We are proud to announce that CITY OF OWLS by
@zhenia.kazankina will have its world premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival
@festivaldecannes , in the short film competition of
@semaine_de_la_critique ’s 65th edition, entering the 2026 Gargantua short film catalog!
On the last evening before her departure, Vera is putting her small sister to bed. To hide the real reason of her leaving, she tells her a bedtime fairy tale instead. It's the story of a city swallowed by an eternal night.
Directed by Zhenia Kazankina
@zhenia.kazankina
Produced by Clémence Crépin Neel
@clemence.crpnnl , Igor Courtecuisse, Pavel Karykhalin
@ceccil.b , Sergei Yahontov
@yahontovs , Lev Maslov levmaslov, Andrea Gatopoulos
@andreagatopoulos , Marco Crispano
@marcocrispano , Laura Catalano
@lauracatalano7 , Silvio Giannini
@silviogiannini , Marco Mingolla
@marcomingolla , Domenico Panarello
@domenicopanarello90 , Stefano Schiavone
@oudeis_stefano , Leone Balduzzi
@leonedirector , Barbara Guieu
@barbara_guieu
Supported by CNC
@le_cnc and Procirep Angoa
@prixduproducteurtv , CITY OF OWLS is a French-German-Italian co-production between Moderato
@moderatofilms , *Eversince GmbH
@eversince.gmbh , Il Varco Cinema
@ilvarco , 8Production
@pr8duction , Cattive Produzioni
@cattiveproduzioni , Oudeis
@oudeispictures , and C41
@c41prod .
An exclusive for Italy with Rai Cinema Channel
@rai_cinema .
With Vera Engalycheva
@verbikus , Lera Yacenko
@tev_yatsenko , Mikhail Isaev, Anastasiia Bakhtyreva nlastenka, Andrey Bystrushkin, Kamilla Khaeva
@justaglare , Madlen Dzhabrailova
@mad1912 , Maria Nguen
@marynguen , Aleksandr Gridnev
@grindnev , Daria Mureeva
@murkinad , Lev Kotkin
@lev_i_kot , Tanya Sarukhanova
@tanyasarukhanova , Inayya Soloveychik
@soloveychik_inaya , Alisa Selnikova
@allone_verno , Isadora Alymkul
@ajydaar , Grigory Danilov
@jcarrenga , Nika Merenkova
@nika.merenkova , Tatiana Afonichkina, Andrey Polyakov, Ediyar Mukanbetov, and others.
Zhenia Kazankina is a director, screenwriter, and editor based in Rome, Italy. Her short films screened at Locarno, Palm Springs, ZINEBI, True/False, and others. She is an alumna of Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Spring Academy, and Reykjavík Talent Lab.
