La Fabrique Cinéma, the Institut français programme that brings first- and second-feature projects from Global South filmmakers to Cannes each year, has announced its 18th edition cohort. The selection jury met on February 11, 2026, reviewed 135 eligible submissions from 150 total applications, and selected 10 fiction projects. All 10 will be presented at the Marché du Film in May, with activities also running at a new Institut français space on the Semaine de la Critique beach — the programme's first departure from its long-running Pavillon les Cinémas du Monde format.
The cohort includes 12 women and 7 men: five female directors, five male directors, seven female producers, and three male producers. Eight of the ten are debut features. The programme's geographic mandate requires a minimum of three African projects; this edition delivers exactly three, drawn from Kenya, Nigeria, and Morocco.
The African Selections
"Strong Wind" (Kenya) — Directed by Lydia Matata, produced by Ivy Kiru (AQ Pictures). Kenya's last La Fabrique selection was in 2017. Matata, a writer on Netflix Kenya's "Country Queen" series and the Al Jazeera-distributed documentary "Kenyan on Mars," brings a debut fiction feature set in Nairobi's women's motorcycle community. The film follows a mother in her fifties who takes up riding after her daughter — a founder of a women's biker club — dies in a road accident in northern Kenya. Determined to complete the journey her daughter never finished, she is trained by the sole survivor of the crash, her daughter's best friend. The project won the production prize at Red Sea Souk. Budget: €628,578; confirmed financing: €43,166. AQ Pictures is also developing a feature documentary, "The Ones With The Tempered Flowers," with DocA-E Accelerate and DW Akademie support. Seeking co-producers and financiers.
"Till The Morning Comes" (Nigeria) — Directed by Dika Ofoma, produced by Blessing Uzzi (Bluhouse Studios). This is a two-timeline narrative rooted in Igbo cosmology. In pre-colonial Igbo society, a warrior chief and a woman are forcibly separated and swear to find each other again. In contemporary Enugu, they are reincarnated as two men: a Nigerian-Italian photographer and a Catholic seminarian. As their connection intensifies, the seminarian must navigate his faith, his vocation, and a relationship that is criminalized in Nigeria — same-sex relationships carry penalties of up to 14 years' imprisonment under Nigerian law. Ofoma is a 2026 Berlinale Talent; "Till The Morning Comes" won three awards at Locarno Open Doors 2025. The project has €460,249 confirmed from private equity in Nigeria, against a total budget of €841,652. The production company, Bluhouse Studios, previously had "Freedom Way" premiere at TIFF. Seeking French and European co-producers, sales agents, and film funds.
"Laissées-pour-compte" / "Matrescence" (Morocco) — Directed by Kenza Tazi, produced by Ayoub El Jamal under A.T.A Production, the Rabat-based company founded in 1978 by pioneer director Mohammed Abderrahman Tazi. Morocco's last La Fabrique selection was in 2016. The film places four women — strangers from entirely different backgrounds — in the same prison cell after a police raid on a doctor performing illegal abortions. The only thing they share: an unwanted pregnancy. Tazi, a cinematographer-turned-director, received Moroccan Cinema Center production support for her first short, "Frères de Lait," and her second short, "BARZAKH," took part in the Marrakech Atlas Workshops in 2025. This is her debut feature. Budget: €1,165,700; confirmed financing: €14,192 from a Moroccan Cinema Center screenwriting grant and a first-prize win at the Tétouan Workshops pitch competition. At first-draft stage. Seeking co-producers, distributors, and broadcasters.
The Full Slate
Beyond the African three, the 2026 cohort includes:
"Ping-Pong" (Palestine) — Dir. Saleh Saadi, prod. May Jabareen (Philistine Films). Set in a Palestinian village between Nazareth and Haifa during the war on Gaza, the film follows a man returning to his childhood home for the first time since his brother's death, who finds unexpected refuge in nightly ping-pong games with a neighbor. Saadi is a USC MEMI alumnus. Second draft in progress. Budget: €1,023,339.
"Divine Poison" (Turkey) — Dir. Nehir Tuna, prod. Gökçe Işıl Tuna (Yeni Sinemacılık / Motiva Film). Turkey's first-ever La Fabrique selection. A devout young man in contemporary Turkey reconnects with a rebellious childhood friend he once betrayed — and finds himself pulled between religious certainty and buried desire. Tuna's debut feature "Yurt (Dormitory)" premiered at Venice 2023 and won the Bisato d'Oro for best screenplay. This is his second feature. Co-produced with Red Balloon Film (Germany). Budget: €1,800,000; confirmed: €210,000. Seeking European co-producers and funds.
"The Last Dog on Earth" (Brazil) — Dir. Nina Kopko, prod. Leticia Friedrich (Boulevard Filmes / Vitrine Filmes). Near-future São Paulo. A rideshare driver living her planned last day discovers her final passenger is carrying a dog — a species officially eradicated after a second pandemic. Kopko was a 2025 Berlinale Talent and AD on "A Vida Invisível." Budget: €952,380; confirmed: €533,333. Italy's Volos Films is already a co-producer.
"UFO's in the Tropic" (Ecuador) — Dir. Rob Mendoza, prod. Isabel Carrasco (Cinema Verano). Set in 1999 in Ecuador's cloud-forest mountains, a solitary orchid grower resisting a mining company receives a warning from an extraterrestrial visitor. The film is described as a tropical queer sci-fi. Received CNC Open Doors prize and Ibermedia support. Mendoza's short "Las Maravillas" premiered at Locarno 2024. Ecuador's last La Fabrique appearance was in 2010. Budget: €684,653; confirmed: €41,345.
"Pays Poète Éternel" (Haiti) — Dir. and prod. Samuel Suffren (Kitfilms / Gogogo Films, France). A sixteen-year-old girl in Port-au-Prince whose mother is a typist drops out of school and eventually becomes a waitress at the city's storied literary bar, Bar Distraction — a space now destroyed by gang violence. The third short in Suffren's trilogy, "Cœur Bleu," had its world premiere at Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2025 and won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand in 2026. Haiti last appeared at La Fabrique in 2013. Budget: €1,700,000.
"What We Don't Say" (Venezuela/Peru) — Dir. Maria Gracia Saavedra, prod. Beto Benites (Cromauno Audiovisuales / Llanki Cine+Medios, Peru). On New Year's Eve at a Venezuelan beach house, a family reunion opens into something that begins to fracture the silence holding the family together. Saavedra is based in Spain. Budget: €598,000; confirmed: €98,500.
"The River Knows Our Names" (Vietnam) — Dir. Huyên Chi Mai, prod. Trang Thy (Mayba Productions / Daluyong Studios, Philippines). Along the Mekong near the Vietnam-Cambodia border, a nine-year-old girl living on a houseboat — stateless, without legal documents — dreams of having a birthday party for the first time. After a neighbor drowns trying to bring her a gift, she refuses to wake. The Philippines co-producer, Alemberg Ang, is a La Fabrique Cinéma 2021 alumnus. Mai Huyên Chi has received support from the Red Sea Development Fund and Prince Claus Fund. Budget: €519,084; confirmed: €70,076.
Programme Context
La Fabrique Cinéma, the Institut français programme that brings first- and second-feature projects from Global South filmmakers to Cannes each year, has announced its 18th edition cohort. The selection jury met on February 11, 2026, reviewed 135 eligible submissions from 150 total applications, and selected 10 fiction projects. All 10 will be presented at the Marché du Film in May, with activities also running at a new Institut français space on the Semaine de la Critique beach — the programme's first departure from its long-running Pavillon les Cinémas du Monde format.
The 2026 selection patron is Boris Lojkine, whose "L'Histoire de Souleymane" won four prizes at Cannes and four Césars. Of the 150 total submissions, the Americas region submitted the most projects (52, or 39%), followed by sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean (45, or 33%). Applications from female directors grew year-on-year, from 31.6% in 2025 to 38% in 2026. The programme notes growing interest in eco-production among applicants, with most submissions voluntarily including an ecological production note despite it carrying no weight in the selection criteria.
An 11th project, "My Sister and the Eternal Feminine" (Georgia), dir. Tsiteladze Rati, prod. Olga Slusareva, is held in reserve in case of any withdrawal from the confirmed ten.
La Fabrique's track record since 2009 includes 174 selected projects, 66 completed films, more than 500 festival selections across major international festivals, and nine Cannes selections. More than half of programme alumni films have found French co-producers. At Cannes 2025, seven La Fabrique alumni presented new projects; "A Useful Ghost," produced by 2024 alumna Cattleya Paosrijaoren, won the Critics' Week Grand Prix.
