Young Directors Competition 5.
01 The Autoharp Crushing on Hot Guys
Director(s)
Antonie Zavadilová
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Country of production: Czech Republic
Production: FAMU
Length: 08' 30''
Category: Student film
Synopsis
A conversation between friends about relationships and feelings is developed in an imaginative, colorful animation. Despite their different life experiences, which are also influenced by the fact that one of the girls has Down syndrome and the other doesn‘t, they both deal with similar issues. What if they had The Autoharp Crushing on Hot Guys.
02 Lethe
Director(s)
Liang-Hsin Huang
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: France, Taiwan
Production: Avec ou sans Vous
Length: 06' 38''
Category: First film
Synopsis
A sculptor with Alzheimer’s goes on a self-healing voyage on the river Lethe after his death, experiencing a cycle of remembering and forgetting as he seeks the memories of himself and his daughter.
03 i am very alive yes
Director(s)
Maisie Sherriff
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Country of production: United Kingdom
Production: Kingston School of Art
Length: 03' 47''
Category: Graduation film
Synopsis
i thought about how i am very alive and how everything is very alive and how we came alive and the universe came alive and in any such way anything came alive it is so very alive.
04 Utopia·Realism·Friends
Director(s)
Kazuna Okada
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Country of production: Japan
Production: Tokyo University of Arts
Length: 06' 10''
Category: Student film
Synopsis
Hello, my Utopia friends Hello, my Realism friends And hello, my Utopia Realism Friends
05 Children of the Black Sea
Director(s)
Mihaela Mindru
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: France
Production: Ecole des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD)
Length: 10' 20''
Category: Graduation film
Synopsis
In an isolated sanatorium on the shore of the Black Sea, a girl discovers a strange world governed by mysterious rules and unusual treatments. Little by little, she adapts, makes friends, and learns to live in this place suspended in time. One day, feeling unwell, she is sent to a small white house, far from the other children. There, the boundaries between dream and reality begin to blur. One night, together with her two companions, she decides to escape toward the sea. But once faced with the horizon, a truth becomes clear: being a child is not so simple, their freedom is not assured, and their story is far from the adventure they had imagined.
06 Deconstruction
Director(s)
Nada Ivanovic
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Slovenia
Production: School of Arts University of Nova Gorica
Length: 03' 09''
Category: Graduation film
Synopsis
The animation explores the author's interpretation of a natural cycle in the human experience: the search an
07 The Big sad Nairobi
Director(s)
Gift Kyansimire Oroni
Film info
Year of production: 2024
Country of production: Kenya
Production: Inkspace Bureau
Length: 10' 00''
Category: First film
Watch the trailerSynopsis
A short animated follows a Goat who stumbles through Nairobi-esque daily life while exploring humanness.He traversing through the city while diving into questions about the meaning of Life, but not in a pretentious way, rather questioning the meaning of life through mundane things such as waiting for a matatu (Bus). This film is based on an Instagram comic created by Kyansimire Oroni (zord_files).
08 Hair Splice
Director(s)
Daniel Hur
Sara Jekely
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: United States of America
Production: Rhode Island School of Design
Length: 01' 00''
Category: Student film
Synopsis
Dan needed a haircut. So I gave him one.
09 There’s Something in the Milk
Director(s)
Cliona Noonan
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: France
Production: La Poudrière
Length: 04' 06''
Category: Graduation film
Synopsis
On a small farm somewhere in Ireland, Oona spends her days milking cows with her mother, who seems to think more about her cows and their milk than her own daughter.
10 The casting
Director(s)
Camille Britte
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Belgium
Production: ENSAV La Cambre
Length: 02' 48''
Category: Student film
Synopsis
Benjamin seems nervous : he is about to attend his very first casting. Between discomfort and absurdity, this audition turns out to be rather unusual.
11 Tevi version 31
Director(s)
Laure Mathieux
Claire Chum
Céline Wu
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: France
Production: EMCA
Length: 05' 20''
Category: Graduation film
Watch the trailerSynopsis
Tevi, 21, is struggling to write her graduation film. Anxious about the future, this night-time writing session plunges her into a series of frantic projections: what might her life be like at 31?
12 The Faces of The Face
Director(s)
Verónica Anaya
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Mexico
Production: Casa del autor de Zapopan y Bismuto Estudio
Length: 05' 25''
Category: First film
Synopsis
Nico wants to be alone, but one day she loses the key to her house on the beach and in her quest to find it, Nico chooses a new way of relating to the world outside of her.
13 Gently
Director(s)
Jamaica Kindlová
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Production: FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, BATCH Film s.r.o.
Length: 08' 44''
Category: Graduation film
Watch the trailerSynopsis
Charcoal animation reveals the fear of home through the eyes of a little boy who has to be constantly on alert and ready to escape.