“Anaglyph” by Valle Comba | Spain | 9’ | ani | 2025 | Regional Premiere
Synopsis:
Violet lives in a red, anxious world. She can’t take it anymore, eaten away by so many little things. She feels an invisible haunting presence, jumbling her reality. Violet must learn to see in a new way to understand herself, her mind, her ghosts.
Valle Comba:
Valle has developed her career as a director in animation, combining stop motion and 2D. Anaglifo is her second animated short film as a director. Previously, she created Sin Remite, presented at Animac Pitch 2019 and which was in search of funding between 2018 and 2021.
Her first short film, Uka (2016), received more than 100 international and national nominations, including the Goya Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2017. Uka has been awarded at festivals such as Encounters Bristol and MálagaCrea.
“Biting the hand that feeds you” by Chantal Peten | Belgium | 5’ | ani | 2025 | National Premiere
Synopsis:
The contest is called "Payday," and Chantal is in a rush because she clearly has a lot to say on the subject. For once, she ticks all the boxes: director, woman... She's ready to start taking notes, drawing... But very quickly, her everyday reality comes rushing back.
Chantal Peten:
Chantal Peten is a Brussels-based Belgian animation director and children’s book author-illustrator. Trained in illustration at ARBA, she published around twenty books before turning to animation. In 2015, she studied directing at RHoK Academy. Her work blends poetic observation of everyday life with imagination.
Her first short film, Jules & Juliette, premiered at Clermont-Ferrand in 2022. Her second, Cracher dans la soupe, won the 2024 ARTE competition and screened at Annecy 2025. She is currently developing a new short, La sieste.
“And I Would Be Beautiful” by Mathilde George | France | 10’ | ani | 2025 | Regional Premiere
Synopsis:
My boobs? They're too small, even Fanny said so. My butt? I hate it! My face? In a trash can…
Thanks to Muse, I could become someone else. In just 30 days, I'd have slimmer legs, higher breasts and a firmer bottom.And finally, I would be beautiful.
Mathilde George:
After graduating from the École Émile Cohl in Lyon, Mathilde George began drawing for the press and children's books, for Editions Bayard, Milan, Hatier and Nathan, among others. In 2025, she directed her first animated short film And I would be beautiful.
“Nutcracker girl” by Michalina Musialik | Poland | 14’ | ani | 2023 | National Premiere
Synopsis:
"Nutcracker Girl" is a film in the therapeutic genre that symbolically addresses the issue of gender inequality. One Christmas evening, a little girl discovers toys under the tree—a rocking horse, an army of toy soldiers, and a dollhouse. One of the toy soldiers becomes interested in her cherished doll. While dancing together, he unexpectedly crosses a line by putting his hand under her skirt. Shocked, the doll rejects him, leading to a retaliatory act where he smashes her head. This incident initiates a series of events, offering the little girl a glimpse into the real world of adults, full of sexual needs, lust for power and the pursuit of personal satisfaction.
Michalina Musialik:
Born in 1994, artist based in Poland, she graduated from Film School in Łódź, author of short animated films. Her diploma film Dog’s field (2020) won several awards at film festivals like Silver Hobby-Horse on Krakow Film Festival, Brown Animusz Animator Film Festival, Best Animation Zoom Film Festival. Dog’s field was screened on many festivals around the world (BIAF, Animafest Zagreb, Fantoche). She is currently working on her latest film “Nutcracker girl” which is about how gender inequality in raising children affects a woman's adulthood. She got a scholarship for Film Spring Open and she got into a screenwriting workshop at Animarkt. She conducted animation workshops for children and school youth. She became a committee expert at the Polish Film Institute.
“The Granny” by Kalina Dimitrova, Aleksa Trayanova | Bulgaria | 4’ | ani | 2025 | National Premiere
Synopsis:
This is a modern Balkan story about the eternal Woman, the Woman with an unbreakable spirit, a big heart, an amazing turbo shopping trolley and the best turshia - the Granny. On the other hand, this is a story about the modern woman who sometimes forgets about grannies, sometimes is annoyed by their preoccupation, but who manages to find a common ground with the Granny. A film about angry women's power, which is the only power capable of fighting the Balkan administration.
Kalina Dimitrova & Aleksa Trayanova:
Kalina and Alexa have been a team since day one at university, where they worked together on student projects, and then continued their collaboration on films and music videos as professionals. They specialize in digital 2D animation with an expressive style and a specific sense of humor.
They graduated from New Bulgarian University. They worked together on 4 music videos by SERGIE, made in the period 2022-2025. In 2024, they created the animated video for the song “Lame” by Kerana i kosmonaftite, and in 2025, they created an animated video for the song “Did you eat lemon, did you drink vinegar?"" by Stefan Valdobrev and the Usual Suspects. The last two videos live their festival life and have been selected at international festivals.
In 2023, they created the film Chatterbox, which had success both nationally and internationally. The film was selected at international festivals, including Animest - one of the largest forums for animation art. The film received an award “Animation debut” at the Vasil Gendov Awards of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers.
The two young directors are part of various master classes and workshops with Bulgarian and international animators such as Juan Pablo Zaramella, Pedro Serrazina, Fernando Galrito, Zlatin Radev, etc. Aleksa and Kalina love art, cinema and music. They are interested in animation, film distribution and exciting stories.
“The Girl Who Wasn't Afraid of Bears” by Lea Vučko | Slovenia | 20’ | ani | 2025 | National Premiere
Synopsis:
Disguised as a man, a girl journeys through a mythical world to prove she’s fearless—until she begins to lose herself.
Lea Vučko:
Lea Vučko is a Slovenian animation director and illustrator. She studied illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, where she first developed her interest in storytelling through images. After graduation, she shifted her focus toward animation, working as an animator on several acclaimed short films and commercial projects.
Since 2015, she has collaborated on titles including Prince Ki-Ki-Do (Grega Mastnak, 2016), Weasel (Timon Leder, 2017), and Špela Čadež’s Orange Is the New Black commission for Netflix (2018). She also worked on Somewhere Else (Tim Grabnar, 2018), among others.
In 2022, she made her directorial debut with The Legend of Goldhorn, a short animated film inspired by Slovenian folklore, which was screened at over 80 international festivals. She is the co-founder of Octopics, an independent studio she runs with her creative partner Damir Grbanović.
Lea is currently in distribution of her second animated short, The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Bears, produced by Invida, while developing new original projects under the Octopics banner.
“Still Moving” by Rui Ting Ji | Canada | 10’ | ani | 2025 | National Premiere
Synopsis:
After her divorce, a mother drives a rented moving truck with her daughter in the passenger seat. The two head into a new future, only to discover the pain and difficulties of leaving the past behind.
Rui Ting Ji:
Rui Ting Ji is a Canadian-Chinese animator and filmmaker based in Montreal, Quebec. Playing with new and old art forms, she works in animation, interactive narratives, documentary, and animated comics. She is most interested in sharing stories of hidden perspectives and finding beauty in the smallest details. Her films tend to focus on real people or issues, and have screened around the world. She has animated for award-winning documentaries, feature films and short films alike and teaches animation in college. Her most recent film, Still Moving, is an animated short film exploring the liminal moment between “what was” and “what is next” between a mother and her daughter.
