Student Storyline
Film
Competition

Student Storyline Film Competition

Hotel les pieds dans l'eau

Beachfront Hotel / Hotel les pieds dans l’eau (France, 2025)

Director: Maya Vriens

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music film

Technique: 2D/Traditional

Synopsis:

At Hotel les pieds dans l’eau, Rosa, an exhausted cleaning lady, dreams of escaping for a moment.

False Door

False Door (Poland, 2026)

Director: Oktawia Derybowska

Genre: Surrealism, Mystery

Technique: Sand

Synopsis:

The wanderer traverses a vast icy desert. He strives for a place that seems to be merely an illusion, like a ghost seeking a return to the world of the living. The lynx follows him, awaiting a moment when the vagabond loses all his strength.

In the mist

In the Mist / 沉没 (China, 2025)

Director: Renming Liu

Genre: Experimental, Artistic, Mystery

Technique: 2D Computer

Synopsis:

On a foggy morning, a simple conversation between two anglers turns into a collective panic. The film explores the psychology of the mob in ambiguous situations. Through individual perspective of the group, finally show the group of irrational judgment theme.

isoliert

isolated / isoliert (Germany, 2025)

Director: Katja Friedrich

Genre: Documentary, Educational

Technique: 2D Computer, Backgrounds with analogue frottage technique

Synopsis:

The short film deals with the inner-German border between East and West Germany and shows both the strict and brutal security measures during the division of Germany into East and West Germany and the unique flora and fauna that has developed along today’s ‘German Green Belt’.

Liebe Caro

Liebe Caro (France, 2025)

Director: Maximilien Mpoto

Genre: Experimental, Artistic, Drama, Documentary

Technique: Stop-motion, Salt, animation stand

Synopsis:

When you got sick everything changed, and in the space of a few days the world collapsed. As promised, here is the story of these few weeks of anguish and despair, during which the word “love” took on its full meaning.

Dance of the Spirits

Dance of the Spirits (United Kingdom, 2026)

Director: Andreea Lorena Florea

Genre: Artistic, Drama

Technique: Paint on Paper, Paint on Glass, soft pastels and charcoal on paper

Synopsis:

Matei, a young shepherd boy living in the outskirts of Romania, finds more comfort among his sheep than with his abusive, alcoholic dad. But now Matei is starting to mimic his father’s violence, he’s faced with a question: ‘Who am I?’

The Hermit Crab

The Hermit Crab / 寄居蟹 (Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States 2026)

Director: Beaux Salix

Genre: Experimental, Surrealism, Artistic, Drama, Documentary, Biography, Philosophical

Technique: 2D/Traditional, 2D Computer

Synopsis:

A young woman retraces her childhood through memory fragments, exploring what it means to seek safety in the aftermath of abandonment. Like a hermit crab, a creature that outgrows its home, she learns when it’s time to let go.

Sonder

Sonder (Mexico, 2025)

Director: Luis Iván Guerrero, Mario Rodríguez Herrera

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Adventure, Science

Technique: 3D

Synopsis:

Searching through many worlds, a traveler tries to find something of great importance: to fulfill his purpose.

Maneo

Maneo (Poland, 2025)

Director: Maja Rachtan

Genre: Artistic, Philosophical

Technique: 2D Computer, Sand

Synopsis:

A human is invited post-mortem to compete against a mysterious humanoid creature in a game of chess. As they play, a lifetime of memories flood back.

The Hunt

The Hunt / Охота (Russian Federation, 2025)

Director: Anna Pavlova

Genre: Experimental, Abstract, Tragedy, Fairy tale, Horror, Thriller, Crime

Technique: 2D Computer

Synopsis:

In the forest, a hunter gets caught in a snowstorm. He hears a terrifying female startled scream, and rushes to help. He finds a girl surrounded by 3 bears. The girl shows the hunter that she was picking berries and rushes into his arms, only for him to save her. She kisses him, passing the juice of the berries through the kiss. The hunter is about to pierce the bears with an arrow, protecting the girl, but at the last moment before shooting, the girl pushes him away. The hunter sees that in front of him is not a girl, but a witch, and the juice of the berries has been poisoned. The fight continues. The hunter cannot cope with poison, bears and moving into the spirit world, but dies. The bears take him to the forest, and the girl starts picking berries again, preparing for a new hunt.

the dog

The dog (Iran, 2025)

Director: Sogand Vatankhah

Genre: Tragedy, Drama

Technique: Stop-motion

Synopsis:

A man get lost in the desert with his dog. suddenly, an accident occurs, and the man and the dog must find a way to save themselves.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood (Ukraine, 2025)

Director: Sofiia Komarova

Genre: Fairy tale, Adventure

Technique: 2D Computer

Synopsis:

A visually driven interpretation of little red riding hood, expressed through ongoing metamorphosis of imagery in a circular, abstract environment.

Kenopsia

Kenopsia (France, 2025)

Director: Camille Redon, Sélène Le, Alice Hegymegi-Kiss, Gregoire Pezzulo, Fanny Belougne, Quentin Szczygiel, Adel Tebib

Genre: Fantasy

Technique: 3D

Synopsis:

Nikan, a young Native American hunter, died in battle but wakes up in the midst of a destroyed village. He journeys toward the summit of the sacred mountain, hoping to reach the afterlife. But a giant raven pursues him, forcing him to relive what haunts him and what he cannot accept: his guilt.

Sorrow Doesn't Sleep At Night

Sorrow Doesn’t Sleep At Night / La pena no duerme de noche (Chile, 2025)

Director: Josefina Montino, Martín André

Genre: Surrealism, Tragedy, Drama, Fantasy

Technique: Stop-motion

Synopsis:

A man secludes himself in the forest with his cat. The ghosts of his past begin to torment him, being forced to face his fears and guilts in a try to not be consumed by madness.

Fellow

Fellow (France, 2025)

Director: Martha Rivière, Laura Darras, Théo Bergougnoux, Gaspard Keller de Schleitheim, Johanne Coppier, Romane Casha

Genre: Drama

Technique: 3D

Synopsis:

After a bloody battle in the First World War, a German Red Cross dog scours the devastated landscape for survivors. When he finds a wounded and terrified young soldier, he decides to take him back to the safety of the camp. Their fragile complicity becomes a glimmer of humanity in the midst of the absurdity of war.

Makosh

Makosh (Russian Federation, 2025)

Director: Maria Reznichenko

Genre: Fairy tale

Technique: 2D Computer

Synopsis:

The goddess of fate, Makosh, teaches her daughters, Dolуа and Nedolуа, to maintain the balance of black and white in the world. However, Nedolуа don’t enjoy her new role of bringing misfortune to people.

I Met Papo And Pepe

I Met Papo And Pepe (Switzerland, Ukraine, 2026)

Director: Viktoria Filmako

Genre: Surrealism, Drama, Fairy tale, Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure, Documentary, Biography

Technique: Stop-motion, Puppets

Synopsis:

A lost girl, without name, displaced and searching for home, meets Papo — an old immigrant living with his dog, Pepe. Through his memories of a distant island, she embarks on a magical journey between dream and reality, exploring her identity as a migratory bird. After touching the past, they both find liberation and rediscover the meaning of belonging.

Till we meet again

Till we meet again / ٧ دقائق (Egypt, 2026)

Director: Mahmoud Raafat

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Technique: 2D/Traditional

Synopsis:

A robbery ends in an unexpected way all because of the curiosity of the thief.

Coincidence

Coincidence / Przypadek (Poland, 2025)

Director: Mateusz Aleksander Jama

Genre: Abstract, Comedy, Tragicomedy

Technique: 2D/Traditional, Pencil on Paper

Synopsis:

Instinctively drawn to the light, a fly becomes entangled in a series of seemingly random events that lead it to an inevitable end. The film poses a question to the viewer: does even the smallest existence follow a path of destiny, or is everything merely a game of blind chance?

Drip

Drip (Türkiye, 2025)

Director: Zeynep Sude Yavuz

Genre: Artistic

Technique: Stop-motion, Puppets, Clay

Synopsis:

In an old winter garden, an elderly woman crafting her family tree confronts the timeless force of water. Each drop from the leaking tap erases not only the past but the yet-to-come — until she carries the last drop, a symbol of life’s renewal.