Annecy 2026: 9 Shorts to Look Out For
With US studios unveiling packed slates, international guests announcements making constant headlines and Minions taking both the Bonlieu and Hollywood by storm, it’s easy to forget that the beating heart of Annecy International Animation Film Festival remains its carefully tailored Shorts selections.
Yet with 94 professional shorts spanning across six categories, 43 students shorts and 35 commissioned films, Annecy’s 2026 batch is a strong one, confirming the medium’s endless possibilities and the diversity of global animation.
In this piece, we take a closer look at nine shorts from the official competition, both professional and graduation films. Shorts that caught our eye and peaked our curiosity beyond must-see titles by Don Hertzfeld, Hisko Hulsing and Anca Damian’s latest contributions, without passing any judgment (that will be up to Annecy multiple juries). In a word, shorts that are remarkable in the way they explore the animated medium, both narratively and visually.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“When the Sea was Calm,” Mamuka Tkeshelashvili (Georgia)
After working as a film technician for many years, Mamuka Tkeshekashvili became an animator in 2015 (“Sunset”). Eleven years ago, he brings “When the Sea was Calm” to Annecy, premiering as part of the Official competition. The Georgian director brings us back to 1992, at the eve of the Abkhazia war, when a young boy experiences first love before witnessing the destruction of his idyllic life.
With its and ever-moving camera, complex settings and strikingly vibrant stop-motion, the film takes its viewers right down in the streets with its characters, at the heart of the growing conflict. And in doing so, “When the Sea was Calm” goes beyond its local context to provide a powerful message about forced migration.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“Daughters of the Late Colonel,” Elizabeth Hobbs (United Kingdom, Germany)
How does one cope with losing an ill-tempered, controlling father figure? In her latest visually striking paper hand-drawn short, BAFTA nominated director Elizabeth Hobbs (“The Debutante,” “I’m OK”) tries to answer this question from the point of view of two middle-aged sisters finding themselves at a loss. An unexpected visitor sparks the courage in them to begin their lives anew, in this merry, colorful, rude yet lyrical modernist short story of the same name, written by Katherine Mansfield in 1920. It’s the fifth time that Hobbs has a short in competition at the French event, a testimony to the importance of Hobbs’ works in the indie animation community.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“The Little White Queen,” Théo Hanosset, Mathieu Georis (Belgium, France)
Plunged into the warm darkness of a summer night, the streetlights of uneventful Belgian small town Ottignies illuminate cars floating in the air. The next morning, a crop circle in the shape of an hourglass appears on the city’s main square, now a parking lot. Two teams of pelota ball, a local sport driven out by cars more than 30 years ago, confront each other, causing the traffic to stop, and the lives of Ottignies’ inhabitants to take an unusual turn.
With its blend of 2D computer, chalk and paint-on-glass animation, “The Little White Queen” stands out as a pamphlet against our speedy way of life, instead pushing its audience to stop, take a breath, and enjoy the little things.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“Fingerbang,” Yeonwoo Kim (South Korea)
Blending everyday life with a fantastic yet eerie twist, “Fingerbang” takes us along the strange journey of a woman following a mysterious finger into a surreal realm, where a tender yet unsettling touch slowly begins to twist her reality. As the black-and-white 2D computer animated short untangles, the Hongik University graduate questions the nature of relationships, dependency and loss. A frightening downward spiral that keeps its audience on its toes, and will make you question your own relationship with your fingers.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“Please,” Anna Mantzaris (Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic)
Within Miyu Distribution impressive Annecy slate (out of the 94 professional shorts, 14 are handled by the French top distributor), “Please” stands out as an ambitious stop-motion co-produced between 5 European countries, following various characters craving affection in a bustling city, all searching for a relationship and finding themselves caught up in situations that are comical, absurd, funny and touching. Deeply universal, this take on love in a crumbling world is a powerful statement against individualism, and a fitting follow-up for Mantzaris’ graduation short “Enough”, which has been screened at over 200 festivals worldwide and has received more than 40 international awards.
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“My Bellyaching Skin,” Étienne Bonnet (France)
One of the funniest voice in French animation, Étienne Bonnet (“Craque Ganache,” “L’Horizon du bout du nez”) brings a short in competition for the first time, with the third part of his autobiographical comedy. After tackling his teeth adolescence problems and his short-sight issues, Bonnet gets down to his bowel challenges, When his body suddenly started breaking out in a rash, the artist-to-be naturally assumed at first that it was a skin problem. But, as he explains in this yet again crackingly funny 2D animated short, the itching actually had something to do with my stomach.
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“Mis-Angel,” Wyatt Carson (United Kingdom)
A love story between two people who will never meet, “Mis-Angel” is Wyatt Carson’s graduation film from the Royal College of Art, blending multiple techniques (Clay, cut-outs, paint on glass and puppets) and spanning across genres. In this experimental narrative short, a transgender girl explores an overlap of gender and sexual fantasy as she recalls a brief interaction with a stranger at a bus stop. Evanescent shapes and bodies blend to blur the lines between reality and imagination, in this skilfully crafted film with a tender message of self-acceptance.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“Night Song,” Karla Castañeda (Mexico)
Directed by animation veteran Karla Castañeda, “Night Song” fits perfectly into the flourishing landscape of Mexican stop-motion. In an imaginary landscape of predators and victims, a boy and his mother exist and are sustained only by each other’s love, until tragedy strikes. The film shows the tenuous balance between pain and art, and how loss nurtures our inner songs to lead us to acceptance and forgiveness. With delicate and highly complex puppers blending perfectly with vast settings and 3D animated backgrounds, the short is a statement of what stop-motion can convey as a medium, in terms of emotions.
Image courtesy of Annecy Festival
“Acid City,” Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim (USA)
Presented in the Perspectives section, Acid City unveils itself as a 3D animated 12-minute documentary about a fictional city in the middle of a great acidic ocean. The film follows a film crew over the course of one day, as they interview and document what life is like in the isolated city. Composed of real interviews conducted across New York City embodied by a large palette of colorful characters, as well as fictional ones, the film is a thought-provoking exploration of the city’s resilient and self-sufficient nature, as well as its relationship to water and extreme heat through both a practical and spiritual lens.
Annecy 2026 runs until Saturday 27 June.