'Silent Voices' by Film Students Nadine Jin and Yuwen Zhang Accepted to Cannes La Cinef
Silent Voices, a short film directed and produced by Film students Nadine Jin and Yuwen Zhang respectively, has been accepted into the prestigious La Cinef short film competition at the 79th Festival de Cannes. Silent Voices follows a Korean immigrant family of four living in New York City. As they live their separate lives, each facing moments of defeat in their daily existence, they hide their wounds from one another.
Festival De Cannes is one of the most prestigious international film festivals in the world. For 79 years, it has been dedicated to supporting new voices in the film world. As their mission statement reads, “the organization puts its profile and platform to work in giving film the space to shine, ensuring a huge diversity of voices, sensibilities and talents are showcased. Showing faith and commitment to hearing these voices rise up to bear witness to their times is what has gradually shaped the Festival as we know it today.”
Silent Voices is one of 14-live action shorts selected for La Cinef from over 2,750 entries sent by film schools throughout the world. The La Cinef Prizes will be awarded by the jury at a ceremony on May 21, 2026.
Jin spoke highly of the Columbia support that helped make this project what it is today. “This film was made through a collective creative effort with my fellow Columbia students and alumni from our program, and we’re honored to share this moment through such a meaningful premiere. I was also incredibly fortunate to have [Associate Professor of Professional Practice] Bogdan Apetri '06 as my thesis advisor, whose unwavering support and inspiring lectures meant a great deal to me during my time at Columbia.”
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival will take place on the French Riviera from May 12 through May 23.
Jin is a Korean writer-director based in New York and Seoul. She is drawn to cinema of the seer—where characters slowly die from what they witness, youth becomes a battlefield, and the intrusive nature of the world is ever-present. At the core of her work lies the question of whether one can divide oneself from systemic, societal conditions. She is a Pedro Costa Lab (Yucatán, Mexico) fellow, and her film Juk won a Grand Prize at the DGA Student Awards. Her latest project, Silent Voices, is a Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge winner and is supported by CAPE and Janet Yang Productions. She studied English literature and film directing at Sungkyunkwan University.
Zhang is a NYC-based Chinese filmmaker. She sojourned in various countries before moving to the U.S. to pursue her M.A. in Education at Columbia University in 2017. After teaching for 4 years, she returned to her alma mater as an MFA Film candidate at Columbia University in 2023. Her most recent project as a producer, Silent Voices, premiered at 2026 Festival de Cannes - La Cinef Official Selection, where it won the Second Prize in the Best Short Award and the Queer Palm for Best Short Film. Her previous works have screened at Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and Beijing International Short Film Festival (BISFF). She is a recipient of 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Production Grant and 2025 Indian Paintbrush Fund Production Grant. Films that are grounded, with an intention of capturing the zeitgeist of the contemporary young generation, especially those exploring themes of cross-cultural rootlessness, always resonate with her.
