Students are the future of animation. They are also the most innovative, daring filmmakers, not afraid to experiment with techniques and topics. The strand explores the creative diversity of European animation students.
Length: 72′
My Grandmother is a Skydiver / My Grandmother is a Skydiver
Polina Piddubna (Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf)Germany, 2025, 13'00''
Alfyia, a young woman in 1960s Central Asia, is actively parachuting and studying to become a midwife, when she receives an extraordinary phone call from her granddaughter in 2022. Amid the invasion of Ukraine, the granddaughter tries to restore memory and identity, and break generational trauma.
Osnova in votek / Warp and Weft
Isolda Milenkovic (UAL Central Saint Martins)United Kingdom, 2025, 3'46''
Warp and Weft is an animated documentary short about traditional textile crafts. A love letter to the act of hand-making, traditional craft practices, and the people who love them. Stemming from the fear of these artforms slipping away in a society that no longer values the human labour behind them.
The Shyness of Trees / The Shyness of Trees
Jiaxin Huang, Lina Han, Simin He, Bingqing Shu, Sofiia Chuikovska, Maud Le Bras, Loïck Du Plessis D’argentré (Gobelins Paris)France, 2025, 8'56''
Hélène, 40, comes to visit her aging mother in the French countryside. But her mother isn't being her usual self. She seems to have formed a strange bond with the plants, insects, and the old oak tree at the end of her garden...
The Room Swallowed by Darkness / The Room Swallowed by Darkness
Jelena Milohanić (Academy of Fine Art and Design Ljubljana)Slovenia, 2025, 1'35''
In darkness, space becomes distorted. Objects merge, disappear, and transform from one shape to another, losing their clear boundaries.
Underground Invaders / Underground Invaders
Shera Courtalhac, Ines Molinier, Victor Lesaffre, Maëlle Metaireau, Dana Guyot, Ines Dolivet, Meggie Bernier (Ecole Georges Melies)France, 2025, 8'00''
Three young adults, obsessed with the horrors of the modern world, find themselves trapped in the depths of a sprawling underground subway that progressively transforms into a giant, nightmarish organic mass eager to assimilate them.
Well Come to the Beach / Well Come to the Beach
Pia Mingyue Sun (Kunsthochschule Kassel)Germany, 2025, 6'20''
The story takes place on a beautiful beach where people are enjoying their free time. On the other side of the beach, a small sea turtle is being born from an egg. On its way to the ocean shore there are many obstacles. Can it survive the journey and reach the ocean?
Snemamo / Rec
Fedor Marić (University of Banja Luka, Academy of Arts)Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, 6'18''
A funky android trio and a mischievous songbird butt heads when they happen to schedule their respective rehearsals at the same time. Will the language of music be strong enough to bridge the gap in communication, or is conflict inevitable?
Česnova juha / Garlic Soup
Kristian Zahariev (National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts "Krastyo Sarafov")Bulgaria, 2025, 8'30''
A vampire, thirsty for blood, flies around a small Balkan village in search of his next victim. He sneaks into a dark bedroom after spotting the silhouette of a young beauty. It turns out that the silhouette belongs to an old granny. The almost blind granny mistakes the vampire for her goth teenage grandson.
Pridi, pridi, bacek moj / Come, Come, My Little Lamb
Kinga Garncarz (The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz)Poland, 2025, 5'00''
Zosia doesn’t dance with the boys. In a world stitched from village rules, she searches for herself – though there’s no space or time for that. An animated reimagining of Forefathers’ Eve from a female perspective.
As / Ace
Fanny Capu (National Film and Television School)United Kingdom, 2025, 4'04''
In a world where tennis is as much an obsession as sex, Amy just doesn't see the appeal. When her date masks his nerves with the confidence of a pro, she wonders if they have anything in common at all.
I Want to Know What Love Is / I Want To Know What Love Is
Hanna Järgenstedt (Konstfack University of Art Craft and Design)Sweden, 2025, 6'06''
Hanna missed her train. Her destination was the event of a DJ in Berlin with whom she’s flirting. Now she has to go on a car ride that raises a lot of questions, including whether all middle-aged men are a bit perverted.