Temple University Film & Medi Arts alumni Manuela Martelli TFM '12's film, 1976, has been selected for the 54th edition of the distiguished Cannes Directors' Fortnight—an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. 

1976 follows Carmen as she heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation. Her husband, children and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to.

Martelli is no stranger to the Fortnight. In 2015, She was also selected by Cannes Directors Fortnight’s program Chile Factory to co-direct a short film with Amirah Tajdin, called Land Tides. In 2010, she received a Fulbright to pursue her Masters in film at Temple University. APNEA, her first short film premiered at FICValdivia, 2014. 

The Directors’ Fortnight section was set up by the French Directors Guild in 1969 and prides itself on celebrating provocative and ground-breaking directors, such as George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola, and Chloé Zhao.

The event will run May 18–27. You can view the entire lineup here.