Student Competition 3

1. Light in the Cracks / 缝隙里的光 03:49 2026
   

   Directed:	彦均 刘
   Dialogue Language:	No Dialogue

   
   

   Story Summary Confined to home because of a broken leg, the protagonist grows increasingly frustrated. One day, however, he unexpectedly discovers another world unfolding inside the bandage wrapped around his leg. As he steps into it, a mysterious journey with the bandage begins.

2. Neko Neko Night / Neko ねこ Night 02:26 2026
   

   Directed:	Fanélie Ollivier, Éline Bellon-Curutchet, Lorena Lopez Ospina, Yamato Ebina, Raisa Monroy Castro
   Screenplay:	Fanélie Ollivier, Éline Bellon-Curutchet, Lorena Lopez Ospina, Yamato Ebina, Raisa Monroy Castro

   
   

   A cute animal host is presenting a TV commercial, selling a bottle of liquid supplement that could cure anything and anyone, but it sounds too good to be true...

3. Almost There! (Liar) / Voy Llegando (Mentira) 04:46 Chile 2025
   

   Directed:	Federico Ayala
   Production:	Aracelli Ibarra
   Dialogue Language:	Spanish

   
   

   Danki is running late once again on his way to meet his best friend Beeg at the movie theater. Unlike the responsible and empathetic Beeg, Danki is careless and pessimistic. After being dragged farther and farther from his destination, he believes there is no way to arrive on time and decides to give up and return home. But a series of unexpected encounters forces him to face himself, and slowly, Danki learns to overcome his negativity and embrace resilience

4. Aïcha Kandicha 11:35 France 2026
   

   Directed:	Fayrouz Harmatallah Sbaï
   Screenplay:	Fayrouz Harmatallah Sbaï
   Dialogue Language:	Arabic, Portuguese

   
   

   In Morocco, children grow up fearing the witch Aïcha Kandicha. Yet some say she may have lived during the Portuguese rule over Morocco. This animated tale delves into the shadows to uncover her story.

5. The Little Match Girl 02:38 Japan 2026
   

   Directed:

   Shuyi Li

   
   

   A stop-motion adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale The Little Match Girl. On a freezing winter night, a destitute girl strikes matches to fend off the cold. With each flicker, she has fleeting visions of warmth, comfort, and hope. But when the last match burns out, the delicate boundary between imagination and the harsh reality begins to dissolve into the snow.

6. Sensual 04:12 Germany 2026
   

   Directed:	Tanja Nuijten
   Production:	Avina Graefe

   
   

   Softly, slugs trace their way across wet lips. Snakes glide gently through fingers, while a bear embraces a woman's body with a loving hug. “Sensual” offers an unusual, subjective, and deeply intimate perspective on the feeling of physical closeness and tenderness. Using animal metaphors, the film takes us on a journey through the intimate emotions of the foreplay, unfolding into the gentle and loving touches of our partner.

7. A Contre Couture 06:53 2025
   

   Directed:	Chloé Lau, Léa Pialat, Ariane Fillon, Lilu Lesueur, Delphine Sengsavang, Rebecca Roussillon, Maëra Ricordeau
   Screenplay:	Chloé Lau, Rebecca Roussillon, Lilu Lesueur
   Production:	Franck Petitta
   Dialogue Language:	French

   
   

   A young Parisian fashion designer from the 20’s gives her all to convince the director of a Maison de haute couture to accept her revolutionary project.

8. Wild Steel / Mécanique Sauvage 08:08 2025
   

   Directed:	Nemo Leeuwenburg, Geoffroy Eleonore, Tristan Lavallée Luminet, Corentin Perrot, Anthony Nguyen
   Screenplay:	Corentin Perrot, Nemo Leeuwenburg, Tristan Laval lé e Luminet
   Production:	Franck Pettita
   Dialogue Language:	No Dialogue

   
   

   In a world where Nature blends seamlessly with machine parts a small group of hunter gatherers is traumatized by an event that wiped out their tribe, pushing them to inhibit their machine side. But the youngest, Pump, will understand the necessity to live harmoniously with it.

9. Natura Duramen 07:20 2025
   

   Directed:	Enzo Dos Santos, Célia Machado Domingues, Amélie Bard, Amélie Lair, Melissa Rogojan, Maximilien Nicolas
   Screenplay:	Melissa Rogojan, Enzo Dos Santos
   Production:	Franck Pettita
   Dialogue Language:	French

   
   

   At the heart of a primeval forest stands its guardian, Varé. But when an unknown force arises, threatening the nature around him, he will have to question everything he knew in order to protect it.

10. Atrium, Or The Girl Who Painted Hats and Met the Sky 06:06 2026
    

    Directed:

    Zoe Napurano

    
    

    A young hat painter dreams of a strange lady.

11. Alkos 18:50 Netherlands 2026
    

    Directed:	Smiltė Butkevičiūtė
    Screenplay:	Smiltė Butkevičiūtė
    Production:	Smiltė Butkevičiūtė

    
    

    Marked by the violence of Christianization, little remains of the ancestral Lithuanian world. The protagonist awakes in an Alka - a sacred pagan ritual site where the old histories and cultural practices took place - which now sits abandoned and empty. Following the wounded shape-shifting deity Aitvaras, she sets out on a journey through the ancient world in search of a connection with the past.

12. A Few Grapefruits a Day 05:49 2026
    

    Directed:	Sarah Braid
    Dialogue Language:	English

    
    

    A Few Grapefruits a Day tells the story of a woman living in the aftermath of a violent relationship. Although the immediate danger has passed, her body continues to react to uncontrollable triggers in everyday life. The film deliberately avoids explicit depictions of violence and instead focuses on what comes after: the quiet and often invisible processes of coping and healing. At its core, the film explores the careful reconnection with one’s own body and the possibility of developing a new and compassionate relationship with oneself.

13. The Clockmaker 03:19 United States 2026
    

    Dialogue Language:

    English

    
    

    A neglectful clockmaker, obsessed with keeping his world’s great gear turning, realizes too late that the love he ignored was the only thing truly worth saving.

14. Silkworm / “蚕” 05:04 2026
    

    Directed:	可嘉 衛
    Screenplay:	克佳 魏
    Production:	克佳 魏
    Dialogue Language:	English, Japanese

    
    

    What suffocated me from an early age did not come directly from men, but rather from older women who have long existed within patriarchal structures.They love younger women, yet within that love, they exercise a certain form of “exclusive authority.” The first manifestation of this power upon me was the shaving of my hair.As love and repression intertwine, this form of pressure is passed down across generations of women. Through these conflicting emotions, Silkworm emerges as an attempt to offer a quiet warning against such inherited structures.

15. Les Toreadors 02:40 United States 2025
    

    Directed:

    Alana Varela

    
    

    A stressed composer struggles to control the rambunctious melody.

16. Hotel les pieds dans l'eau 05:50 France 2025
    

    Directed:	Maya Vriens
    Screenplay:	Maya Vriens
    Production:	Cécile Proust
    Dialogue Language:	French

    
    

    At Hotel les pieds dans l'eau, Rosa, an exhausted cleaning lady, dreams of escaping for a moment.