Can I have a folder on my iCloud Drive containing files that I do NOT want synced across my devices

Over the years I've had endless frustrating issues with my iCloud Drive not syncing across my devices when it should, however this time I have a scenario where I specifically DO NOT want syncing. I have about 40GB of video files on my almost full MacBook Pro that I want to archive into iCloud so I can free up that space on my laptop. I was hoping I could create a folder on my iCloud Drive (e.g. named "Unsynced Archive") and drag that 40GB of files into it - the desired effect being that those files are MOVED into iCloud i.e. deleted from my laptop thus freeing up the 40GB. I don't want that 40GB synced to any of my other devices either - I just want them in iCloud as though they were on an external hard drive and I have the ability to locally download any of those files on demand to whatever iCloud device I choose. Is this possible? Also, I'm using Big Sur.