ESMA Short ‘Cows’ Takes Gold At Student Academy Awards

After unveiling the 2026 Student Academy Award winners last month, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its gold, silver, and bronze rankings for the films at a ceremony held at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday.

In the animation category, ESMA graduation film COWS, from filmmakers Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, and Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, took gold; Matthias Strasser’s The Panic Inside took silver; and Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma, and Yulin Yue’s Gauze received bronze.

COWS follows a restless cow who leaves her farm in search of a better life, only to find that the grass is not necessarily greener across the road. The Panic Inside centers on an exhausted people-pleaser forced to confront his own needs in a surreal realm, while Gauze follows a 14-year-old Palestinian swimmer who must use his talent to secure food for his younger brother amid war and famine.

According to the Academy, this year’s competition received 2,972 entries from 894 colleges and universities worldwide.

Animation Winners

• Gold: COWS, Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, and Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté (École Supérieure de Métiers Artistiques, France)
• Silver: The Panic Inside, Matthias Strasser (Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
• Bronze: Gauze, Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma, and Yulin Yue (Gobelins, France)

Alternative/Experimental Winners

• Gold: Drifting, Lei He (Duke University, United States)
• Silver: Volklore, Viktorie Štěpánová (FAMU, Czech Republic)
• Bronze: Where Is My Sex Drive?, Nina Broers (St. Joost School of Art & Design, Netherlands)

All of this year’s winning films are now eligible to compete in the short-film categories at the 99th Academy Awards. Past Student Academy Award winners have collectively earned 70 Oscar nominations and won or shared 15 awards.