2055 animation shorts were submitted in Animafest Zagreb's related categories for its 2026 edition. Animation shorts production is thriving indeed, with festivals (like Animafest Zagreb) taking the share and responsibility for its eventual big screen distribution.

Animafest Zagreb's artistic director, Daniel Šuljić, along with Aleta Rajić and Niko Radas, selected 36 films (out of 1000+ films submitted) for the Grand Competition – Short Film.  and 19 animation shorts for the Croatian Film Competition; 38 animation shorts were selected in the Student Film Competition category by Maida Srabović and David Lovrić.

Already acclaimed films, like Natalia Mirzoyan's 2025 Cannes-presented stop-motion 'Winter in March' are here; Sylwia Szkiladz's immigrant experience in the Oscar-shortlisted 'Autokar' is also included in the Grand Competition of Short Films.

We also see 2026 films, like the queer-themed, Berlin-premiered 'Cosmonauts' by  Leo Černic; the new film by Sasha Svirsky, 'Unidentified non-flying objects', 'or the relationship-tester 'Arachnophobia' by Melita Sandrin (University of Nova Gorica School of Arts - Croatian competition).

The full list of 2026 Animafest Zagreb Selection (Short Films)

GRAND COMPETITION – SHORT FILM 2026

2:14 PM, Luciano Lepinay (Ankama Animation, Les Astronautes, Submarine Sublime, Tchack / France, The Netherlands / 2026)
A MAN’S HEART, Chloe Danguy (Scalae Productions / France / 2025)
A PINT OF BITTER, Conor Kehelly (independent production / Ireland / 2026)
A TASTE OF BEER, Xie Li (independent production / China / 2025)
AUTOKAR, Sylwia Szkiladz (Novanima Production, Ozù Productions, Studio Amopix, Vivi Film / Belgium, France / 2025)
BREAD WILL WALK, Alex Boya (National Film Board of Canada / Canada / 2025)
CARLA AND HER LEGS, Christoph Büttner (independent production / Germany / 2026)
COSMONAUTS, Leo Černic (Finta Film / Slovenia / 2026)
DOLLHOUSE ELEPHANT, Jenny Jokela (Böhle Studios / Finland / 2025)
FACADE, Elise Kruusel (Eesti Joonisfilm / Estonia / 2026)
GLASSES, Yumi Joung (Match Cut Inc. / South Korea / 2025)
GOD IS SHY, Jolcelyn Charles (Remembers / France / 2025)
HOW A RIVER IS BORN, Luma Flôres (Mulungu Realizações Culturais / Brazil / 2025)
HOW TO WALK, Zachary Margolis (independent production / United States / 2025)
IVAR, Markus Tangre (Bacon Pictures / Norway / 2026)
LIKE A FAIRY TALE, Kirill Khachaturov (Sacrebleu Productions, Zeilt Production / France, Luxembourg / 2025)
LONELINESS, SNOW, AND PINES, Vladislav Ivanov, Ivaylo Zahariev (Positive Productions Ltd / Bulgaria / 2026)
MISOPHONIA, Michelle Gruppetta (independent production / Malta / 2025)
MURMURATION, Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger (Beast Animation, Murmur Animation, Spotted Bird / The Netherlands, Belgium / 2025)
ONCE IN A BODY, María Cristina Pérez González (Cartuna, Pez Dorado Animaciones / Colombia, United States / 2025)
PINCHU IS LIKE THAT, Carmen Córdoba González (La Chula Films / Spain / 2026)
PLEASE, Anna Mantzaris (Apparat Filmproduktion AB, Böhle Studios, Film i Väst, Kuli Film, Mikrofilm AS, Passion Paris Production, SVT / Sweden, France, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland / 2026)
PRAYING MANTIS, Joe Hsieh (Far-Sun Film Co. Ltd, Pleasure Garden Film Ltd. / Taiwan, Hong Kong / 2025)
SCHOOL SHOW, Ana Horvat (Umjetnička organizacija Anima / Croatia / 2026)
SHOULD VIRTUAL PETZ DIE?, Carlo Galbiati (Nouvelle Bug / Italy / 2025)
STRANGE TEEN SPIRIT, Frank Ternier (Ikki Films / France / 2025)
STRIVE, Krešimir Pernek (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2026)
THE FLESH DRESS, Joachim Hérissé (Komawé / France / 2026)
THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS, Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski (National Film Board of Canada / Canada / 2025)
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Georges Schwizgebel (RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, Studio GDS, Schwizgebel / Switzerland / 2026)
TOURISTS, Mária Kralovič (Evolution Films, Novanima Productions, Novinski / Slovakia, France, Czechia / 2026)
UM, Nieto Na (Autour de Minuit / France / 2025)
UNCLE FILMI, Nazgol Kashani (Fabian&Fred / Germany / 2026) - the film has been withdrawn from the festival competition at the request of the producers
UNIDENTIFIED NONFLYING OBJECTS (UNO), Sasha Svirsky (Wait a Second! GbR / Germany / 2026)
WATER GIRL, Sandra Desmazières (Animais AVPL, Caïmans Productions, Valk Productions /
France, The Netherlands, Portugal / 2025)
WINTER IN MARCH, Natalia Mirzoyan (Artstep, Rebel Frame / Armenia, Estonia / 2025)

Strange Teen Spirit, Frank Ternier

STUDENT FILM COMPETITION 2026

A BLOODY SITUATION, Nerian Keywan (Royal College of Art / United Kingdom / 2025)
ACID ECHO, Elsa Moulin (EMCA / France / 2026)
ARACHNOPHOBIA, Melita Sandrin (University of Nova Gorica School of Arts / Slovenia / 2025)
CHILL OUT, Magdalena Botor (The Polish National Film School in Lodz / Poland / 2025)
FALLING MIST, Yu-jin Zhuang (Tainan National University of the Arts / Taiwan / 2025)
FINGERBANG, Yeonwoo Kim (Hongik University / South Korea / 2026)
FIRSTBORN, Olivia Porrill (California Institute of the Arts / United States / 2025)
FOREIGN BODIES, Lysander Wong (Central Saint Martins / United Kingdom / 2025)
FUCKING WAR, Ohad Manor (Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design / Israel / 2025)
GOODBYE WAVES, Yang Ruihan (Tama Art University / Japan / 2025)
HAND, Jing Wang (Musashino Art University / Japan / 2025)
HOW THINGS ARE BETWEEN US, Julian Czurko (Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznań (UAP) / Poland / 2025)
HUNGRY HOLLOW, Sarah Ruyle (Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) / United States / 2025)
INSECTICIDE, Paula Gallego González (Universitat Politécnica de València (UPV) / Spain / 2026)
KAMARADE, Garance Valere, Valentin Okoundou, Hubert Chauvaux, Alice Bourget, Louise Laurent, Fleuriane Le Guillou (Supinfocom Rubika / France / 2025)
LITTLE OCTOBER, Matas Pakutinskas (Willem de Kooning Academy / Lithuania, The Netherlands / 2025)
MAX, Emilien Pichon (La Fémis, Ecole nationale supérieure des métiers de l’image et du son / France / 2025)
MURMURE, Jinhong Yu, Ziyu Wang (School of Animation and Digital Art, Communication University of China / China / 2025)
OLDIES OF THE COAST, Clarence Fennessy (RMIT University / Australia / 2025)
ON SAINT NICHOLAS’ EVE, Emy Mirel Ivasca (National University of Theatre and Film I.L. Caragiale / Romania / 2025)
PASSING BY, Hanna Kang (Korea National University of Arts / South Korea / 2025)
PLAY FIGHT!, Katrina Larner (Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) / United States / 2025)
PROMETHEUS 2025, Seungmin Han (Tokyo University of the Arts / South Korea, Japan / 2025)
QUANTUM JUMP, Šimon Mészáros (FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts / Czechia / 2026)
SENSUAL, Tanja Nuijten (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH / Germany / 2026)
SO HE GRABBED THE KNIFE, Sam Kuwa (Tokyo University of the Arts / Japan / 2026)
THE BOY’S FISH, Hasan Ali (ALBA - Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts / Lebanon / 2025)
THE DISCRETE SHAPES, Lou-Ann Nony (École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs de Paris – ENSAD / France / 2026)
THE EATING OF AN ORANGE, May Kindred-Boothby (Royal College of Art / United Kingdom / 2025)
THE PLACES WE CALL HOME, Meike van Son (St. Joost School of Art and Design / The Netherlands / 2025)
THE ROSSINI GARDEN, William Burger, Siméon Jacob, Garance Mondamert, Mathilde Vergereau, Odelina Laine, Tara Rewal (Gobelins / France / 2025)
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE MILK, Cliona Noonan (La Poudrière / France / 2025)
THINGS THAT I WAS GATHERING, Ekaterina Zhuzhleva (RE:Anima - European Joint Master in Animation / Finland, Belgium, Portugal / 2025)
TIME FLIES, Tommaso Zerbi (RE:Anima European Joint Master in Animation / Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Italy / 2026)
TO BLOOM AGAIN, Natálie Durchánková (Czech Television, FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts / Czechia / 2026)
TV ENTREABERTA, Mateus Compart (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Brazil / 2025)
VISITING THE ZOO, Maria Zilli (ISIA Urbino / Italy, France / 2025)
WE WILL MEET AGAIN, Yuseon Park (Korea National University of Arts / South Korea / 2025)

The Rossini Garden 

CROATIAN FILM COMPETITION 2026

ARACHNOPHOBIA, Melita Sandrin (University of Nova Gorica School of Arts / Slovenia / 2025)
BANGS, Dora Kvež (Sveučilište VERN / Croatia / 2025)
IN A FARAWAY FOREST: APPLE OF DISCORD, Timon Leder (Dagiba / Slovenia, Croatia / 2026)
BY A THREAD, David Kmet (University of Arts London / United Kingdom, Croatia / 2025)
COLON PARENTHESIS, Marija Ana Turčić (Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb / Croatia / 2026)
EVOLUTION OF A HEROIC ACT, Tara Klepac (Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb / Croatia / 2026)
FOUR, Dea Jagić (Kreativni sindikat / Croatia/ 2026)
HEARTWRECK, Luka Vucić (Kinoteka/ Croatia / 2026)
HUNGRY HEART, Nikolina Žabčić (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2026)
LANGUAGE OF THE SEA, Nikola Pavošević (Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb / Croatia / 2026)
PICTOMAN, Branko Farac (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2026)
SCHOOL SHOW, Ana Horvat (Umjetnička organizacija Anima / Croatia / 2026)
STRIVE, Krešimir Pernek (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2026)
THE BOOK OF DREAMING, Irena Jukić Pranjić (Umjetnička organizacija Anima / Croatia / 2026)
THE GIRL WHO WASN’T AFRAID OF BEARS, Lea Vučko (CUB Animation, Invida, Jaka produkcija, Octopics / Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia / 2025)
THE LAST STRAW, Dorotea Radušić, Mislav Rotim (Jaka produkcija / Croatia / 2026)
THE MOTHERLESS EGG, Elena Walf (Minya film i animacija, Studio FILM BILDER GmbH / Germany, Croatia / 2025)
THE SURPRISING WAY WE CAN COOL THE PLANET, Ivana Volda (TED-Ed / Croatia, United States / 2025)
VANJA & VANJA, Danijel Žeželj (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2026)

The Girl Who Wasn't Afraid of Bears

World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb 2026 will take place 08-13 June 2026 in Zagreb, Croatia.

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