Student Competition 1

1. Tar 05:00 Iran 2026
   

   Directed:	Fariba Farzanfar, Kaveh Sistani
   Screenplay:	Fariba Farzanfar
   Production:	Fariba Farzanfar, Kaveh Sistani, Amirreza Kavianmehr
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   Tar is an experimental under-the-camera animation crafted with real strands of hair. In Persian, the word tar carries a dual meaning: both a strand of hair and a traditional Iranian string instrument. Within this symbolic interplay, an enraged centipede storms a young girl’s inner world, shattering musical instruments. Amid the chaos and dissonance, the delicate sound of the tar emerges, opening a fragile space for transformation.

2. Colorful Chicks / 彩色小鸡 08:16 2025
   

   Directed:	Zhuofei Li, Shiyao Feng
   Screenplay:	Zhuofei Li
   Production:	Shiyao Feng

   
   

   In a colorless world, a man feels inferior about his blue birthmark. One day, he sees a gigantic blue chick—visible only to him.And his life changes from that moment on... In China, dyed chicks often symbolize weakness and illness, as they cannot escape the fate of being abandoned by society; thus, the protagonist identifies his fate with that of the chick. However, when others begin to reveal their hidden colors, he realizes that what seems like a flaw may actually be a person's most shining characteristic.In the end, the protagonist accepted and embraced their "imperfections"; in this world, both you and I are outsiders.

3. The Riveter 02:57 2026
   

   Directed:	Abigayle Schroder
   Screenplay:	Abigayle Schroder
   Production:	Abigayle Schroder
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   The Riveter is an animated short that follows three newly 21-year-old best friends on their first night out drinking, where they meet a mystical older lesbian who inspires them to revive the historic bar and its community.

4. Cheese 02:56 2026
   

   Directed:	Sophie Eccles
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   A filmic scrapbook that explores navigating life as a 20 something year old through the nostalgic lens of childhood footage and whimsy. ​

5. One Winner Two Fingers / 大步希声 12:50 2026
   

   Directed:	Yiyang Liu
   Screenplay:	Yiyang Liu
   Production:	Yiyang Liu
   Dialogue Language:	Mandarin Chinese

   
   

   Zhu Tong has always believed that as long as he never looks back, he can make it to first place. But at a childhood sports day, he fell behind his friends—a moment that followed him for the rest of his life. He spent the years that followed working and chasing relentlessly, yet never escaped second place. Near the end of his life, he finally chooses to finish this long race as the runner-up.

6. Scrounger 08:45 2026
   

   Dialogue Language:

   English

   
   

   In a dilapidated prison factory at the end of the world, Rita is the only remaining prisoner. She toils day in and day out, expected to carry out all the duties of her deceased inmates under the ever-watchful gaze of the Warden.

7. Cold Hands 05:36 2026
   

   Directed:	Noga Erlich Kochavi
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   After her grandmother’s death, Ikki avoids confronting her grief by escaping into a surreal world of packages, reels, and giant bones. As the feed spirals into overload and reality fractures, she finds her own way to face the loss.

8. All You Can Eat 03:10 Australia 2026
   

   Directed:	Yilin Liu
   Production:	Yilin Liu
   Dialogue Language:	English

   
   

   All You Can Eat is a 2D hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation about a boy who loves eating meat and starts working in a strange animal restaurant, where he is gradually controlled by food and desire. As he keeps eating, his body begins to lose control, and he eventually discovers that he has also become “food” within the restaurant system. Through absurdity and dark humour, the work explores the relationship between desire, consumption and control.

9. I Love You So / きみとわたし 11:37 Japan 2026
   

   Directed:	Cocoro Watanabe
   Screenplay:	Cocoro Watanabe
   Dialogue Language:	Japanese

   
   

   a self-documentary about the identity of the author's imaginary friend

10. Memento Mori (So Make the Most of It!) 03:36 United States 2026
    

    Directed:	Axel Bennett
    Screenplay:	Axel Bennett
    Production:	Axel Bennett
    Dialogue Language:	English

    
    

    Memento Mori: So Make the Most of It! is an anticapitalist animation rejecting the adage “work hard and you will be rewarded.” The film follows a nonbinary person, Dead Human Walking (DHW), on their way to work. They are struck by a taco truck when jaywalking in reaction to their boss’s impatient badgering. After being struck, they enter a psychedelic In-Between where they meet a Grim Reaper named Red, whose situation is more like their own than they could ever know. After a brief scuffle, DHW returns to the World of the Living with their priorities shifted away from their job and towards taking care of themself. The film draws on the rich history of psychedelic art to communicate altered states of consciousness and revelations found therein. Its visual design also draws inspiration from the work of underground comic artists like Jamie Hewlett, Mike Mignola, and Jhonen Vasquez.

11. The Fox and the Fray 04:23 United States 2026
    

    Directed:

    Leah Kerry

    
    

    The Fox and the Fray is a short animation about the quiet lives objects live alongside us. A fox necklace is born in a jewelry studio, worn once on a night out, then tucked away in a nightstand, where it finds itself among other pieces waiting to be worn again. When its owner finally rediscovers it, she passes it to someone she loves, who wears it every day until the necklace slowly frays away. Crafted from 81 individually made fox pieces and 12 other handmade jewelry elements, the film is a labor of love and a reflection on the meaning of sentimental objects in our lives.

12. Paper Wings / 紙の翼 (Kami no Tsubasa) 05:14 India 2025
    

    Directed:	Adithyanarayanan V
    Screenplay:	Adithyanarayanan V
    Production:	K R Narayanan National Institute Of Visual Science & Arts
    Dialogue Language:	Japanese

    
    

    In a repressive, monotonous old town, Haru, a boy dreams of flying and a life beyond the clouds-which is strictly forbidden. One day, as he stumbles across some old sketches belonging to his grandfather, he realizes that his dream of flying is more than a myth.

13. Pampas 02:43 2026
    

    Directed:	Abi Tucker
    Dialogue Language:	English

    
    

    My dad's been stealing pampas grass from the public bushes of North London. Pampas is a film about my relationship with my dad, told through his actions and my understanding of them. Translated through his obsession with stealing pampas grass, a fluffy, strangely sought after plant, the story is told through stop motion multi-plane animation using paper and pampas grass.

14. Nightmare 04:20 2025
    

    Directed:	Rassel Rubio Munizaga
    Screenplay:	Rassel Rubio Munizaga

    
    

    During his journey through a lush pre-Andean forest, Aukén, a humanoid creature, is forced to stop as night falls. While he sleeps, an ancient presence emerges from the shadows: the Tue-Tué, a supernatural entity that awaits the precise moment to burst into his mind and drag him into the world of dreams.

15. Stranded, Blinking and Forgotten 10:10 2026
    

    Directed:	Adzin Hibban
    Dialogue Language:	English, Indonesian

    
    

    After spending three months alone on a space mission, Jason has grown accustomed to the silence of life in orbit. But when a series of system failures reveals that Earth is facing an unstoppable anomaly, he is forced to confront loss, hope, and the painful realization that not everything can be saved. With only an artificial intelligence companion named D.A.L.L by his side, Jason must face the end from millions of miles away.

16. Momma Doesn't Notice Shit 04:14 2025
    

    Directed:	Vitaly Ushakov, Juliette Gangl, Sofiia Nikitina
    Screenplay:	Juliette Gangl, Sofiia Nikitina, Vitaly Ushakov
    Dialogue Language:	English

    
    

    During a summer bike ride, two teenage boys face their fears when a game with a dead fish leads to their first, unexpected kiss.

17. WIRTSHAUS 03:05 Greece 2026
    

    Directed:	Alexandra Baka
    Dialogue Language:	Greek (Modern)

    
    

    Wirtshaus is set in a world inspired by Takis Zenetos' Electronic Urbanism, where citizens live inside capsules and can be anywhere they desire digitally. A wise traveller arrives in this place where commuting has been eliminated, and therefore there is no evidence of life. As he observes this bizarre inn, Das Wirtshaus, a poem by Wilhelm Müller, acts as his internal voice. While the inn rejects him for his remaining time, he decides to continue his journey rather than claim a capsule and be trapped in time.