Shadows of the Moonless Nights, a short film directed by Film and Television Institute of India student Mehar Malhotra, has been selected for La Cinef Competitive section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.

The film, having a runtime of 24 minutes, is competing in the segment alongside 14 live-action and five animated shorts, dedicated to showcasing fictional and animated films by film school students.

This year, the organisers received a total of 2,750 entries from film schools all over the world, they said in a statement on their official website.

Directed by 12 women and nine men, the films represent 15 countries and four continents, the organisers added. Two of the schools were invited for the first time: Hongik University (South Korea) and ISAMM (Tunisia).

On May 21, La Cinef Prizes will be given by the jury at a ceremony in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the award-winning films.

Mehar, a student of direction and screenplay writing course at the Pune-based institute, will compete for three trophies in the category with her film.

The film is primarily a Punjabi-language film. It is titled Parchave Masseah Rataan De in Punjabi and Shadows of the Moonless Nights in English. According to the official logline on Letterboxd, it follows Rajan, a weary factory worker, who endures grueling shifts and a volatile home life, drifting through sleepless nights in the city as he tries to reclaim the rest that always seems just out of reach.

Mehar took to her Instagram stories and shared the news with her followers. “Some news! Honoured and humbled,” she wrote.

Shadows of the Moonless Nights features actors Prayrak Mehta, Nikita Grover and Himanshu Kohli.

Diggant Surti has worked on the cinematography, while other crew members include Rashmi Kushwaha as production designer, Shreyas Bhopi as editor, Sai Sanjay as sound designer, recorder and mixer, and Sudin as music composer.