The 2025 selection of the Unifrance Short Film Awards brings together 23 titles (including 14 first works) by 26 directors (15 women and 11 men), divided into four programs featuring fiction, animation, and documentaries.
Whether due to their personal forms or the singular worlds they conjure, we have chosen these films for the sensitivity of their subjects and their artistic mastery. They are so many stories in images that question, in dramatic or joyful ways, our relationship with others, or invite us to take another look at the complexity of today's world.
Seven films are the result of co-productions with eight countries (South Africa, Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom), proving that the short film, with its limited resources, can also overcome prejudices and tackle subjects that can move people far beyond our borders.
Far from being a minor art form, the short film format, a place of expression where anything is almost always possible, is essential to the renewal of the cinema arts. With Unifrance's constant support, short films continue to conquer foreign festivals and markets.
The 2025 vintage of the Unifrance Short Film Awards promises to be inspiring, and we hope that this showcase will be the start or continuation of a long international career for the creators and producers of these films.
Program 1
- A South Facing Window by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
- Kosmogonia by Karolina Chabier*
- Carcassonne-Acapulco by Marjorie Caup and Olivier Héraud*
- The Uncle by Maëva Leïla Youbi*
- Le Grand Calao by Zoé Cauwet
- Lou by Tara Maurel*
Program 2
- Life With an Idiot by Theodore Ushev
- Blackbird by João Paulo Miranda Maria
- Wonderwall by Róisín Burns*
- Gioia by Nixon Singa*
- Brown Morning by Carlo Vogele
- A Girl Like You by Nathalie Dennes*
Program 3
- Shivtown by Hillel Ben-zeev Perlov*
- Across Fields by Margaux Dieudonné*
- God is Shy by Jocelyn Charles*
- The Empty Panel by Thibault Chollet
- A Moment of Escape by Sébastien Betbeder
Program 4
- Whispers by Pauline Broulis and Zoé Labasse*
- Vultures by Dian Weys
- Signal by Mathilde Parquet and Emma Carré*
- A Time to Cherish by Fiorella Basdereff*
- Death of the Fish by Éva Lusbaronian*
- The Embolisms by Romain Winkler
(*) First film
The jury is composed of:
Violette Gitton – Winner Unifrance Grand Prix 2024 (Changing Rooms)
Isabelle Gibbal-Hardy – Le Grand Action cinema
Matilda Tavelli – Animatou Festival (Switzerland)
Carla Vulpiani – Venice Film Festival (Italy)
Gilles Reunis – Be TV (Belgium)
The jury met on Monday, April 28 to watch the 23 selected films. The awards will be announced at Cannes on Tuesday, May 20. On this occasion, Unifrance and La Fête du court métrage will also announce the Distributor Award 2025.
Unifrance warmly thanks:
Camille Monnier for the originality of her inspiring illustration, which gives this 2nd edition its identity.
The organization also thanks its loyal partners TitraFilm, Le Grand Action, Shortfilmdepot, Sauve qui peut le court métrage, Courant3D, and Brefcinéma.
And all the filmmakers, producers, and distributors who submitted their films.
