Cannes Bound! Indian Student Film A Doll Made Up Of Clay To Compete In La Cinef Section

A Doll Made Up Of Clay, a student film by the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), has been selected in the prestigious La Cinef section at the 78th Festival de Cannes 2025. A total of 16 movies have been selected in this category at Cannes. The La Cinef is a competition category at Cannes. The jury comprises of director, screenwriter and producer Maren Ade, director, screenwriter and producer Reinaldo Marcus Green, actress, singer and songwriter Camélia Jordana, producer and photographer José Maria Prado Garcia and Director and screenwriter Nebojša Slijepčević from Croatia.

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What is A Doll Made Up Of Clay about?

Driven by ambition, a young Nigerian athlete sells his father's land to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer in India. However, a career-ending injury leaves him disillusioned and stranded in an unfamiliar country. Through physical pain, emotional trauma, and an identity crisis, he reconnects with the spiritual traditions of his ancestors, finding redemption and meaning. A Doll Made Up of Clay is a powerful exploration of displacement, loss, and cultural resilience.

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This 23-minute experimental film, produced under SRFTI’s Producing for Film and Television (PFT) department, showcases cross-border collaboration. A Doll Made Up Of Clay is produced by Sahil Manoj Ingle, a PFT student and directed by Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay, an Ethiopian student under the ICCR African Scholarship.

About the La Cinef section at Cannes

La Cinef has selected 13 live-action and 3 animated films from among the 2,700 submitted by film schools all over the world. 

The Jury will hand over La Cinef prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday, May 22, in the Buñuel Theatre. 3 La Cinef prizes will be awarded at Cannes.