It’s time: Cannes’ Focus COPRO, dedicated to first feature films, has announced this year’s seven projects.
That includes “A Summer Tale” (Germany) directed by Berthold Wahjudi, “Algiers Haze” (France) by Sarra Ryma, Gaël Kamilindi’s “The Zebra’s Shadow” (Switzerland), Laura Obradors’ “The Woodworm” (Spain), Alexandra Matheou’s “Shibboleth” (Cyprus and Greece), “The Snail Automation” by Thien An Nguyen (Vietnam, South Korea) and Dean Wei’s “The Apple Doesn’t Fall…” (China, Germany).
“After a remarkable 2025 edition, marked by an exceptionally diverse and promising range of projects, we are delighted to present another ambitious, strong and promising selection of seven projects led by filmmakers with bold and distinctive visions. These projects explore territories as varied as Vietnam, Rwanda, Cyprus, China, and of course Europe – a key driving force in international co-production,” Florian Fernandez, head of SFC and Rendez-vous Industry, told Variety.
“Among the debut feature projects, several are represented by filmmakers selected in Cannes this year with their short films – which lies at the very heart of the program. Whether it’s in the Official Selection (Thien An Nguyen), Semaine de la Critique (Berthold Wahjudi and Sarra Ryma) or Directors’ Fortnight (Alexandra Matheou), these filmmakers embody the spirit of the initiative.”
Wei recently won a Tiger short award at IFFR. Kamilindi Berlin’s Teddy Award for best short film. Obradors’ film was selected in collaboration with ECAM Industria’s La Incubadora.
Directed by Berthold Wahjudi, German comedy “A Summer Tale” focuses on a 13-year-old Siegfried. Small for his age and the only Asian kid in his German school, he tries to impress his much taller crush Charlotte by playing the class clown. But when Yuan, a shorter and even funnier Chinese-German boy arrives and draws her attention, Siegfried suddenly sees his own insecurities reflected back at him.
“Though this very personal story deals with political themes like migration and nationalism, it is also a tribute to the teen movies I loved as a kid. I want this to be a comedy that’s both entertaining and subversive – my anti-assimilation manifesto, but told like a pubescent joke,” said Wahjudi.
It’s produced by Jonas Egert for If… Productions Film.
“Algiers Haze” by Sarra Ryma – produced by Julie Mathieu-Moreau for Colors Films – follows Rayane and Ahmed, two 18-year-old Algerians, who wander between an oil base and the desert. When dromedaries overrun the base, they follow them across the margins.
“I want to film this moment just before departure, already steeped in the nostalgia for what we are losing. The desert replaces the crowd, silence shapes bodies. Youth is wandering, displaced by territory, desire and loss. Follow the dromedaries; let the film drift toward the invisible of exile,” said Ryma. It will be shot in the Sahara Desert.
“Shibboleth,” a co-production between Cyprus and Greece, sees a surrogate mother who joins the couple expecting her baby on a vacation. As a love triangle quietly takes shape, she is confronted with the emotional cost of surrogacy and the realization that her role doesn’t always end at birth.
“Within the universe of this island, the story unfolds in a place that seems to have defeated death; or so its people believe,” noted director Alexandra Matheou.
“For as long as I can remember, my existential anxiety around the subject of death has been a constant shadow. This is why I created a playground where I could ask: if eternal life were possible, would it actually make life better? Or would it unravel everything we think we know about living?”
Tonia Mishiali is producing for Bark Like a Cat Films, with Homemade Films coproducing.
Spain’s “The Woodworm” is about the teenage daughter of a well-known painter who discovers her father’s unsettling creative obsessions as she develops an intense, deep relationship with a foreign exchange student staying at their home.
“Inspired by the life of my best friend, the film immerses us in a pivotal summer in the life of a teenager who has grown up in a hostile, male-dominated environment,” said director Laura Obradors. The film is produced by Sergio Adrià (Espurna Films).
“Haunted by the absent and ambiguous figure of her father, his influence shapes the way she navigates both desire and guilt.”
“The Zebra’s Shadow,” set in 1994, is about Pacifique. At a rave, he’s overwhelmed by a traumatic flashback that begins to reveal a troubled past. As fragments of buried memories resurface in his dreams, he sets out for Rwanda, a place where history has tried to erase him.
“We follow Pacifique’s intimate yet tremendous quest to reclaim a fractured past shaped by colonial violence. We explore how absence, memory, and inheritance define identity, belonging, and transmission across generations,” noted director Gaël Kamilindi. Aline Schmid and Cécile Tollu-Polonowski produce for Beauvoir Films.
“Pacifique confronts erased histories to understand what he can pass on, transforming a personal search into a collective reckoning with truth, exile, and return,” added Kamilindi.
Dean Wei offers something different with the comedy-musical “The Apple Doesn’t Fall…,” which he described as a “satirical portrait of the average Chinese one-child family.”
It sees Xiaoliu, a college dropout, returning home from abroad after suddenly losing the ability to speak. But nothing is as it was. Her father has been made redundant, her mother stages the illusion of unity, and her grandmother finds more comfort in a hired caretaker than her own family.
“Through a series of absurd events, we observe them from a distance, like creatures in their natural habitat. Their lives shift from the unremarkable to the downright banal as they slip in and out of their inherited roles.”
Jiaqi Liu produces for The O Eye.
“The Snail Automation” is produced by Thao Quiengg Nguyen Doan (Kontribute) and co-produced by CJ Vietnam and East Films.
Director Thien An Nguyen said: “Through a satirical and allegorical lens, I want to explore a world where people remain chained to antiquated dogmas while desperately trying to invent new forms of faith.”
In the story, after evading a murder charge because the police refuse to believe his client was turned into a snail, a hustler turns the absurd concept into a cult-like service, scamming lonely seniors out of their life savings under the guise of spiritual transformation.
“The film is a composite portrait of a younger generation struggling to find its footing in a hyper-consumerist, superficial society. Simultaneously, it holds a mirror to grim realities in my country.”
English (US) ·