Professional Competition 1

1. A Shadowy Store(y) 05:35 Iran 2025
   

   Directed:	Houman Tehrani Sharif
   Screenplay:	Houman Tehrani Sharif, Maryam Ghiasi
   Production:	Houman Tehrani Sharif

   
   

   There are shadow thieves in a city who take advantage of people's lack of attention to their shadows and hunt the shadows and resell them in the shadow shop to people who lost their shadows due to negligence; These shades are not necessarily suitable for their new owners and do not fit.

2. My New World Never Unfolds for Anyone Else / 我的新世界从不因他人而展开 03:46 China 2025
   

   Directed:	泠洁 卢
   Screenplay:	泠洁 卢
   Production:	泠洁 卢
   Dialogue Language:	Chinese

   
   

   Everything in this world feels irrelevant to me. There is nothing worth caring about. In my head, only one forceful slogan keeps repeating: “My new world does not unfold for anyone else. My new world does not unfold for anyone else. My new world does not unfold for anyone else.” But is that really true?

3. Infernal Rope Party / Cordée Infernale 10:07 2026
   

   Directed:	Christophe Lopez-Huici
   Screenplay:	Christophe Lopez-Huici, Christophe Fustini
   Production:	Nicolas Burlet
   Dialogue Language:	French

   
   

   Seven explorers set out to climb Mount Fliithüt, reputed to be unreachable. The risks are many, but the greatest danger remains the behaviour of the group.

4. Marimbã Is Happening / Marimbã Está Acontecendo 13:51 Brazil 2026
   

   Directed:	Maryn Marynho
   Screenplay:	Maryn Marynho, Lui Fontenele, Lux Farr, Curimatã
   Production:	Abeju Ara, Francisco Izzi Vitório, Bruno Lobo La Loba, Bárbara Cabeça
   Dialogue Language:	Portuguese

   
   

   The thoughts of Marimbã, a transmasculine person who lives in the mangrove, move through various dreams across the waters, weaving bonds of affection and chosen family for dissident bodies, in a glimpse of a possible future. He projects himself into his second successful pregnancy and, after a temporal leap, investigates the signs of transmutation and aging that his skin reveals, during a relaxed gathering of memories and old friends. When he finally awakens, water visits his body and a profound encounter with an enchanted being takes place. Trans parenthood, support networks, childhood, aging, spirituality… how do we, trans people, imagine ourselves 20, 40, 60 years from now?

5. Ashes / ფერფლი 07:20 2025
   

   Directed:	Goga Osepashvili
   Screenplay:	Goga Osepashvili

   
   

   In a mountain home, an elderly woman lives in solitude. During a fierce blizzard, the power goes out, forcing her to rely on the fireplace for warmth. As her resources dwindle, she makes a series of difficult decisions to survive the cold. Ultimately, she is faced with a photograph of her son. The memories of her past seem to ignite with the flames.

6. Aquarium 06:16 2026
   

   Directed:	Pauline Carette
   Production:	Bastien Martin
   Dialogue Language:	No Dialogue

   
   

   A water leak gradually invades the house of a man who remains curiously inactive in the face of this urgent problem.

7. The Cookies / Les Cookies 04:09 2026
   

   Directed:	Catherine Arhab
   Production:	Bastien Martin

   
   

   Alicia lives alone, surrounded by her memories… a gentle melancholy often keeps her company in her daily life. Today, she is waiting for her granddaughter; she has drifted off to sleep in her armchair, letting herself be soothed by the sweet melody filling the room…

8. Ash by Hand 02:30 2026
   

   Directed:	Julian Grant
   Screenplay:	Julian Grant
   Production:	Julian Grant
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   In a wasteland stripped of color, a small figure drags a heavy burden across the ruins of a world that ended long before she was born. She's not alone in her purpose — and what she's really carrying isn't what you think.

9. Stolen dress / Чужое платье 10:33 Russian Federation 2025
   

   Directed:	Alexandra Zimina, Alina Shchedrina
   Screenplay:	Alexandra Zimina
   Production:	Alexey Fedorchenko, Dmitriy Vorob'yov, Yana Igdal, Maria Umetskaya, Tat'yana Ustyuzanina
   Dialogue Language:	Russian

   
   

   High in the mountains, far from human settlements, a group of forest spirits live together. One day, during a moment of playful mischief, they stumble upon a human village. The main character steals a human dress and puts it on. From that moment, they begin to change and can no longer fully belong either to the spirits or to the world of humans.

10. City of roses / Cidade das rosas 16:02 Brazil 2025
    

    Directed:	Barcabogante, Siso Barros
    Screenplay:	Tiago Minamisawa, Barcabogante, Siso Barros
    Production:	Barcabogante, Mariana Thomé
    Dialogue Language:	Portuguese

    
    

    César, a 28-year-old young man involuntarily committed by his father in 1930 to a psychiatric hospital, seeks a way out of the hell of being imprisoned. Hallucinating due to all the violence, he recalls events from his life that brought him there. Amidst repressed memories and dreamlike visions of the horrors he suffers there, César seeks the memory of the man he loved, as a safe haven in the suffering of the days that fade away.

11. Lexi 04:11 2026
    

    Directed:	Bruno Simões
    Screenplay:	Bruno Simões
    Production:	Bruno Simões, Carlota Pou

    
    

    Lexi witnesses a scene of police brutality. Tired of always looking the other way, she decides to get involved. This seemingly small action will trigger a series of events that will change her life forever.

12. Letters in Grey 05:15 2025
    

    Directed:	Miguel Ângelo Rebelo
    Screenplay:	Miguel Ângelo Rebelo
    Dialogue Language:	English

    
    

    In a world drained of color, a young woman writes letters she will never send to the people she loved, to the ones she lost, and to the version of herself that once believed in light. Letters in Grey is a silent reflection on love and depression, told through ink, memory, and the quiet weight of solitude.

13. Life goes on: A christmas tale 02:44 2025
    

    Directed:	Miguel Ângelo Rebelo
    Screenplay:	Miguel Ângelo Rebelo
    Dialogue Language:	No Dialogue

    
    

    Life Goes On: A Christmas Tale” is an animated short film about grief, solitude, and renewal. Unable to celebrate Christmas after a profound loss, the protagonist withdraws from the traditions and joy of the season. An unexpected encounter with a small cat changes everything, awakening his ability to feel, care, and move forward. In under three minutes, the film shows how small gestures can rekindle lights we once believed extinguished.

14. The Apple Never Falls / 沉默的呐喊 (Chén Mò de Nà Hǎn) 12:00 2025
    

    Directed:	Baowei Guo
    Screenplay:	Baowei Guo
    Production:	Baowei Guo, Thomas Moore, Chongyan Liu
    Dialogue Language:	No Dialogue

    
    

    A boy grows up in a rural village under his father’s suffocating control, where brief escapes offer distance but never release him from the present.