The animated short film O Pássaro de Dentro by Laura Anahory, a student at the School of Arts of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, has been officially selected for La Cinef, a section of the Cannes Film Festival dedicated to discovering and supporting emerging talents in global cinema.

A 2D and mixed media animation, O Pássaro de Dentro explores the daily struggles of mental health and how they manifest in the physical body. Motivated by a personal and intimate need to represent the immense effort it takes to maintain the balance between mental and physical well-being, the film uses the expressive elasticity of animation to portray this connection. Through exaggerated, metamorphic forms, the film gives visual weight to the entanglement of body and mind.

La Cinef, created in 1998 (formerly Cinéfondation), selects short and medium-length films by students from film schools across the world. Renamed in 2022, the section has become a key platform for emerging directors—among them Jessica Hausner, Asif Kapadia, and Nadav Lapid.

Laura Anahory is currently completing her Master’s in Sound and Image at the School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. With a background in Graphic Design from Soares dos Reis Art School and a degree in Communication Design from ESAD, she later specialized in Character Design and Illustration. Her Postgraduate studies in Illustration and Animation sparked a keen interest in 2D animation. Since then, she has directed two animated short films—House on the Hilltop (2023) and O Pássaro de Dentro (2024)—as well as a promotional intro for Cinanima in 2024.