Meditalents at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival !

This year, a Meditalents resident and a Meditalents mentor are being celebrated at the 79th edition of the Festival de Cannes.

The burmese writer-director Sein Lyan Tun has developed several projects with Meditalents. He first joined LabMed in 2023 with his debut feature project The Beer Girl in Yangon, and is returning for LabDoc 2026 to continue developing his documentary project The Bamboo Family.

This year, he will take part in the 65th Cannes Critic's Week through the Next Step Studio Indonesia program. The selection is part of Next Step, an initiative dedicated to supporting emerging filmmakers in the writing and development of their first feature films. Since its creation, the program has welcomed more than 80 filmmakers and helped bring nearly 50 debut features to life.

As part of the program, he will present The Beer Girl in Yangon during a pitching session bringing together all the selected filmmakers and international industry professionals. His short film Original Wound, co-written and co-directed with Indonesian artist Shelby Kho, will also be screened during a special presentation at the Semaine de la Critique.

We are thrilled to continue following the journey of Sein Lyan Tun and The Beer Girl in Yangon since its development at LabMed 2023. The project was recently supported by the CNC’s Aide aux Cinémas du Monde fund, marking another important step forward. We are also delighted to welcome him back this year for the seventh edition of LabDoc, where he will further develop his documentary project The Bamboo Family.

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Synopsis of The Beer Girl in Yangon :

‍After her father is arrested, Phyu, a 17-year-old girl starts working in a beer station in Yangon while trying to complete the song he left unfinished, believing that hearing it on the radio may still reach him. Caught between a deep friendship with a karaoke singer, a painful illness that triggers unsettling visions, and the harsh realities of her workplace, Phyu struggles to survive and complete the song, her last remaining connection to her father.

In 2025, Meditalents had the honor of welcoming moroccan screenwriter and director Laïla Marrakchi as a mentor for the 14th edition of LabMed. We are delighted to welcome her back once again for the 15th edition of the LabMed.

This year, Laïla Marrakchi’s new feature film, La Más Dulce, has been selected for the Un Certain Regard program at the Festival de Cannes. The project was developed through the Atlas Workshops, an initiative of the Marrakech International Film Festival. The film marks the director’s third feature.

Her debut feature, Marock, was already presented at Cannes in 2005 in the Un Certain Regard section. She later continued her career with her second feature film, Rock the Casbah (2013), before directing several acclaimed television series, including Marseille and Le Bureau des Légendes.

A moroccan, french, spanish, and belgian co-production, La Más Dulce tells the story of two young women who leave Morocco to work as seasonal laborers in the strawberry fields of southern Spain. The feature film also follows their decision to speak out against the abuse they endure, despite the risk of losing both their families and their homeland.

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Synopsis of La Más Dulce :
Fatéma, recently released from prison and mother of a 9-year-old boy, travels to Andalusia to work during the strawberry harvest season. She hopes to earn enough money to rebuild her life with her son. But once there, reality proves far harsher than expected. She befriends Amina, Saïda, and Khadija, and together they face difficult living and working conditions, as well as harassment. Isolated, unable to speak the language, and unaware of their rights, they struggle to endure.

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The Meditalents team will be in Cannes from May 15 to 19, 2026, feel free to come and meet us there !