diff --git a/src/backend/core/models.py b/src/backend/core/models.py
index 94d84cfe..d00b66de 100644
--- a/src/backend/core/models.py
+++ b/src/backend/core/models.py
@@ -324,16 +324,23 @@ class Document(BaseModel):
             file_key = self.file_key
             bytes_content = self._content.encode("utf-8")
 
-            if default_storage.exists(file_key):
+            # Attempt to directly check if the object exists using the storage client.
+            try:
                 response = default_storage.connection.meta.client.head_object(
                     Bucket=default_storage.bucket_name, Key=file_key
                 )
+            except ClientError as excpt:
+                # If the error is a 404, the object doesn't exist, so we should create it.
+                if excpt.response["Error"]["Code"] == "404":
+                    has_changed = True
+                else:
+                    raise
+            else:
+                # Compare the existing ETag with the MD5 hash of the new content.
                 has_changed = (
                     response["ETag"].strip('"')
-                    != hashlib.md5(bytes_content).hexdigest()  # noqa
+                    != hashlib.md5(bytes_content).hexdigest()  # noqa: S324
                 )
-            else:
-                has_changed = True
 
             if has_changed:
                 content_file = ContentFile(bytes_content)
diff --git a/src/backend/pyproject.toml b/src/backend/pyproject.toml
index 82f3e286..c829e495 100644
--- a/src/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/src/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "django-parler==2.3",
     "redis==5.0.8",
     "django-redis==5.4.0",
-    "django-storages[s3]==1.14.2",
+    "django-storages[s3]==1.14.4",
     "django-timezone-field>=5.1",
     "django==5.0.8",
     "djangorestframework==3.15.2",