The Smalls Film Festival 2026 Unveils Two Dedicated Animation Programmes (26-27 Sep)
Skwigly
The Smalls Film Festival returns to London’s Curzon Hoxton on 26-27 September, bringing two days of bold, inventive short filmmaking to the big screen. This year’s feature-length programmes span Change, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Music Video and Student Film, alongside two programmes dedicated entirely to Animation.
COSMONAUTS by Leo Černic – Part of Animation 1 screenings
Animation 1, screening on Saturday 26th September at 2.35pm, journeys from acidic oceans and intergalactic cruises to virtual dreamscapes and reflective neighbourhoods. Funny, surreal and moving, the ten films explore themes of art, science and community through extraordinary worlds and unexpected forms of human connection. The lineup includes Jack Wedge & Will Freudenheim’s dystopian epic Acid City and Aline Höchli’s award-winning comedy Caries.
On Sunday 27th September at 5.30pm, Animation 2 ventures into darker, more intimate territory. Traversing memory, identity and loss, these strange and soulful shorts blur the boundaries between reality and imagination, where a whisper becomes a haunting, a sketch becomes a confession and a spaceship becomes a place to grieve. Among the highlights are Bea Lema’s hand-embroidered El Cuerpo de Cristo, Sandra Desmazières’ César-winning Fille de l’Eau, and Jocelyn Charles’ acclaimed God Is Shy.
Animation also appears throughout the wider festival programme, showcasing the form’s versatility across genres and storytelling styles, with films that have competed at leading international festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Berlinale, Clermont-Ferrand, Locarno and Cannes. Selected work includes Max Hogg’s graduate short Illuminate (Student Film) and fleuryfontaine’s multi-media doc Soixante-Sept Millisecondes (Change).
As the roots of The Smalls, a global community of creatives, the festival champions emerging and established filmmakers and celebrates the imagination, diversity and artistic freedom of short film.
Tickets are on sale now, with every feature-length screening priced at £5. The full programme and ticket links can be found at thesmallsfilmfestival.com.