PALMARES 2026
The international jury made up of Joanna Quinn, Cristina Lima, Magda Guidi, Nancy Denney, Deanne Morse has decreed the following winners and special mentions for the Main Competition, Animated Music Video Competition and Graduation Short Film Competition categories:
MAIN COMPETITION
✦
Best International Short Film
DAUGHTERS OF THE LATE COLONEL
Elizabeth Hobbs (Germany/UK, 2026, 9′) – Italian Premiere
“The Best International Short Film award goes to a moving film about female emancipation, which radiates hope and joyful defiance. A beautifully constructed film with tantalisingly fleeting artwork, that requires the imagination to fill in the gaps. It’s the soundtrack that creates the reality, making the dancing lines become relatable and believable. In fact, the fluidity of the movement gives the impression that we are watching the film come to life before our eyes, as if we are part of the animation process itself. A wonderful antidote to the relentless perfection of the digital world.”
Special Mention
✦
WINTER IN MARCH
Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia, Belgium, Estonia, France, 2025, 16′)
“Using hand made puppets, fabric, and yarn this film captures a surreal, nightmarish experience that in this day and age of global conflict could happen to any of us.”
GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
✦
Best Graduation Short Film
DOUG + ME
Cecile Fountain-Jardim (United Kingdom, United States, 2026, 6′) – Italian Premiere
“An animated documentary that employs a rich, layered visual language, perfectly attuned to the story it sets out to tell. An intimate family narrative unfolds through the interplay of diverse techniques, deconstructing and reconstructing the storytelling in ways that capture its emotional complexity. A compelling example of mature, authentic filmmaking, seamlessly blending formal innovation with powerful narrative depth.”
Special Mention
✦
GENTLY
Jamaica Kindlova (Czechia, 2026, 9′)
“As the title suggests, this hand-drawn charcoal animation offers an intimate glimpse into the inner world of a young boy trapped in an abusive home. Told from a first-person perspective, we see through his eyes as he builds a paper house, peers through keyholes, and navigates the unpredictable rage of his alcoholic father. Presented as a single continuous shot, the film’s expressive visual style and constantly shifting point of view immerse us in the child’s emotional experience. Brief glimpses of a dreamlike world beyond offer moments of escape before he is drawn back into the stark black-and-white reality rendered in charcoal. Without sentimentality, or spoken dialogue, the film relies on its powerful imagery and intense soundtrack to convey both the weight of trauma and the quiet persistence of hope.”
ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
✦
Best Animated Music Video
DIRT (by Emory)
Julia Fernandez (United States, 2025, 4′)
“A bold music video that hits hard with style and emotion. Its striking technique adds texture, rhythm, and a unique identity to every frame. The jury was impressed by a stop motion music video made up of 300 hand made tiles that bring to life the sense of longing for a person, place and another time. The images breathe life into the words that singer/songwriter Emory conveys in the lyrics for her song Dirt.”
Special Mention
✦
PICTURES FOR PIANO (1)
Diek Grobler (South Africa, 2025, 3′)
“Creating beauty on a pinscreen takes time, patience, and a great deal of talent. The amazing accomplishment of this film is that it brings Chopin’s Étude Opus 10, No. 12 to life with such vivid pictures of the images being played on the piano.”
The jury of the Children Short Film Competition, made up of Serena Aquilino, Gianluca Mancini, Matteo Chiarappa, Francesco D’Orazio, Giorgio Laricchiuta, Francesco Lillo, Michele Solazzo, Antonio Francesco Sanna, Maria Caponio, Chiara Schiavone, Maria Francesca D’Aloia, Marco Giuseppe Di Mise, Angelo Fantasia, Leonardo Buonasora, Nathan Dalena, Alessandra Topputo, Tea Murro, Daniela Ardito, Francesco Gasparro and Giuseppe Daddabbo, has decreed the following winners:
CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
✦
Best Animated Short Film for Children
ALLER & RETOUR
Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco (Italy, 2025, 9′)
“For telling, with great tenderness, the strength of friendship and mutual support. A story that, through an intense soundtrack and warm, welcoming colours, reminds us of the importance of never leaving behind those we love, and of trusting others.”
Special Mention
✦
MONO
Almudena Monzú (Spain, 2026, 12′)
“For giving voice to a reality more common than we tend to think, showing a child’s happiness beyond conventional family models and reminding us that love can take the most diverse forms.”
Audience Award
✦
PROUT
Marc-Henri Wajnberg (Belgium, 2025, 8′)
