s Los Angeles, rebellious queer teen MARGARET gets thrown out of yet another foster placement and finds herself in the company of a mysterious social worker who’s tasked with finding her a new home before the break of dawn. At odds and forced to travel the city together, Margaret realizes that running may not be her only option.

QUEERBAIT
2025, 10:07 min., USA, Erotic Thriller, LGBTQ+
Writer/Director: Nate Gualtieri
Producer: Bara Kim, Jesus Garcia
Cast: Sydney Mae Diaz, Matthew Floyd Miller
A precocious classics student is invited to dinner after he piques the interest of a tenured professor. But when his teacher’s mentorship starts to push boundaries, he’s forced to make a choice: protect his academic future, or preserve his dignity?

SO BE IT
2025, 7:28 min., USA, Animation, Documentary, LGBTQ+, University of Southern California
Writer/Director: Matthew Sorgie
Producer: Liya Yang, Shagun Kanwar
Cast: Rochelle (Shelley) Diamond, Barbara Belmont, Richard Zaldivar, Joselito Laudencia, Joe Heally, Gordon Bellamy, Bruce Keelan, Nitin Kale, Jim Raidl
So Be It is an animated documentary offering a rare and tender portrait of lifelong queer love. Through candid conversation, the film shares the stories of 5 LGBTQIA+ couples reflecting on resilience, commitment, and the privilege it is to love and be loved.

WELCOME TO TOOL SHED
2026, 22:11 min., USA, Documentary, LGBTQ+
Director: Daniel Talbott, Andrew Klaus-Vineyard
Producer: Rachna Khatau, Daniel Talbott, Andrew Klaus-Vineyard, Noel Do-Murakami, Jonah Sirota, Orphan Andy Films 
A searing dive into the colorful community of queer senior citizens who congregate at the Tool Shed, a long-standing leather bar and sanctuary for queer people in Palm Springs, CA. The film examines the generation who never expected to become senior citizens in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and decades of oppression, who now find themselves trailblazers again as the first openly LGBTQ seniors.

ZARI
2024, 19:16 min., USA/India, Drama, Coming-of-Age, LGBTQ+
Writer/Director: Shruti Parekh
Producer: Kajri Akhtar, Shruti Parekh
Cast: Aesha Soni, Kamal Batra, Richa Kaira, Kundan Kumar 
American teen Neelu feels like a fish out of water amidst preparations for her sister’s wedding in Delhi until she forges a brief and unexpected connection with Zeyb, a quiet sari store clerk who moonlights as an internet drag queen.

EMERGING FILMMAKER SHOWCASE SHORTS 

THE DRIVE
2025, 12:21 min., USA, Drama, Suspense, Historical
Writer/Director: David Arrow
Producer: Leon Derriey
Cast: Amber Paul, Allen Guy Willcox, Rivers Duggan, Blair Newman, Victoria Spitalieri, Andrew Arrow, Emma Carpio, Madison Chung, and Candice Clarke
It’s a warm November day in the early 1960s, and Liz has just picked up the kids for her weekly carpool. Little does she know that this will be a drive she’ll never forget.

LAWYERED UP
2025, 18:48 min., USA, Sci-Fi, Dramedy
Writer/Director: Tatiana Blackington James
Producer: Tatiana Blackington James, Olia Zimarova
Cast: Virginia Reece, Jude Lanston, Josh Breslow, Susan Rudick
A betrayed woman hires a divorce lawyer who seems to be the perfect man. Is he too good to be true?

LUKI AND THE LIGHTS
2024, 10:40 min., USA, Animation
Director: Toby Cochran
Screenwriter: Toby Cochran
Writer: Toby Cochran, Sascha Groen, Janna Brouwer-Schouten, Anjo Snijders
Producer: Adrian Ochoa
Cast: Anjo Snijders, Kendra Vernon, Toby Cochran 
LUKi, a charming and upbeat robot known for living life to the fullest, confronts a life-altering ALS diagnosis.

A MATTER OF TIME
2025, 9:14 min., USA, Drama
Writer/Director: Ana Milena Rojas Alarcon, Brian Patrick Hoffman
Producer: Ashlee Espinal
Cast: Priscila Buiar, Blanca Harnett, Brielle Dardashtian, Hilary Ervin, Garrett Cummings
Milena, a DACA recipient mother, faces a life-altering crisis one evening when her routine with her daughter, Sofia, is disrupted by an impending ICE raid. As ICE agents close in, Milena’s mother urges her to flee. In the midst of a tense escape, Milena encounters an ICE officer who, touched by a shared moment, offers her a brief chance to evade capture. The film underscores the personal and systemic struggles faced by immigrants.

MONSTER SLAYER
2025, 21 min., USA, Animation, Documentary
Director: Catie Skipp
Producer: Grace Oathout, Catie Skipp
Cast: Stephanie ‘Monty’ Montgomery (Self)
After Monty is assaulted at the strip club where she works, she weaponizes public art to exact justice against a system’s refusal to act.

POISONED SKIES
2026, 10:45 min., USA, Drama
Writer/Director: Caroline Friend
Producer: Nadia Fedchin, Caroline Friend
Cast: Julia Goldani Telles, Christopher Stanley, Kyle Mac, Michael Otis, Samuel Dunning
In 1954, an ambitious scientist on the brink of presenting groundbreaking pollution research is forced to make a moral decision when she becomes the target of a mining company responsible for a deadly smog disaster. Based on a true story.

SAVERIO
2025, 13:50 min., USA, Dramedy, Drama, Socially Conscious
Writer/Director: Ellen Ancui
Producer: Connie Jo Sechrist, Ellen Ancui
Cast: Quincy Cho, Roberto Medina, Scott Alin, Georgie August, Liv Lindell, Joy Hana Park, Renny Madlena, Pablo Sanfrancisco, Parion Roberts, Joanna Cretella
Mae, an ambitious, Korean American influencer, finds an elderly, Mexican man abandoned in her car, and must choose between her own ambition and an unsupportive healthcare system, and unwittingly journeys toward a new destination.

EMERGING FILMMAKER STUDENT SHOWCASE FILMS

AT WHAT COST?
2025, 20:38 min., USA, Sci-Fi, Drama, University of Southern California
Writer/Director: Ant Roberson
Producer: Mike Werner, Charlotte Marcoulis, Simeon Payne-Narcis
Cast: Quincy Everidge, Ayanda Dube, Obum Eji, Raquelle Wallace
In a drought-ravaged future where society relies on a mind-altering government drug, an obsessive scientist must choose between curing his addicted younger brother or protecting his pregnant wife before the drug turns him into something inhuman.

BLOOKY: THE BOOK WHO WANTED TO BE READ
2026, 5:42 min., Canada/Mexico/USA, Animation, USC School of Cinematic Arts
Writer/Director: Pablo Diaz De Leon Hicks
Producer: Shagun Kanwar, Nathania Djuhar
Cast: Cherry Guo, Adrian Garci, Allie Costa, Christopher Borkovec, Arturo Pulido Tomas, Joshua Luper 
A brand-new little book gets lost in the vast maze of a grand library and journeys through every section in search of where he belongs, only to realize that the most meaningful place to be isn’t always where you fit in best.

EAST DID MEET WEST
2025, 15 min., USA, Romance, Drama, History, Chapman University, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts 
Director: Aiko Lozar
Writer: Aiko Lozar, Alexis Berganio
Producer: Alexis Berganio
Cast: Kev Martinez, Tatyana Aravena, Eliza Kanter, Sharon Gardner, Francisco Martin, Aaron Smithson, Seth Goyal, Adam Acosta
Inspired by the 1930s court case Roldan vs. Los Angeles County, Filipino Salvador Roldan and English Marjorie Rogers must find a way to convince an attorney to fight for their marriage despite the anti-miscegenation laws of the time.

FUEL UP
2026, 15:27 min., USA, Sports, Drama, University of Southern California
Writer/Director: Anne Koolen
Producer: Sonia Bhatia, Maggie Mingjun Zheng, Dhruvraj Singh Bhati
Cast: Casey Burke, Rick Kumazawa, Mark Simich, Joe Guintu
Haunted by the nightmare of her boyfriend’s deadly race car crash, Ava must conquer her fear of racing before she loses the dream they once shared forever.

HER WEDDING
2026, 19:20 min., China, Subtitles, Drama, Columbia University New York
Director: Qinting Wang
Writer: Qinting Wang, Tiankuo Men
Producer: Jieying Amy Wu
Cast: Yi Wang, Niu Sun
On the day of her arranged marriage, a bride reclaims the ceremony meant to contain her.

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
2025, 11:34 min., USA, Documentary, Loyola Marymount University
Director: Megan Whitham
Producer: Megan Whitham, Hannah Butler
Cast: Taylor Leigh Aguilar (Self), Shannia Singh, Dilara Kurdakul, Inna Hanson, Kiko Sweeney, Jennifer Gutierrez, Victoria McJunkin, Kelly Kuang, Elias Gonzalez-Castillo, Allie Alder, Conner Wilson
Halfway through her M.F.A. in film production, Taylor Leigh Aguilar unexpectedly goes blind, derailing the dream she chased since high school. Yet as she grieves her sight, she discovers that with flexibility and ingenuity, her filmmaking vision might not be lost after all.

KATTI (unfriend)
2026, 14 min., India/USA, Subtitles, Drama, Chapman University, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Director: Kanishka Aggarwal
Writer: Kanishka Aggarwal, Akshita Namjoshi
Producer: Kanishka Aggarwal, Wenfeng Li
Cast: Siyona Ailiani, Ashi Sharma
In a vibrant, multi-generational Indian household, 8-year-old Bittoo finds herself sidelined after the birth of her baby brother. Mischievous, observant, and desperate for affection, she seeks connection from her father, aunts, grandmother, even her exhausted mother but finds her only consistent, if reluctant, anchor in her teenage sister, Mitthoo. But even Mitthoo is pulling away, lost in her own secret.