Carla Simón to chair Cannes short jury

Cannes has picked Carla Simón for one of its most revealing jobs. Not the main competition jury — the short films and La Cinef jury, the panel that decides which new voices get one of the festival’s earliest and most meaningful boosts. That matters because Cannes treats shorts and student work as a talent pipeline, not a side room. On April 28, the festival said Simón will preside over that jury for the 79th edition, which runs May 12 to May 23. (festival-cannes.com) ### What exactly did Cannes announce? The festival named Simón president of the Short Films and La Cinef Jury, alongside Park Ji-min, Ali Asgari, Salim Kechiouche, and Magnus von Horn. That five-person group will award the Short Film Palme d’Or and the three La Ci(festival-cannes.com)ols. (festival-cannes.com) ### Why is this job bigger than it sounds? Because La Cinef is Cannes’ student-film section, and the short-film competition is often where filmmakers first get serious international attention. These categories sit inside the festival’s “Cinéma de Demain” orbit — basically Cannes’ future-facing lane. If the main competition celebrates established auteurs, this jury helps decide who might become one. (cinemadedemain.festival-cannes.com) ### Why Carla Simón? Simón makes sense for this lane. She won the Berlin Golden Bear for *Alcarràs* in 2022, and Cannes notes that she returned to the Croisette in competition in 2025 with *Romería*. That gives her a useful mix of prestige and recent pro(cinemadedemain.festival-cannes.com) ecosystem younger directors want to enter. (screendaily.com) ### What did she say about shorts? Her quote is a clean clue to why Cannes chose her. Simón called a short film “a whole universe” and described the form as a space for freedom, artistic risk, experimentation, and renewal. That lines up almost perfectly with what Cannes wants these sections to signal — discovery, boldness, and first-time impact, not just polished calling cards. (festival-cannes.com) ### What will this jury actually watch? Ten films are in the 2026 short-film competition, selected from 3,184 submissions spanning 136 countries. La Cinef includes 19 student films. Those numbers are the useful scale marker here — this is a tiny final slate pulled from a very large global pool, which is why even making the lineup matters before any prize is handed out. (festival-cannes.com) ### Who else is on the panel? The rest of the jury is deliberately international and cross-disciplinary. Park Ji-min brings acting and visual-art experience, Ali Asgari comes from directing and producing, Salim Kechiouche works as actor and di(festival-cannes.com) is built that way. (festival-cannes.com) ### So why does this matter now? Because Cannes is filling in the parts of the festival that shape reputation before the red-carpet frenzy peaks. The short-film jury announcement came after the festival unveiled this year’s short and La Cinef selections. In other words, the films are set, the judges are set, and the mechanism for anointing the next wave is now in place. (festival-cannes.com) ### Bottom line? This is a small-jury story with outsized signaling power. Cannes just handed Carla Simón the festival’s most concentrated new-talent brief — and that says a lot about how it wants the 2026 edition to frame discovery.