Encounters Film Festival | 2026 Animated Award Winners
Skwigly
Bristol’s Encounters Film Festival has announced the prize winners for its 31st edition.
Encounters Film Festival welcomed thousands of visitors to Bristol for its 2026 edition, reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s leading showcases for film in all its forms. This year’s edition recorded its highest box office in the festival’s 31-year history. Box office revenue was up 22% on the previous record year, and paid ticket sales were up 67% year on year with unique ticket buyers up 58% and total attendance up a third on last year.
ANIMATED ENCOUNTERS GRAND PRIX
HAG dir. Anna Ginsburg
The Animated Encounters Jury (Grant Orchard, Joanna Hepworth and Rayna Denison) said:
Chosen for its confident storytelling and original aesthetic vision. An insightful and funny take on women’s aging in contemporary society.
Anna Ginsburg said:
Team HAG are absolutely delighted!!! Wow! What a win!
BEST OF BRITISH (ANIMATION)
I HAVE A dir. Rory Waudby-Tolley
A touching and relatable vision of modern life, this film was well-written, original and surprisingly moving.
Special Mention
DUCKS dir. AJ Jefferies
Inventive, well-paced, hilarious and terrifying.
DOCUMENTARY ENCOUNTERS
Grand Prix: UNCLE FILMI dir. Nazgol Kashani
The Documentary Encounters Jury (Mandy Chang, Nick Jones and Nariman Massoumi) said:
We were blown away by this beautiful animated documentary about family hair removal and VHS Hollywood bootlegs in post-revolutionary Iran. We loved the imaginative rendering of archive and animation and the careful proximity between tragedy and humour. A wonderfully playful film about laughter, resistance and resilience in dark times.
Nazgol Kashani said:
We were already excited for Uncle Filmi to have its world premiere at Encounters, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to its journey than receiving this award. We are grateful to the jury for recognising the film, and loved reading their words about it. It made us feel the film had done what we hoped it would.
DEPICT PRIZE
SAUSAGE POEM dir. Rob Ling
The live-action recipients of the 2026 Encounters awards are: Hyena by Altay Ulan Yang (Brief Encounters Grand Prix), Paper Plane by Saoirse Ronan (Best of British Live Action), Lovely by Jasmine Blackborow (South West Showcase), Uncle Artoo by Zoë Whittaker (Children’s Jury Winner) and The Devil Is In Me by Tia Salisbury (Audience Award Live Action).
Encounters is a globally renowned short film festival that takes place each September in Bristol, a UNESCO City of Film. Encounters is a qualifying festival for BAFTA, BIFA and the European Film Awards. It provides an international platform for celebrating talent and innovation in film, animation and TV.
The 2026 edition concluded with a special closing‑night celebration at Wake the Tiger, bringing filmmakers, partners and industry guests together for an immersive finale to the festival.
The festival is supported by BFI Film Audience Network, the University of Bristol, UWE Bristol, Eventive, MUBI, the British Council and Aardman Animations, with partners including Crack Magazine, Warp Records, Simple Things, Invada and others.