The Dream is a Snail (2026)
Giấc Mơ Là Ốc Sên
Director: Nguyễn Thiên Ân
Cast: Anh Tuan Le, Nguyễn Đức Mạnh, Phi Điểu, Trần Kỳ Anh
Did you know? To capture the unsettling sensation of the snails, the crew sourced over 200 live garden snails and trained them to crawl in a straight line by laying down a trail of cucumber juice on the actor’s skin.
Why Watch: In a cinematic landscape saturated with digital noise, *The Dream is a Snail* offers a hypnotic, tactile masterpiece you won't soon forget. This Palm d’Or winner at Cannes transforms a bizarre premise—a human racetrack for snails—into a profound meditation on obsession, aging, and the strange solace found in surrender. If you crave bold, sensory storytelling that challenges your definitions of art and desire, this short film is an unmissable, skin-crawling revelation.
A young artist on the brink of collapse accepts an unusual gig at a senior wellness retreat—becoming a living racetrack for snails. But what starts as a bizarre job turns into an all-consuming fixation, as the slow, hypnotic crawl of snails across his body pulls him into an eerie trance. This short film, winner of the Palm d’Or at the 79th Festival de Cannes, explores obsession, sensation, and the strange spaces where aging meets art.