Cold Bathroom (Belgium, 2025)
Director: Eleni Aerts
Genre: Surrealism, Artistic, Tragicomedy
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Ink on Paper, Pencil on Paper
Synopsis:
A woman has a frog inside of her that keeps demanding more space.
Animation
Competition
Student Bizarre Animation Competition
I (Japan, 2025)
Director: Chih-Chen Hsu
Genre: Experimental, Abstract, Surrealism, Artistic, Horror
Technique: Paint on Paper
Synopsis:
Candles are flickering. In the dark, endless dreamscape, where do I find myself?
Lichenlike / Lišaja (Slovenia, 2026)
Director: Brina Fekonja
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Artistic, Black Humor, Drama, Philosophical
Technique: Stop-motion, Animated Objects, Pixilation
Synopsis:
A story of lichens, inertia, and fusion.
Procrastination Yoga! (Germany, Poland, 2026)
Director: Paulina Ziolkowska
Genre: Experimental, Black Humor, Tragicomedy, Horror, Educational
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Stop-motion, Paint on Paper, Puppets, Cut-outs
Synopsis:
A few exercises to procrastinate better, faster, and more efficiently.
I’d Rather Be a Concorde (Colombia, Finland, 2025)
Director: Javier Fabregas
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Technique: 2D Computer, 3D, Rotoscope
Synopsis:
The story of an immigrant and his companion guide Wizard saying ·“Hello” to new unknown lands. In this experimental film that recreates old fantasy video games through irony, the characters face strange situations and places that allude to the absurd nature of the immigrant’s journey: its ideas of achievement, monotony, and expectation.
Plankton α / プランクトン α (Japan, 2026)
Director: Yini GUO
Genre: Experimental
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Paint on Paper
Synopsis:
Within microscopic life, I see loneliness overlapping with a longing for something. There, a gentle waver seems to carry a hope to belong somewhere, or perhaps a wish to remain pure.
So, what is..? (China, Japan, 2026)
Director: Lian Sun
Genre: Experimental, Abstract, Surrealism, Artistic, Love story, Philosophical
Technique: 2D Computer, Stop-motion, Live Action
Synopsis:
Love? Uh… I don’t know. Maybe myself and others. Maybe dust and moonlight. Or maybe… animation.
Foreign Bodies (United Kingdom, 2025)
Director: Lysander Wong
Genre: Horror
Technique: Stop-motion, Cut-outs
Synopsis:
A simple itch descends into an outbreak with many legs. Certain things will always find their way to the surface.
Poppy Flowers (Estonia, 2024)
Director: Evridiki Papaiakovou
Genre: Experimental, Philosophical
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Engraving on Film
Synopsis:
Remembering is a fluid affair. A daughter tries to reconcile with her mother through memories of their shared rituals, exposing the intricate aspects of their relationship. As the daughter matures, she begins to contemplate conventional notions of divinity. The blank frames of the 35mm strip regain their function as memorabilia in the process of engraving her past onto its surface.
Fetter (Japan, 2026)
Director: Renming Liu
Genre: Experimental, Artistic
Technique: 2D/Traditional, 2D Computer, Paint on Paper, Pencil on Paper, Photocopies
Synopsis:
Memory, body, and imagination intertwine along a single red thread.The dragonfly recurs as both a residue of childhood and a form projected by consciousness.
As the gaze turns inward, control gradually unravels; the body fragments and reassembles,and within an endless cycle of repair and rearrangement, anxiety quietly takes shape.
Until we meet again (China, 2026)
Director: Zirui Wang
Genre: Experimental, Artistic
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Pencil on Paper
Synopsis:
I spent my childhood with my grandfather, when time felt slow. As I grew older and saw him less, I noticed how quickly he aged while I grew up. This animation reflects on those memories, highlighting the importance of cherishing the present and valuing what’s close to us.
a body without a horse? / um corpo sem cavalo? (Portugal, 2026)
Director: Lara Fuke
Genre: Experimental
Technique: Cut-outs, Charcoal on paper
Synopsis:
In an attempt to identify itself, a body without a horse moves through its absences and voids.
Cement, sand, gravel, water (and music) / Цемент, песок, щебень, вода (и музыка) (Georgia, 2026)
Director: Svetlana Chuvileva
Genre: Surrealism
Technique: Stop-motion, Pencil on Paper
Synopsis:
Ladies and gentlemen… the show is already underway. The drum keeps turning. A worker hits a pipe along the mixer, and the sound is unexpectedly melodic. Little by little, the light fades. She has not disappointed us.
(DIS)CONNECTED (Chile, 2025)
Director: Yoni
Genre: Drama
Technique: 2D Computer
Synopsis:
An astronaut is flying in open space when he notices a cord connecting him to something. He decides to follow it. The cord leads him to a public gathering with loads of people, which gives him desires for space and isolation again. The astronaut later finds out the thread is connecting him to a sea diver, who just like him, wears a suit and a helmet, hiding himself, and prefers isolation. During this emotional journey he finds himself connected to a person similar to him while feeling othered by the other people.
Cancer of the Mind / 心癌 (Japan, 2026)
Director: Huaxu Yang
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Artistic, Fantasy
Technique: 2D Computer
Synopsis:
This work mainly depicts the inner world and real-life actions of the filmmaker when they were once troubled by obsessive thoughts.
What I Dismembered (China, 2026)
Director: Yuxiang Mao
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Thriller, Crime
Technique: 2D Computer, 3D, Rotoscope
Synopsis:
On the eve of his crime, a man lies restless. Objects murmur with indistinct static. The distant whirl of draining water drags him toward a shallow void. A television watches, its eyes unceasing. Soon, a policeman follows the same faint noise to the bathroom door…
Hnefi (United Kingdom, 2026)
Director: Tom Griffin
Genre: Experimental, Artistic, Drama, Mystery
Technique: Risograph
Synopsis:
The cycle of life: A king, a tree and a chess piece.
Composition for Processing Distance (Belgium, 2025)
Director: Nathan Pierard
Genre: Artistic, Love story, Science
Technique: 2D/Traditional, 2D Computer, Pencil on Paper
Synopsis:
A narrated poem, a love letter from the machine to the human, a story about distances.
Mirna (Croatia, 2025)
Director: Doroteja Tomaš
Genre: Abstract, Surrealism, Artistic, Biography, Philosophical
Technique: 2D Computer, Ink on Paper, Paint on Paper
Synopsis:
Mirna /mȋrna/ adj(f.)
1. calm; peaceful; tranquil
2. a female personal name meaning “calm,” “peaceful,” or “serene”
Origin: Croatian (South Slavic), from mir “peace”
From chaos, fragility and fear to hope, revelation and serenity. Mirna is a film, which through intimate impressions and relationships, explores the mental process of finding inner peace and warmth.
You Are Not Part of The Cake (Taiwan, United Kingdom, 2025)
Director: Ting-Jui Chen
Genre: Surrealism, Black Humor, Horror, Thriller, Action
Technique: 2D/Traditional, 2D Computer, Paint on Paper
Synopsis:
A girl, Ping, faces conflict with her girlfriend Lala’s homophobic and aggressive father, The Man.
As tensions escalate, Ping is forced to take drastic action to save herself and kills The Man.
This act becomes a ritual of transformation—a severing of ties, a rebirth, and a step into a new phase of life.
Big River / Большая река (Russian Federation, 2025)
Director: Marfa Okhotina
Genre: Drama, Philosophical
Technique: 2D Computer
Synopsis:
A day in the life of the boy who met a calf.
Paidia (Estonia, Germany, 2025/2026)
Director: Anne Lucas
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism
Technique: 2D Computer, 3D, Clay
Synopsis:
A surreal place inhabited by some in quest of free play. What excites the mind?
Before Turning into a Cat / 关于变成猫之前的事情 (China, 2026)
Director: Boying Cai
Genre: Experimental, Comedy, Drama
Technique: 2D Computer
Synopsis:
Before Turning into a Cat is a hand-drawn 2D animation about a mother and daughter. Through a woman caring for a cat and an adult daughter caring for her aging mother, the film explores dependence, separation, and moving forward while carrying a part of one’s mother.
Taming Phenomena (Estonia, 2025)
Director: Shunyuan Yao
Genre: Experimental, Philosophical
Technique: 2D/Traditional, 2D Computer
Synopsis:
A short film that depicts a metamorphosis from “chicken” to “elephant”: animation enables metamorphosis precisely because it realizes a transformation from image to concept. This frame-based, time-driven movement not only constructs form, but also grants images a capacity for expansion that static objects lack. Just as chickens and elephants are not only natural creatures but also carry distinct cultural meanings in human society, Taming Phenomena presents an animated dialogue from chicken to elephant, through an exploration of cinematic and animation techniques and production methods. The film employs an experimental collaborative approach to initiate a visual discussion between images, concepts, and intersubjectivity.
Portrait of My Rose (China, United Kingdom, 2025)
Director: ZiXin Yin
Genre: Experimental, Artistic, Black Humor, Fairy tale, Fantasy
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Paint on Paper, Paint on Glass
Synopsis:
This is a hand drawn animation created on a whiteboard. The protagonist is a rose with a unique red color, and a painter steals red as paint to complete the painting while painting the rose. After winning fame with the rose, the painter abandons it. Rose realized that she should define herself, so she created a self portrait and exhibited it together with the painter’s painting in the gallery.
Running Snake (China, 2025)
Director: Boying Cai
Genre: Experimental, Abstract
Technique: 2D Computer
Synopsis:
Running Snake is a hand-drawn, frame-by-frame 2D animation tracing desire, shame, and loneliness from a young woman’s perspective. In a world where female self-expression is silenced, it transforms secrecy into a delicate visual meditation on liberation, intimacy, and the courage to be seen.
Return Ticket (Switzerland, 2025)
Director: Irina Georgiadou
Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Artistic, Drama, Documentary
Technique: 2D/Traditional, Ink on Paper, Paint on Paper, Pencil on Paper, Animated Objects
Synopsis:
On a train journey forward, the sudden realization hits. It’s the wrong train.