Annecy Unveils 2026 Shorts Lineup Featuring Hertzfeldt, Hulsing, Schwizgebel

The 2026 festival circuit is taking shape as Annecy, the world’s oldest and leading animation festival, unveils its short film competition lineups.

This year’s films include several established names. Hisko Hulsing will present Danse macabre, while Don Hertzfeldt returns with Paper Trail. Georges Schwizgebel brings The Picture of Dorian Gray, Koji Yamamura screens The Spring Sea, and Elizabeth Hobbs debuts The Daughters of the Late Colonel, to name just a few.

While many titles will make their festival debuts at Annecy, several arrive with high-profile recognition from other top fests. James A. Castillo’s The Quinta’s Ghost was shortlisted for this year’s Academy Awards after premiering at Tribeca, Acid City stood out at Rotterdam in February, and Anna Ginsburg’s Hag picked up two awards following its SXSW premiere.

There is plenty to unpack at first glance, but the 2026 lineup appears as vibrant and diverse as audiences have come to expect from Annecy.

New this year, all of the selected titles from the Midnight Shorts and WTF sections will now compete for official awards for the first time.

Official Short Films in Competition

• Adgwa-Ata, Zsuzsanna Kreif (France, Hungary)
• Balconada, Iva Tokmakchieva (France, Bulgaria)
• Black Box, Anton Dyakov (France, Norway)
• Blessed, Birute Sodeikaite (Canada)
• Cartoon Physics, Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter (France, Netherlands, Switzerland)
• Cosmonauts, Leo Černic (Slovenia, Italy)
• Creation, Béla Klingl (Hungary)
• Danse macabre, Hisko Hulsing (Netherlands, France, Belgium, Hungary)
• God Is Shy, Jocelyn Charles (France)
• Hag, Anna Ginsburg (U.K.)
• How to Walk, Vern Avola (U.S.)
• Invisible Harvests, Stephanie Dudley (Canada)
• Lake Messejana, Diego Maia (Brazil)
• Motherhood, Anca Damian (Belgium, France, Romania)
• My Bellyaching Skin, Etienne Bonnet (France)
• Night Song, Karla Castañeda (Mexico)
• Paper Trail, Don Hertzfeldt (U.S.)
• Penguin, Kaspar Jancis (Estonia, France)
• Please, Anna Mantzaris (Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic)
• The Berry Picker, Pieter Coudyzer (De Bramenplukker) (Belgium)
• The Daughters of the Late Colonel, Elizabeth Hobbs (U.K., Germany)
• The Little White Queen, Théo Hanosset, Mathieu Georis (La Petite Reine blanche) (Belgium, France)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, Georges Schwizgebel (Switzerland)
• The Quinta’s Ghost, James A. Castillo (Spain)
• The Spring Sea, Koji Yamamura (Japan)
• To the Woods, Agnès Patron (France)
• Two Ice Creams Please, Jasmine Elsen (Belgium)
• Uka-uka, Henri Veermäe (Estonia)
• Ultra Strong, Catherine Lepage (Canada)
• Virgem Fandango, Marcy Page (Canada, Portugal)
• Water Girl, Sandra Desmazières (France, Netherlands, Portugal)
• What We Leave Behind, Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte (Canada)
• When the Sea Was Calm, Betkho Betkho (Georgia)
• Winter in March, Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia, Belgium, Estonia, France)

Perspectives

• Acid City, Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim (U.S.)
• Because Today Is Saturday, Alice Eça Guimarães (Portugal, France, Spain)
• Bucketman, Takaya Tanaka (Japan)
• Chance, Pooya Afzali (Iran)
• City of Roses, Siso Barros, Barca Bogante (Brazil)
• Decay, Juan Camilo González (Colombia)
• Entelechy, Marcos Sánchez (Chile)
• Hold It Together, Fan Sissoko (Iceland, France, Belgium)
• Misophonia, Yasmin Kuymizakis (Not Listed)
• Once in a Body, María Cristina Pérez González (Colombia, U.S.)
• Paper Daughter, Cami Kwan (U.S.)
• Rest, Ryotaro Miyajima (Japan)
• That Night, Hoda Sobhani (Iran, U.S.)
• The Boa Woman, Stephanie Boyd, Miguel Araoz Cartagena (Peru)
• The Comet, Julie Charette (Canada)
• The Travails of Ajadi, Adeoye Adetunji (Nigeria)
• Three Pariah Cats, Ivan Sierra (Colombia)

Off-Limits

• Adage, Jack Barrett (U.K.)
• Core Dump, Alona Rodeh (Germany)
• Evacuations, Lilli Carré (U.S.)
• From Apple to Egg, Nadiia Pliamko (Estonia)
• Merrimundi, Niles Atallah (Chile)
• Symbionts, Quirijn Dees (Switzerland)
• The Stars Watch from Long Ago, Stacey Steers (U.S.)
• XYZ, Alexandre Alagôa (Portugal)

Young Audiences

• A Dog’s Life, Sophie Olga De Jong, Sytske Kok (Netherlands)
• Aller & Retour, Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco (Italy)
• Bats & Bugs, Lena Von Döhrén (Switzerland)
• Cloud Fish, Noé Garcia (France, Belgium)
• Cosmonaut, Zoltán Horváth (Switzerland)
• Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe!, Andrea Szelesová (Slovakia, Czech Republic)
• Grounded, Adam Reynolds, Chris Callus (New Zealand)
• Into the Forest, Antonin Niclass (Switzerland)
• Piccolo Piccolo, Marta Gennari (France, Switzerland)
• Vor meiner Tür auf einer Matte, Antje Heyn (Germany)

Midnight Shorts

• A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard, Seishiro Nagaya (Japan)
• A Trip to the Ear, Jee-Youn Park (South Korea)
• Best in Show, Niklas Dahlqvist (Sweden)
• Builder, Ryoji Yamada (Japan)
• CALM, the Last Tale of Horacio Quiroga, María Ruisánchez, Álvaro León (Spain, Argentina, Mexico)
• Carla and Her Legs, Christoph Büttner (Germany)
• Dawn at Terezinha Building, Cesar Cabral, Renato José Duque (Brazil)
• Dinner, Haeji Jeong (South Korea)
• Eclosión, Luis Morillo (Dominican Republic, Spain)
• Grey, Xiaobei Song (U.S.)
• Hunger, Imanol Ortiz López (Spain)
• My Name Is Lilith, Leo Luna Robert-Tourneur (Belgium, France)
• Praying Mantis, Joe Hsieh (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
• Tenebras, Francisco Rojas (Dominican Republic)
• The Flesh Dress, Joachim Hérissé (France)
• Wolpie of the Woods, Kat Messing (U.S.)

WTF

• Babyface, Sacha Beeley (U.K.)
• Broc!, Calvin Woo, Wong Chung Him (Hong Kong)
• I Have a, Rory Waudby-Tolley (U.K.)
• I’m Glad I Know That Now Thank You: Phones, Mike Greaney (U.K.)
• King Kong vs Pinocchio, Janet Perlman (Canada)
• Pigeon Businessman, Will Blank (U.S.)
• Smokedog, Andrew Onorato (Australia)
• We’re Kinda Different, Ben Meinhardt (Canada)
• What Is, Is Now, Jikke Lesterhuis (Netherlands)