[Exclusive] Trailer for Honami Yano’s Short Film 'Eri' Ahead of Its Cannes Screening

Eri is a 12-minute hand-painted animated short by Honami Yano about a Holstein cow who falls for another cow in a dairy world where survival depends on bearing calves. It had its world premiere in the

《Eri》 is a 12-minute animated short set in a dairy-farming world where cows cannot survive unless they give birth to calves. It follows Eri, a Holstein who develops feelings for another cow, Sawa. Honami Yano handled the screenplay, animation, and direction, and the film had its world premiere in the short-film section of the 2026 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Its first Cannes screening was held on May 21 at the Théâtre Croisette in Cannes, France.

The film is based on Kasumi Asakura’s novel 《Who Else Is There?》, but replaces the human characters with cows. This change makes not only romantic feelings but also the environment in which reproduction is a condition of survival into a source of narrative pressure. After passing through sleepless nights, Eri seeks to reach Sawa, and the film centers on that one-sided, intense feeling.

The images were created by applying paint directly to cels. The creator’s official materials identify cel and paint as the techniques used, and also introduce the 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio and Japanese dialogue. Serina Motola voices Eri, Kotona Minami voices Sawa, and the film was co-produced by France’s Miyu Productions and Japan’s Au Praxinoscope.

The festival program lists the film as a 12-minute short, while the director’s official page and the distributor’s page give detailed runtimes of 12 minutes 10 seconds and 12 minutes 8 seconds, respectively. What the two sources show in common is that the film combines the materiality of hand-drawn animation with Eri’s tenacious love for one particular being within its brief runtime.