Six Join 51st Residence of the Festival de Cannes, including Harry Lighton, Mansi Maheshwari, Oliver McGoldrick
Harry Lighton, Emma Branderhorst, Joecar Hanna, Saulé Bliuvaité, Mansi Maheshwari and Oliver McGoldrick are the six new directors welcomed to the 51st session of La Résidence du Festival de Cannes.
The Residence of the Festival de Cannes welcomes each year, in the heart of Paris, twelve young filmmakers selected to take part in two sessions lasting four and a half months, with the aim of helping them develop and write the screenplay for their first or second feature film.
From March 16 to July 31, 2026, they will reside in Paris where they will benefit from a personalized screenwriting residency program and a collective program of meetings with film professionals.
Since its creation, the Residence has supported more than 250 filmmakers from around sixty countries. It has helped reveal many artists who are now regularly present at major international film festivals. Among them are Lucrecia Martel (Argentina), Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania), Amat Escalante and Michel Franco (Mexico), László Nemes (Hungary), Lukas Dhont (Belgium), Nadine Labaki (Lebanon), Nadav Lapid (Israel), Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (Croatia), Carla Simón (Spain), Karim Aïnouz (Brazil), Rungano Nyoni (Zambia), Payal Kapadia (India), and Chiang Wei (Singapore).
Harry Lighton is a writer-director based in London. His debut feature, Pillion, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, made a strong impression at its premiere at the 2025 Festival de Cannes, where it won the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Screenplay. The film went on to achieve both critical and commercial success, notably winning Best British Independent Film at the BIFAs, and receiving three BAFTA nominations. His short film Wren Boys had previously been nominated for Best British Short Film at the 2018 BAFTAs.
“Getting a spot in La Residence is beyond exciting. Other filmmakers I know who’ve done it rave about it. It means I can block out five months to knuckle down to writing my next script, and getting to do that in Paris… are you kidding me?! Magnifique. I hope to come away with a script, some new filmmaker pals, and a Parisian husband.”
Emma Branderhorst is an Amsterdam-based filmmaker known for intimate, character-driven stories that explore social dynamics from a distinctly female perspective. Her short films Under the Skin, Spotless (Crystal Bear winner) and Ma Mère et Moi were selected for the Berlinale. Alongside her fiction work, she also directed the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winning short Piece of Me, and regularly makes narrative-driven commercials across Europe. She works in a naturalistic, performance-led style, revealing emotion between the lines. She is currently developing her debut feature This Will Not End Well.
“Writing can be a strangely lonely part of filmmaking. Especially when you’re translating something deeply personal, a friendship break-up, into scenes that actually work. Joining La Residence in Paris means I don’t have to do that in isolation. Being surrounded by other filmmakers in the same phase gives me a space to be vulnerable in the work ; to test form, clarify the character arcs and bring this idea from instinct to screenplay.”
Joecar Hanna is a Spanish filmmaker of Chinese-Lebanese descent who before moving to NYC, worked as a professional editor on many feature films and a TV series. During his time in the NYU Grad Film program he received the Black Family Prize and the Ang Lee Scholarship, and was selected for the Marcie Bloom Fellowship (Sony Pictures Classics). His short Deliver Me premiered at SXSW 2023 and was acquired by Canal+. His second short Talk Me, executive-produced by Spike Lee, premiered at Cannes 2025, won Best Short at TIFF, and premiered in the U.S at SXSW 2026. As an actor, he made his feature debut in Lump by Alex Rockwell, a film that received an award at the Warsaw Film Festival. Joecar will make his debut feature in the U.S. in Fall 2026 and will develop his second feature at the Cannes Residence 2026.
“Being part of La Residence doesn’t feel like joining just any program. You feel Cannes’ unique aura all over it: from the care for filmmakers and the attention to detail, to the respect for authorship and bold voices that have made it the leading reference in auteur cinema. It feels like the strong foundation of the larger Cannes structure. Writing in such an idyllic setting, under a brand that has embraced so many legendary films and filmmakers, makes your voice feel more affirmed. Feeling part of the family is special, and knowing that only six are selected each session makes it even more meaningful. It’s a true honor, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”
Saulė Bliuvaitė is a Lithuanian film director, screenwriter, and editor. She graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2018 and began her filmmaking career with several short films, while also co-writing Isaac, Lithuania’s submission for the 2021 Academy Award for Best International Feature. Her debut feature, Toxic, premiered in the International Competition at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Golden Leopard. Since its debut, Toxic has been screened at around 100 film festivals worldwide, garnered numerous international accolades, and was nominated for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI at the European Film Awards.
“I’m happy to take part in La Residence. I feel it offers a meaningful platform for the project at this development stage. I value its format and duration, as my writing process is slow and reflective. Engaging with fellow filmmakers is something I’m also looking forward to — it always brings out unexpected ideas.”
Mansi Maheshwari, born in 1998, is an Indian animation director whose work blends humour with emotionally grounded storytelling. She began in fashion, using clothing to tell stories, before pursuing narrative more directly through an MA in Animation Direction at the National Film and Television School, UK. Her graduation short film Bunnyhood premiered at Cannes, winning Third Prize in La Cinef Selection competition, and later screened at Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand. Drawing from personal memory, her films explore family, reunions, and the quiet chaos of human connection through warmth, absurdity, and character-driven storytelling.
“Being selected for La Residence feels really special and a bit unreal. It feels like all the confusion, late nights, and the constant questioning have led to something meaningful. After having my film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, this feels like coming back, but this time with more clarity and belief in myself. I feel like I’ve been trusted with something important. It makes me want to work harder, dig deeper into my story, and make something honest and fun.”
Oliver McGoldrick is an Irish filmmaker and doctor based between New York City and County Down, Northern Ireland. He studied Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2017, before earning his MFA in Film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is a BAFTA North America Scholar and an alum of the Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy. His previous short, Three Keenings, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024, screened at over 50 festivals worldwide and won best short film at the Galway Film Fleadh. His next short, Melter, executive produced by Spike Lee, is currently in post-production. He is in development for his debut feature Barnyard, through the Munich Film Up Program and La Residence of the Festival de Cannes.
“I’m thrilled to join the 51st session of La Residence, a dream opportunity to focus solely on the writing of my first feature film over the next four and a half months. I look forward to developing my project and exchanging ideas with my fellow residents, as well as drawing inspiration from Paris and the legacy of all the filmmakers who came before me.”
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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