Marvin Merkel and Noa Epars' film at 2026 Cannes Film Festival

The Bachelor’s thesis film by HEAD student Noa Epars, co-directed with Marvin Merkel , graduated with an ECAL Bachelor Photography, will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cinef selection. This year, in this category dedicated to films made by film schools students from around the world, 19 short films were selected from over 2,450 submissions.

At the intersection between fiction, documentary, and experimental cinema, this short film revisits acts of vandalism committed in 2009 by mountain guide Patrick Bussard, who sawed down a cross in the Fribourg Alps and was severely punished by the courts. Always Wanted To Be God, Never Wanted To Do Good won the "Best Swiss Film 2025" award at the Winterthur International Short Film Festival, as well as the "SSA/Suissimage Young Talent Award 2026" at the Solothurn Film Festival, and was screened at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland.

"On the summits of Swiss mountains, Christian crosses stand tall. In the cities, billboards displaying Bible verses occupy public space. We have never felt comfortable with the presence of these religious symbols."

Film screening
21.05.2026, 11:00am, Buñuel Theatre
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès
Cannes, France
 

@marvmerkel
@noaepars

Visual © Marvin Merkel