2026 FESTIVAL / FILMS

THE 2026 FILMS

Every title in the 2026 official selection with a page of its own, 76 in all. Each one carries the synopsis and the director biography in the filmmaker's own words, with the full credits. Winners are marked with a star.

THE 2026 WINNERS NOMINEES AND FINALISTS THE PROGRAMME

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

★ An Alternate Pond C Thomas Lewis 1000 O Barbara Peikert Prayer of the Sea Martin Gerigk Substance of Venom Cherie Sampson

BEST ANIMATION

★ Finnick Denis Chernov Ema Leland Yu Numata

BEST AI GENERATED FILM

★ Gentle Alex Naghavi Chairman Studio 011 Growing Inwards Shuhan Liao, Xiangrong Wen, Anping Zuo INSIDE THE MAZE Arthur Mikheev The last Track Oscar Sanchez The Threshold Jacek Kadaj

BEST ONE MINUTE FILM

★ Grown Up Louis Leivers Shut your trap! Luis Ramos The last Track Oscar Sanchez Xmas Box Adriana Mourelle

BEST SHORT ANIMATION

★ Hell Parker Croft Puny Humans Samuel Joseph Williams, Timothy James Williams The Intention Invention R.J. Sullivan Underneath Matthew James Bissett-Johnson Wake Up Call Kai Movagh, David Woulard

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

★ HOW DO YOU KNOW? Marty Dodson, Debra Gussin Orage (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Jordan Paul Rousseau RED BALLOON Renzo Djordan STARZ Bryan Huynh

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

★ I Am Gitxsan Hossein Martin Fazeli 8 seconds Jean-Marie Vinclair GOING LONG Vasilii Mozzhukhin Penalty Ivan Francisco Barrera Rave Culture, a new era Eduardo Cubillo Blasco

BEST FEATURE FILM

★ Invincible Emma Croft Mags and Julie Go On A Road Trip Ryann Liebl Spades Johnny Yong Bosch The Night and Gail Benjamin Justin Ehnert

BEST STUDENT SHORT FILM

★ Just A Wish Away Stephen Peers Brown Sheep Konna Thomson The Missing Part Marv Hathim The Village It Took Victoria Wilcox To The End Ruiying Sun

BEST SHORT SCRIPT

★ Lab Partners Tommy Britt East London Western George Cameron Gifkins Say It With Music Christopher James Culberson The Cart of Absence and the Apple Tree Ozjan M Yeshar The Visionaries Simon Jones, Kaylee Nicholas

BEST SHORT FILM

★ Largo Rachid Sabitri, Charles Meunier GALAR Niall Duffy Petrol Head Patrick Swain, Jasper Frost Salem Not Salem Omar Farooq The Liars of Black Mountain Road Parker Croft

BEST MUSIC / PERFORMANCE VIDEO

★ Marionette (Ava Della Pietra, official music video) Nathan Levine-Heaney Single for Life (Ava Della Pietra, official music video) Luke Orlando Sky-Sky Ilya Noyabrev Strolling Down Brighton Pier Zach Stevens

BEST TV PILOT / WEB SERIES

★ Murder For Dummies (Episode 01: Victim) J.W. Roberts Burger Dude: Pilot (The Burginning) Jackson Chaddock

BEST FIRST TIME FILMMAKER

★ Push The Machine Max Ward DOMESTIC Jake Spence Barnes Gourmanium Benjamin Sitton

STAFFORDSHIRE FILMMAKER

★ Safety Net Alfie Beard Party Games Alfie Beard Philip Hardaker: Sculptured to Speak Henry John Sedgley Statue in the Garden Qianhui Yu The Last Call Bailey Mowatt

BEST STUDENT ANIMATION

★ The Big Bad Wolf Leo William Wright Doomsday 2000 Harrisen Lysaght Internal Embers Alec Tufenkjian Salt & Pepper Gunjan Dere Tesseract Gracie Safranovich

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

★ The Land We Fight For Dimitri Nasennik Alone Across Gola Jude Kriwald Grappling Grace Alexander Kiehl, Misha Novak The Last Impression Milan Büttner

BEST FEATURE SCRIPT

★ VIGILANTE (2026) Luke Hanlon Collector of Sounds Rupert Miles The Archangel Of Colorado Matty Mahoney The Farm Craig Urquhart The Headmaster Felix McEnroy