Irish-British Filmmaker Takes Critics' Week Prize for Iraq Deserter Drama

Róisín Burns' debut feature Happy Hardcore, following a 17-year-old soldier who goes AWOL during the Iraq war, claimed the Next Step prize at Cannes Critics' Week 2025.

Róisín Burns won the Cannes Critics' Week Next Step prize for her project Happy Hardcore.
The film follows a 17-year-old British soldier who deserts during the Iraq war.
The story is set in Liverpool.
Burns is an Irish-British filmmaker and Happy Hardcore is her debut feature project.
The Next Step prize is awarded to emerging directors at the Critics' Week sidebar.

Róisín Burns took the Cannes Critics' Week Next Step prize on Saturday for Happy Hardcore, a Liverpool-set drama about a 17-year-old British soldier who deserts during the Iraq war.

The Next Step award is given by the Critics' Week sidebar — the festival's oldest parallel section — to an emerging director whose project shows notable promise at development or early production stage.

Burns, who holds Irish-British nationality, has not yet attached a distributor to the project, according to the Deadline report published May 2026.

Critics' Week prizes carry a cash component alongside the trophy; the exact figure attached to this year's Next Step award was not confirmed in the announcement.

The film is set in Liverpool. It is called Happy Hardcore.