French short films tour the world: October 2026

09 NOVEMBER 2026

October is traditionally a month packed with festivals. Here are the selections of French short films at the 17 international festivals Unifrance supported in October.

🏆Awards for French short films 🏆

In October, French short films reaped many awards.

🇨🇭 In Switzerland, Animatou awarded five prizes and honorable mentions to French works

The Prix Doc’Anim was awarded to L'Horizon du bout du nez by Etienne Bonnet
The Prix des écoles (12+) went to Cows, a film made by ESMA students and in the running for the Oscars!
The Prix des écoles (16+) went to Autokar by Silwia Szkiladz
A Labo Competition Special Mention was given to Larzan Karné by Bastien Dupriez
An International Competition Special Mention was given to Like a Fairy Tale by Kirill Khachaturov

L'Horizon du bout du nez

🇷🇴 In Romania, Anim'Est celebrated French animation and VR with two awards

The Minimest Award for Best Children's Film went to The Great Dreamscape by Rémi Durin
And Less Than 5gr of Saffron, by Negar Motevalymeidanshah, received a Special Mention for a VR Film.

🇨🇦 The Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal (FNC) awarded one French short film

The Prix Dada International Les Nouveaux Alchimistes was awarded to Ãsheghetam by Filmsaaz

🇪🇸 And the Sitges-Festival internacional de cinema fantàstic de Catalunya, in Spain, awarded two

Best Animated Short Film in the Anima’t Section went to The Flesh Dress by Joachim Hérissé.
The Brigadoon Paul Naschy Award for the Best Short Film was given to The Last Snow by Rodolphe Bouquet-Populus

The Flesh Dress

🇹🇼 In Taiwan, the KFF (Kaohsiung Film Festival) awarded one prize

A Special Mention was given to Fried Chicken and Strip Checkers by Ophelia Harutyunyan

🇬🇷 In Greece, the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival (TiSFF) gave its top honor to a French short film

The Cinematic Achievement Award went to Two People Exchanging Saliva by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata.

🇸🇪 In Sweden, the Uppsala International Short Film Festival awarded three prizes

The International Competition Audience Award was given to Hold It Together by Fan Sissoko.
The National Competition Audience Award was given to Please by Anna Mantzaris.
And Pacífico, by Colombian director Daniel Duque, received an International Competition Special Mention.

Hold It Together

🇯🇵 The Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan awarded four prizes to French short films

The Best Animation Award was attributed to God is Shy by Jocelyn Charles.
The Best Non-Dialogue Award went to Adgwa-Ata by Zsuzsanna Kreif.
The Best Cinematography Award went to Arnaud Alberola, for his work in Loynes.
And the Best Original Score went to the artist P.R2B for the music of God is Shy.

🇰🇷 In South Korea, the Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF) handed three awards to French short films

The Grand Prize went to Eri, by Honami Yano, which also received the AniB’s Choice Prize.
The Jury Prize was awarded to Sisters’ Swim by Lola Degove.

🇳🇿 Show Me Shorts, a traveling festival in New Zealand, awarded one prize to a French short film

The Best International Film Award was given to Pale Sun, by Adrien Moyse Dullin and Jawahine Zentar.

Pale Sun

🇱🇹 In Lituania, the Riga International Film Festival awarded one French short film

2:Love by Ronni Shale. received a Special Mention.

🇪🇸 The Seminci, in Spain, awarded two French short films

The Silver Spike went to First fire by Blanca Camell Galí.
The Best European Short Film Award was given to Pithead by Pol De Plecker and Wannes Vanspawen.

🇩🇪 And DOK Leipzig offered one award to a French short film in the selection

The Golden Dove Short Film Award in the International Competition Animated Film went to Terminal, directed by Alexandre Siqueira.
Terminal

The following people received travel funding ✈️

Haein Cho traveled to the Busan International Film Festival, in South Korea, to present her film Un voisin inattendu. She describes her experience: “The overall organization of the festival was very well structured. The theaters were always full, and the quality of the screenings was excellent. The Q&As were quite lively. Since my film has a rather French style, the Korean audience asked me a lot of questions about the intent behind the images. I was able to meet a French distributor with whom I’m currently in talks regarding a contract.
I was impressed by the festival’s very professional atmosphere. Since I’m still a student, this event gave me a better understanding of the industry. It was a very useful and enriching experience for me.”

Alba Jaramillo presented her film Guided Tour at the BFI London Film Festival. She sums up her experience: “The BFI London Film Festival was a wonderful experience. Our film was screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), an iconic venue in London’s cultural scene. The festival was very well organized, and the programmers took the time to support us and facilitate a lively discussion with the audience after the screening.
This opportunity allowed me to introduce the film to a new audience, who were very receptive to its message.”

Léo Blandino, director of the film What the statues are looking at, traveled to Taiwan to present his film at the Kaohsiung Film Festival. He tells us about his experience: “The festival seemed very well organized to me; screenings started exactly on time. For the Q&As, the festival made sure to have an interpreter for each director. The selection of VR films was my biggest discovery at the festival.

The festival hosted two networking events for the attending teams: a dinner and the awards ceremony, followed by a banquet at a very chic hotel. I was impressed by the resources the festival invested.

I am deeply grateful to Unifrance for making this trip possible, especially because I had the opportunity to meet filmmakers from all over the world."