Fest Anča International Animation Festival will showcase some of the most outstanding works from the world of animation. Audiences can look forward to a unique selection of films with the power to spark emotion, imagination, and critical thinking. Žilina will come alive with animation from June 30 to July 5.
We received a record 1,823 submissions from 86 countries, including Ghana, Paraguay, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The pre-selection committee – Jakub Spevák, Ema Nemčovičová, and Peter Gašparík – chose 233 films and created a diverse official selection for 2026. Most of these titles will be presented as Slovak premieres.
For the third consecutive year, Fest Anča remains the only Academy Award®-Qualifying festival in Slovakia. Films awarded the Anča Award for Best Animated Short and Best Slovak Animated Short automatically become eligible for consideration in the Oscar® short film competition.
A Cosmic Journey and a Dadaist Song
The main competition section will feature 32 films, including 12 student works, showcasing a wide range of approaches, themes, and animation techniques. Recurring themes include the search for identity, anxiety about the future, and the need for community and belonging.
Audiences can look forward to remarkable techniques such as pin screen animation in the Japanese film Rest, glass painting in the Brazilian short The Girl & The Pot, as well as a striking blend of cut-outs and 3D collage in the Estonian experiment ab mala usque ab ovo.
Merrimundi – Niles Atallah
Viewers can embark on an intergalactic journey of longing for singles in the Slovak premiere of Cosmonauts, previously screened at the prestigious Berlinale. Or they can step into Merrimundi’s twisted utopia – a cosmic dadaist song with a psychedelic edge and references to virtual reality.
The main competition also features leading names in animation, including two-time Academy Award nominee Don Hertzfeldt, last year’s jury member and guest Sara Koppel, Ala Nunu – whose success story was featured at Student Forum 2025 – and Ukrainian animator and director Mykyta Lyskov.
Hybrid Approaches in Slovak Animation
The Slovak category attracted a notably higher number of submissions than usual this year. In addition to the competition section, we are also introducing a non-competitive Slovak programme. The selection includes student films, particularly from The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and FAMU in Prague.
The final selection of six diverse films in the Slovak competition features an experimental work by multidisciplinary director Viera Čákanyová, reflecting on the meaning of life. Her film Bardo, inspired by a spiritual experience during a stay in darkness, explores themes of hallucination using generative artificial intelligence.
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe! – Andrea Szelesová
The section will also present the highly anticipated Tourists by Mária Kralovič, a story about rekindling intimacy in a stagnant marriage, which premiered at Clermont-Ferrand. The children’s film – infused with elements of Greek mythology – Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe! arrives fresh from its Berlinale premiere, by Andrea Szelesová, winner of the Slovak competition at Fest Anča 2022.
Don’t Look Away
Audiences can also look forward to Short Animated Documentary, Anča in Mordor, and Anča in Wonderland sections. Children will love colourful adventures, while music lovers will enjoy a curated selection of genre-spanning music videos by both emerging and established artists.
This year the newly-launched Don’t Look Away section will focus on human rights themes. Highlights include Because, I am a Girl, created in collaboration with teenage girls in Kyrgyzstan, and the Iranian documentary By the Way, which explores a love for electricity. The film Ping Pong reflects on how political tensions and differing views can strain personal relationships.
Ping Pong – Tianji Yu
The Loch Ness Monster May Emerge
The 19th Fest Anča’s central theme is Fake. Our programme this year delves into myths, facts, and conspiracies, blurring the line between truth and illusion while playfully questioning the very premise of reality.
While the theme does not directly shape the Fest Anča 2026 official selection, it resonates throughout specially curated sections, feature film programmes, retrospectives, and a vibrant accompanying line-up.
Here’s the full list of short films across both competition and non-competition sections:
COMPETITION SECTIONS
(*s = student film)
FILMS COMPETING FOR THE ANČA AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED SHORT AND BEST STUDENT ANIMATED SHORT
| God is shy | Jocelyn Charles |
| Trading Cards | Radheya Jang |
| Paradaïz | Matea Radic |
| My Amazing Film (s) | Adam Zahradník |
| Merrimundi | Niles Atallah |
| Children of the Black Sea (s) | Mihaela Mîndru |
| One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six (s) | Yingdan Lai |
| Immature (s) | Eddy Wu |
| Paper Trail | Don Hertzfeldt |
| With Tapes and Toasts in the Car | Kiana Naghshineh |
| The Rabbit Always Dies | Oona Taper |
| The Odyssey of the Honeycrisp Apple | Maud Leglise |
| Ploo | Jon Frickey |
| 2nd Day & the End of the World | Sara Koppel |
| The Girl & The Pot | Valentina Homem, Tati Bond |
| Tuna Tartare | Lena Greene |
| In the beginning | Ala Nunu |
| Dog Alone | Marta Reis Andrade |
| ab mala usque ab ovo | Nadiia Pliamko |
| I’m Looking for Mr. Laser (s) | Laura Boráros |
| So He Grabbed the Knife (s) | Sam Kuwa |
| Symbionts (s) | Quirijn Dees |
| Fried! (s) | Lizzie Watts |
| Rest | Ryotaro Miyajima |
| Kyiv Cake | Mykyta Lyskov |
| Play of a Cell (s) | Lili Bárány |
| Randaghi | Enrico Motti, Emanuele Motti |
| blinks in mimi’s singing voice (s) | Natalie Xie |
| Dollhouse Elephant | Jenny Jokela |
| Thank You For Your Love | Jin (Sonnyé Lim) |
| The Tale of Tran Thanh Duong (s) | Hachul Le Do |
| Cosmonauts | Leo Cernic |
MUSIC VIDEOS COMPETING FOR THE ANČA AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO
| Johuš Matuš: Pařezy | Julie Černá, Lene Lekše |
| Metamour – hungry/scared | Phi Hartmann |
| Watch Your Step | Yu-kyung Noh |
| There is A Wolf | Saerom Seo |
| Lark in A Sky Shop | Marie Lavis |
| Sweetjoy | Bianca Caderas |
| WildBait by Oberka | Lee Oz, Eliška Oz |
| Bloodsport | Nespy 5Euro |
| Nothing but a Chance | Gabriel Roulet |
| Reminder | CIANG studio |
| Juana Molina – “Uninhuman” | Dante Alan Zaballa |
| emory – “dirt” | Julia Fernandez |
| OHOIOrOI Syndrome | Taewan Kim |
| Six Finger Satellite – “Simian Fever” | Christy Karacas, Luca Depardon |
| BLOODORN – Rise Up Again | Isabella Chung, Erin Kim, Casey Xuan Tong Teoh |
| The Phoenix | Mary Yanko, Marlène Ciampossin |
| PRIME | Hoji Tsuchiya |
| The Choolers : Capitaine T | Monsieur Pimpant |
| Divine Past – Under The Lights | Julia Jesionek |
| Eternal Sunshine (feat. 김뜻돌 (Meaningful Stone)) | Yuseon Park |
| Soul Kitchen | Hakhyun Kim |
| Fruit Fly | Xian Zhong |
| Little Wings | Dajana Jefremova |
| Did you drink vinegar, did you bite a lemon? | Aleksa Trayanova Trayanova, Kalina Georgieva Dimitrova |
| No Disco | Angèle Chiodo |
| Dragas | Robertas Nevecka |
FILMS COMPETING FOR THE ANČA AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED SHORT FOR CHILDREN
| First Flight | Adrian Jaffé |
| Fire in My Pocket | Janka Feiner |
| New World Tour | Moonjoo Lee |
| Full Nest | Elena Walf |
| Experiences and learning. And parenting. | Malgorzata Rybak |
| Acceleration | Stepan Serghei Crani |
| So Many Different Things | Sakshi Jain |
| The Chipmunk and the Squirrel | Sumin Kim |
| Kiki and Bouba – A Peachy Story | Leon Bugajski, Kinga Chłodek, Adrian Krzych, Basia Szczerbanowska, Julia Wiereńko |
FILMS COMPETING FOR THE ANČA AWARD FOR BEST SLOVAK ANIMATED SHORT
| Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe! | Andrea Szelesová |
| Quantum Jump | Šimon Mészáros |
| Tourists | Mária Kralovič |
| Bardo | Viera Čákanyová |
| The sign of Power | Šarlota Ema Horáčková |
| Bubble | Wanda Przeworska |
NON-COMPETITION SECTIONS
SHORT FILMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
| Translation Office | Irina Karapetyan |
| blargh | Sofija Zivkovic |
| Um | Luis Nieto |
| Earthquake | Massimiliano di Lauro, Lorenzo Latrofa |
| Desi Oon | Suresh Eriyat |
| Like A Fairy Tale | Kirill Khachaturov |
| Crab Diane | Ryan McCown |
| Force Times Displacement | Angel Wu |
| Well, this was meant to be a birthday present | Kamil Wójcik |
| Betrayer | Shengxue Shi |
| The Sycamore | Jared D. Wess |
| I’d Rather Be a Concorde | Javier Fabregas |
| First Date Carbonara | Benjamin Delest |
| Mother of Dawn | Clara Trevisan |
| Boundaries | Seun Yee |
| We will meet again | Yuseon Park |
| Phosphenic Archives | Léo Mourey |
| I’m not sure | Luisa Zürcher |
| Feed, Wash & Love | Veronika Pasterná Szemlová |
| Autokar | Sylwia Szkiłądź |
| Klonter | Levi Stoops |
| Bar Croquette freestyle | Maria Dakszewicz |
| Cultivation, harvesting and dispersal of thorns | Jeanne Girard |
| Stargazing Bus | Munkhkhuslen Bayarbat |
| The Long coming of the fire | Zharko Ivanov |
| El Cuerpo del Cristo | Bea Lema |
| ima wa ima | Chun Yam Keung |
| Who Killed Narin G**** ? | Ayce Kartal |
| Me and You and Smoke | Rachel Shiloach |
| Unfolding me | Natalia Pájaro |
| BBQ | Vojta Haken |
| Choo,choo,choo,choose | Xiaohan Sun |
| jaderabbitjaderabbit | Lily Xie |
| Schmes’ | Viktoriia Turetska |
| polliwog | Julia Skala |
| Murmuration | Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger |
| Ivar | Markus Tangre |
| Feet in water | Éloïc Gimenez Yoon |
SLOVAK SHORT FILMS
| Replica | Franz Milec |
| The Gatekeepers | Katarína Jelínková |
| Meal | Laura Matušáková |
| Golem | Baruh Kapustin, Karina Shaposhnikova, Veronika Shaposhnikova, Asia Tkachova, Nika Tkachova, Danyil Tkachov, Viktoryia Ustsimenka, Masha Luschikova, Ester Strashun, David Strashun |
| Pests | Michal Sulan |
| What Do We Do With The Dough Though? | Olívia Jánošíková |
| Transformations | Marina Martynova, Pavel Martynov, Matej Juhas, Makar Kreminsky, Vadim Kim, Toma Sebova, Yarina Dmytrenko, Ekaterina Brokhina, Varvara Isakova, Nadja Buryan, Masha Luschikova, participants of the Good Market |
| Lower Resolution – Head (feat. Lena Lies) | Marian Vredík |
| Virtual Magical Rock as a Native Soil | Lukáš Sobota |
| Treasure Trouble | Ľubica Makóová |
SHORT FILMS FOR CHILDREN
| Stride & Shine! | Xinyi Tian |
| Hymne anonyme | David Bombardier |
| Fluffy Gift | Ruihan Zhang |
| Journey of the Stars | Klaudia Grancová |
| Aller & Retour | Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco |
| The Cloud Herder | Aidan McAteer |
| Camille & Chamäleon | Lucie Nichelmann |
| When The Tide Comes | Fêt-Nat Bailly |
| Mimesis | Mehdi Malabry-Namaoui, Louis Houzelot, Lena Garrigues, Camille Catry, Eline Vuillemenot |
| Let’s Play | Marzieh Rasekh |
| Nutissimo | Nicolas Bianco-Levrin, Julie Rembauville, Maxence Camelin |
| Once Upon a Time in Dragonville | Marika Herz |
| Stone Growth | Jokūbas Rimkus |
| Pony – Aha svet | Veronika Zúbek Kocourková |
| Sketches on Ice | Marion Auvin |
SHORT ANIMATED DOCUMENTARY
| Living with a Visionary | Stephen P. Neary |
| Winter in March | Natalia Mirzoyan |
| Speeding, of Course | Anni Sairio, Joonatan Turkki |
| Follow the Hill | Kurumi Goan |
| Warp and Weft | Isolda Milenkovic |
| Acid City | Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim |
| a body without a horse? | Lara Fuke |
| Branching Light and Flickers of a Dawn | Paula Malinowska |
| Little Temples | Tara Attarzadeh |
CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT AND NON-NARRATIVE ANIMATION
| States of Matter | Marvin Hauck |
| Bentwaters Frequency Test | Lewis Heriz |
| Flim Flam | Siegfried A. Fruhauf |
| Mushrooms | Theodora Pfeffermannová |
| That Which I See | Maï Calon |
| Subharmonics | Marcell Mostoha |
| Hybaj | Martin Tomek |
| Impromptu | Steven Subotnick |
DON’T LOOK AWAY
| Because, I am a girl | Sayazhan Ispolganova, Alisa Tyan, Rosita Keneshova, Fatima Chorobekova, Alina Alybekova, Dariya Murzulukova |
| This is not your Garden | Carlos Velandia, Angélica Restrepo |
| Snake Soup | Zack Demirtshyan |
| My Grandmother is a Skydiver | Polina Piddubna |
| Ping Pong | Tianji Yu |
| The Voice Of Mother | Mian Ijlal Ahmad |
| Sh | Qi Duan |
| By the Way | Mahboobeh Kalaee, Ali Fotoohi |
ANČA IN WONDERLAND
| Birdlife | Lukas Wind |
| Uncle Babysitter 3 | tungwood |
| Hungry Hollow | Sarah Franny Ruyle |
| The Hole | Wing Yan Lilian Fu |
| courtship.com | Ann Dinh |
| Lucus | David Fidalgo |
| Wuthering Hearts | Laura Jayne Hodkin |
| An explosive love story | Adina Oana Enache |
| The Disappearance of Mitchell Johnson | Kacper Senkowski |
| Not Satisfied, Redo | Shui Yuan（Water） |
| Do Something | Sofija Zivkovic |
| Carrie the cavity | Jade Lambert |
| Praying for Love | Sofia Tonin |
| Ř | Abigél Dérczy |
| Arachnophobia | Melita Sandrin |
| Ducks | AJ Jefferies |
| Knights on a Quest for Love | Mickey Stepanskiy |
| Skin Flick | Louise Bailly, Daniela Del Castello, Alice Levy, Bruno De Mendonça, Elifsu Meriç, Joey Quoc Tran |
| The houses of Achilles | Nespy 5Euro |
| Almost there or a Weenie | Alicja Jasina |
| Cheese Land | Merrill Hagemann |
| i have a | Rory Waudby-Tolley |
| The hidden life of plants | Domenico Modafferi |
| Baubo and the Belly Button Band | Avery Vang |
| Visiting the zoo | Maria Zilli |
| Beetles | Piotr Chmielewski |
| Valentine’s Day | Sonia Mossoczy |
ANČA IN MORDOR
| Love Spell | Matías López |
| Fetter | Renming Liu |
| The Right to Be Forgotten | Tue Sanggaard |
| Fisheye | Łukasz Rygał |
| Insecticide | Paula Gallego |
| Gone Wrong | Anne-Linh Jérôme, Ambre Butel, Roman Saunier, Maxime Arnould, Juliette Houël, Adrian Villeda, Alisson Colombe, Ylan Dinguidar |
| I think I said “yes” | Pere Ginard |
| When the Moon Sings | Jesu Medina |
| Hand | Jing Wang |
EXTREMELY SHORT SECTION OF EXTREMELY SHORT FILMS
| How to make friends | Mykyta Lyskov |
| Flesh.exe | Sára Bertalan, Veszna Békési, Alexandra Tóth, Hanna Horváth |
| Vicious Circles | Sara Koppel |
| Fire inside me | Cecilia Marie Hökenschnieder |
| A Little More Action | Alexis Beaumont |
| Fun for all, all for fun | Lea Holická |
| I Really Need To Piss | Viky Klemša |
| Koi | Mia Rulli |
| Get Away | Jonáš Urbánek |
| Little Red Riding Hood | Sofiia Komarova |
| White Noise | Hanna Skultéty, Eszter Józsa |
| barbecue | Lila Mendes |
| Calidum Canis | Izabela Trzaskowská |
| Eco Beat | Max Mörtl, Eva Bienert |
| Inlé | Siying Yu |
| Bang Bang Boots! | Nina Wolf |
| Toast | Bram Van Rompaey, Reinout Swinnen |
| Duet | Leo Brunel |
| FireFly | Andrea Plánková |
| Ford Fusion | Viky Klemša |
| Split myself in two | Aleksandra Gigiel |
| Another Way | Uku Jürgenson |
| Couic ! | Ema Parent |
| The Hatter | Matylda Maciejewska |
| The Hedgehog | Zuzanna Heller |
| Fragments | Iris Rotărescu |
| The 5-Second Rule | Invisible Friends |
| Action Bog | Winston Hacking |
| Ideas Are Like Fish – David Lynch | Yuval Haker |
| A Little Off | Kino Jin |
| Playground | Magda Kreps |
| Robert Yoghurt | Sacha Beeley |
| endo | Eleanor Szydlowska |
| Sync | Jinsol Kim |
| Tögethår | Rich Farris |
| OverThreaded | Lysander Wong |
Partners and Supporters
The 19th edition of the Fest Anča International Animation Festival 2026 is financially supported by the Audiovisual Fund, the LITA Fund, and the SPP Foundation.
Organiser
ANČA Civic Society
Co-organisers
Town of Žilina
Žilina-Záriečie Station
New Synagogue
Žilinaown Theatre
UNIZA
Main partners
The festival is financially supported by the Audiovisual Fund
Animation Festival Network
Creative Europe Media
DELL
ViewSonic
