What is Australian independent cinema making of the wider world right now? Five answers are set to emerge at the Cannes Film Festival next month, where the Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes program will present works in progress to international buyers and programmers.
The selection is notable for its geographic reach. Dan Jackson’s documentary “Death of a Shaman” is an Australia-Ecuador co-production documenting an Indigenous community’s confrontation with foreign oil interests. Agnes Burrell’s “Polina” – the lineup’s other documentary – follows a Ukrainian child whose family remains near the wreckage of their village outside Kyiv, tracing how armed conflict becomes simply the texture of growing up. Among the fiction titles, Dominic Allen’s “Tiber” moves through a Tuscany thick with cultural memory toward a moment of private reckoning.
Organised by the Cannes Festival’s Marché du Film, the Goes to Cannes series of seven showcases of works in progress from festivals and markets all over the world is offering two new awards in 2026: the OCS+ Award, with €15,000 ($17,725) for the French distributor of a Goes to Cannes project, and the AH Media Production Award of €10,000 ($11,800) in cash. These prizes join the well-known Sideral Cinema Award of a €10,000 minimum guarantee for one of the projects.
All five titles are in post-production or recently completed. A closer look at the Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes lineup:
“Death of a Shaman” (Dan Jackson, Future Paradigm Pictures, Australia-Ecuador)
Produced by Dan Jackson through Future Paradigm Pictures, this documentary follows an Indigenous Ecuadorian family at the centre of a resistance movement against oil extraction backed by the International Monetary Fund, drawing on ties between traditional knowledge and the land to fuel a broader uprising. Shot across four languages – English, Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar – the film is due for completion this year.
“Polina” (Agnes Burrell, Michael Wrenn, Invisible Republic, Australia-Ukraine)
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Directed by Agnes Burrell and produced by Michael Wrenn through Invisible Republic, this documentary centres on a child whose village near Kyiv is destroyed in the early weeks of the 2022 invasion. Her family stays on beside the ruins, and the film charts how occupation and its aftermath become the unremarkable background of her adolescence. Targeting a 2027 delivery.
“River” (Zane Borg, Gabriel Carrubba, Pancake Originals, Australia)
The lineup’s only completed title, directed by Zane Borg and produced by Gabriel Carrubba through Pancake Originals. A 16-year-old still raw from her mother’s death finds a connection with another teenager carrying his own unresolved family wound; the two end up on an unplanned drive across state lines in search of the boy’s absent mother. The film was completed in 2025.
“Tiber” (Dominic Allen, Margarita Decoster, Windy Lighthouse Studios, Australia)
Directed by Dominic Allen and produced by Margarita Decoster through Windy Lighthouse Studios, this drama follows an Italian art historian made redundant from his Rome position who heads south through Tuscany with his young daughter – a journey through landscape laden with cultural memory that gradually opens onto grief he has spent years sidestepping. Due for completion in 2026.
“Wilderness” (Martin McKenna, Mat Govoni, Future Pictures, Australia)
Produced by Mat Govoni through Future Pictures and directed by Martin McKenna, this drama follows a woman who abandons her medical career and marriage and heads into the Victorian high country with an old schoolmate – a trip intended as escape that deteriorates into genuine danger, forcing a confrontation with her own decisions. Also due in 2026.
From Variety US