The International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm (5-10 May 2026, Liberec, Czech Republic) handed out its awards, which resonated with a deeply political stance (in both the narrow and broader senses).

Of course, the festival was more than films -and so, the six-day festival, which this year focused on Myths and Legends, had a blast on a wide variety of films and auteurs. From the Oscar-nominated Cartoon Saloon (Brendan and the Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers) to Slavic and Arab Mythology to Classics Rebooted, this is a rich and diverse programme that makes spectators discourse with the films on screen (more on the 2026 Anifilm highlights, including jurors' screenings and the School of Animation workshops initiative)

Back to competition (10 feature films, 34 short films, 35 student films, 30 music videos, 24 abstract and non-narrative films, and 9 VR films, including 17 videogames and 12 student video games), the award for Best Feature Film for Children and Young Audience went to 'Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake' directed by Irene Iborra Rizo from Spain.

The housing issue highlights this empathetic feature, which adults can easily detect as well. The Award for the Best Feature Films for Adults went to 'Endless Cookie', a unique animated documentary by the Canadian directorial duo Seth and Peter Scriver, stepbrothers who tell their story through memories. One of them is white, and the other, on his mother's side, is a member of the North American indigenous population  (the full list and jury statements below)

In the short animation category, the Estonian/Armenian/Belgian/French puppet film (and Cannes-premiered) 'Winter in March' by Natalia Mirzoyan won the big prize. The film tells the story of a young Russian couple on the run in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine as they fear repression by the Russian regime. However, their journey soon turns into a surreal nightmare. 

Serbian director Jelena Milunović (Filmuniversität Babelsberg, Germany) won Best Student Film for the mental illness story 'Floating'. A father and daughter relationship marred by the father's mental illness progresses, causing him to lose touch with reality. 

The main award for Non-Narrative and Abstract Animation went to Sakshi Jain, an Indian director living in the United States, for 'So Many Different Things', where she animated tiny, unrelated black-and-white drawings. The award for Best Music Video will travel all the way to Japan to director Hoji Tsuchiya for his video for 'Prime' by musician Tomoaki Baba (Special mention: Julie Černá and Lene Lekše for 'Pařezy' by Czech musician Johuš Matuš).

Inspired by the visionary paintings and music of the Lithuanian genius Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the VR film 'Creation of the Worlds' by Kristina Buožytė and Vitalijus Žukas won the VR competition.  Swiss animation director Michael Frei added another award to his resume by winning the Best Computer Games for Children for 'Time Flies' (Playables). The award for Best Visual Art in a Computer Game went to 'Carimara' by Bastien Mahaut from Bastinus Rex. The Best Student Computer Game was awarded to 'SPRKLS.exe'  (Stanislav Khaidarov, Egor Tomilov, Alexey Klishin, and Sofia Maslennikova). 

At the opening ceremony of Anifilm, the winners of the national competition, Czech Horizon, selected by the Council of Animated Film, were announced. The PPF Foundation Award for Best Short and Feature Film went to Bára Anna Stejskalová for her puppet short '9 Million Colors'. The Czech Television Award for Best Czech Animated Work, given across categories, went to directors David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec for the feature film 'Tales from the Magic Garden'. The Best Student Film award was presented to Jamaica Kindlová, the director of 'Gently'. 'Baldies' directed by Eliška Soffer Podzimek won the award for Best Series. The award for Best Czech Commissioned Work went to Jakub Kouřil for the spot 'Czechia: A Country on the Coast' made for the Czechia 2026 project for the occasion of the Czech Republic being the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. And the award for Best Czech Music Video went to 'Smrt žije' by Prago Union, co-directed by Anna Růžková and Arian Berný. 

Five Czech animation projects will be supported by the PPF foundation, as part of the e third edition of pitching for the Czech Horizon Grant

• 'Lightsiders' directed by Jan Drozd
• 'Psychoskop Tannenwald' directed by Agáta Mayerová and Vojtěch Kiss
• 'Party' directed by Anna Mastníková.
• 'The Beach' directed by Marek Náprstek
• 'What Water Took' directed by Ondřej Moravec

Last but not least, the audience award of the Liberec region was won by the Hungarian director Péter Vácz. The 'Rabbit and Deer' director presented the 20-minute film 'Dog Ear' on a boy and his dog amid a very dysfunctional family situation -and got the festival's audience prize.

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake

The full list of Anifilm Festival 2026 Winners

International competition of feature films
Jury: Steve Woods (Ireland), Jana Čížkovská (CZ), Áron Gauder (Hungary)

Best Feature Film for Children & Young Audience
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, director: Irene Iborra Rizo (Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Chile, 2025, 70 min)
Technique: Puppet

Jury Statement: We award a film with empathetic child’s perspective on difficult social issues, sensibility towards mental health, family bondings and the power of friendship.

Best Feature Film for Adults
Endless Cookie, director: Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver (Canada, 2025, 97 min)
Technique: 2D computer

Jury statement: We award a film that is genuinely bold in addressing topic of minorities. With honesty, irony and funky visual style it shows us a family album of relatable, quirky and lovable characters that reflects the toxic relationship with Canadian society.

International competition of short films
Jury: Izabela Plucińska (Poland), Dillon Markey (USA), Jana Rogoff (CZ)

Best Short Film
Winter in March, director: Natalia Mirzoyan (Estonia, Armenia, Belgium, France, 2025, 16 min)
Technique: stop-motion / Production: Kadriann Kibus and Armine Harutiunyan

Jury statement: For the Best Short Film award, we have chosen a film dealing with a subject that has weighed heavily on Europe, but most of all on Ukraine. The story follows the journey of a young couple fleeing Russia soon after the outbreak of the war. Among the many things we admire about this film are its incredible animation technique--which translates emotional turbulences into stitches, seams, and fabrics--its strong female lead, and its overall powerful storytelling.

Special Mention
Desi Oon, director: Suresh Eriyat (India, 2025, 8 min)
Technique: stop-motion / Production: Studio Eeksaurus Productions Pvt. Ltd.

Jury statement: This film utilizes materials and techniques that elevate the presentation of a meaningful topic. The animation is executed with a gleeful reverence for heritage and history.

'Winter in March'

 International competition of student films
Jury: Izabela Plucińska (Poland), Dillon Markey (USA), Jana Rogoff (CZ)

Best Student film
Floating, director: Jelena Milunović (Serbia, Croatia, Germany, 2025, 7 min)
Technique: 2D animation / Production: Set Sail Films, Adriatic Animation, Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf

Jury statement: In only seven minutes this film manages to show empathy, imagination, and tenderness about mental illness, while avoiding stereotypical thinking about this subject. The director transforms her painful personal experience into an intimate universe.

Special Mention
The Crooked Heads, director: Jakub Krzyszpin (Poland, 2025, 8 min)
Technique: 2D computer / Production: Łódź Film School

Jury statement: A film that effectively tells a brutal story using animation style and technical mastery in a surprising and impactful way, we award honorable mention this film.

Floating

International competition of abstract and non-narrative animation
Jury: Jan Šrámek (CZ), Vuk Jevremović (Germany / Croatia), Uri Kranot (Denmark)

Best Abstract and Non-Narrative Animation
So Many Different Things, direction: Sakshi Jain (USA, 2025, 3 min)
Technique: drawing on paper, 2D animation / Production: Sakshi Jain

Jury statement: Sometimes, less is everything. This film captured us with tiny, simple pen drawings - the most minimal animation imaginable. It reminded us of something we often forget in the digital age: that animation, at its heart, is just drawings that move. Nothing more is needed. A human being, a pen, and an idea - and you can touch people deeply.

Special Mention
Cocoon, director: Alexander Depuis (USA, 2025, 10 min) 
Technique: 3D computer animation, drawing on paper / Production: Alexander Depuis

Jury statement: An impressive audiovisual work on the borderline between abstract animation and environmental meditation. The jury was impressed by its distinctive visual style that works in perfect symbiosis with the film’s music.

So Many Different Things

 International competition of music videos
Jury: Jan Šrámek (CZ), Vuk Jevremović (Germany / Croatia), Uri Kranot (Denmark)

Best Music Video
Tomoaki Baba: Prime, director: Hoji Tsuchiya (Japan, 2025, 4 min)
Technique: stop-motion, puppet, live action, cut out / Production: Spoon inc.

Jury statement: This music video had it all: strong, catchy music, a beautiful and playful visual style, and a mysterious story that made us care - even for unusual characters built from papier-mâché and wire. We couldn't look away, and we couldn't forget it.

Special Mention
Johuš Matuš: Pařezy, director: Julie Černá, Lene Lekše (Czech Republic, 2025, 2 min 40s)
Technique: 2D computer, stop-motion, clay / Production: UMPRUM

Jury statement: This music video impressed the jury with its fun and creative visual style. The clay stop-motion animation with drawn details is in a wild dialogue with the interpreter’s electronic music and further develops the successful collaboration the creators established during the filming of their previous film.

Tomoaki Baba: Prime

International competition of VR films
Jury: Jan Šrámek (CZ), Vuk Jevremović (Germany / Croatia), Uri Kranot (Denmark)

Best VR film
Creation of the Worlds, Kristina Buožytė, Vitalijus Žukas (Lithuania, 30 min, 2025)

Jury statement: Immersive technology has given filmmakers powerful new tools. But in the end, it is always the story and the journey that matters. This work made us forget the real world completely. For a brief moment, we traveled through history, fantasy and humanity, surrounded by music, moving through painted forests, mountains and seas, searching for salvation. And we found peace. Just for a moment. A moment we needed more than we expected, in a world that feels anything but peaceful.

Creation of the Worlds

 International competition of video games
Jury: Veronika Zacharová (CZ), Josh Hollendonner (Austria), Marc Lustigman (France)

Best Concept Art in a Video Game
Carimara, Bastien Mahaut, Bastinus Rex (2025)
Jury statement: This game is simply full of heart. We were blown away by the author's approach, which is flawless and consistent from the visuals to the storytelling. You are served a comprehensive experience, which despite its seemingly horror nature does not lack humor and romance.

Best Video Game for Children
Time Flies, Michael Frei (Playables, 2025)

Jury statement: This game is not a typical example of the children's game category, and that is exactly why we chose it. We believe that it is important to provide children with a challenge and non-infantile content. Despite its simplicity, it has an existential overtone. We chose this game for its grotesque nature achieved with minimal means.

Audience Award - The Liberec Region Award
Dog Ear, director: Péter Vácz (Hungary, 2025, 20 min)
Technique: 2D computer / Production: Gábor Osváth, Gábor Osváth

Dog Ear

 CZECH HORIZON

• Best Czech animated creation: THE TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN, directors: David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec
• Best Czech Short and Feature Film: 9 MILIONS COLORS, director: Bára Anna Stejskalová
• Best Czech Student Film: GENTLY, director: Jamaica Kindlová
• Best Czech Series: BALDIES, director: Eliška Soffer Podzimek
• Best Czech Music Video: PRAGO UNION: SMRT ŽIJE, directors: Anna Růžková, Arian Berný
• Best Czech Commissioned work: ČESKO: ZEMĚ NA POBŘEŽÍ, director: Jakub Kouřil

 Czech Horizon Grant - Pitching 2026

• 'Lightsiders' directed by Jan Drozd
• 'What Water Took' directed by Ondřej Moravec
• 'The Beach' directed by Marek Náprstek
• 'Psychoskop Tannenwald' directed by Agáta Mayerová and Vojtěch Kiss
• 'Party' directed by Anna Mastníková

Game Pitch Arena Liberec 2026 

• 1st Place: 'Gerry Dae', Terézia Dostálová' from Lost Backyard Games
• 2nd Place: 'Grayton the Detective',Boris Brncalaz from Studio Incidental Minds
• 3rd place: 'Dnowhere', created by Matous Pilny.
  The winning projects shared a financial grant from the PPF Foundation amounting to a total of 10,000 EUR, premium support packages from Sail.game, and a marketing package from FuchsDachs. 

Our comprehensive coverage of the Anifilm Festival

Anifilm Festival took place from 5 to 10 May 2026 in Liberec, Czech Republic.  This year's edition of Anifilm attracted more than 38,000 visitors. 

Want to read more free articles like this?

Keep this professional animation journalism effort relevant and updated. Become our patron