CHALLENGES OF A SOLITARY MIND
2025, Austria, 3 min., col., no dialogue, animation, short-length
Director Astrid Rothaug
A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR DEATH
2024, UK, 5 min., col., language — English, animation, short-length
Director Stephen Irwin
SHOCKING DREAMS IN THE CIRCUS
2024, China, 10 min., col., language — Chinese, English, animation, short-length
Director and Scriptwriter Sun Xun
IT SHOULDN’T RAIN TOMORROW
2024, Portugal-Germany, 11 min., col., language — Portuguese, animation, short-length
Director and Scriptwriter Maria Trigo Teixeira
URBAN DUO
2024, China, 6 min., col., no dialogue, animation, short-length
Director Yue Hongyu
STAMPFER DREAMS
2024, Austria, 12 min., col., language — German, animation, short-length
Director Thomas Renold
CHALLENGES OF A SOLITARY MIND
2025, Austria, 3 мин., цвет., animation, short-length
Director Astrid Rothaug
ORDINARY LIFE
2025, France-Japan, 10 min., col., no dialogue, animation, short-length
Director and Scriptwriter Yoriko Mizushiri
GLASSES
2025, South Korea, 15 min., col., no dialogue, animation, short-length
Director Jeong Yumi
DROOMADOM
2025, Austria, 15 min., col., language — English, animation, short-length
Director and Scriptwriter Luzia Johow
SILENT PANORAMA
2024, Belgium, 5 min., col., no dialogue, animation, short-length
Director Nicolas Piret
Russian premiere
Humanity encroaches on wild nature. A story involving two tourists and a wild boar unfolds on a single sheet of paper.
About the director:
Nicolas Piret
Belgian artist and filmmaker. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and completed a Master’s degree in animation at ENSAV La Cambre, where he directed his graduation short The Dog’s Leash (2022), selected for the Student Academy Awards.
Russian premiere
In the bustling noise of Shanghai, Longchang Apartment, a century-old building, seems like a haven from time. A father experiences a peaceful slow life here, where neighbors live in harmony. His son, on the other hand, is caught up in the fast pace of the city day after day. Their lives, are parallel yet starkly different…
About the director:
Yue Hongyu
Director and senior student at Tongji University. He focuses on interdisciplinary research, delving into the scientific exploration of animation, interactive arts, and human-computer interaction.
Russian premiere
As she gets older, Oma’s perception begins to change. While her daughter tries to adapt to her new situation, she seems to sink deeper and deeper into herself.
About the director:
Maria Trigo Teixeira
Born in Lisbon in 1990, she is an animation filmmaker based in Porto and Berlin. She studied Communication Design in Porto and Animation at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. Her graduation film Inside Me (2019) won the German Short Film Award for Best Animation, along with several other international prizes. Between 2016 and 2021, she programmed and organised monthly screenings for Shortcutz Berlin.
The history of humankind is infinitesimally small compared to the vast deserts of time and space. Reality melts away, and the past ceases to exist.
About the director:
Sun Xun
Artist, animator. Born in 1980 in Fuxin, China. Graduated in 2005 from the Printmaking Faculty of the China Academy of Art. In 2006, he founded the π Animation Studio. Currently resides in Beijing. Works in diverse techniques: acrylic, ink, pastel, traditional animation, and various forms of printmaking, including wood engraving. His films have been featured in programmes at Berlinale and Venice. In 2023, his film Shanghai in the Spring won the In Silico Experimental Film Competition at the Message to Man International Film Festival, and in 2024, his work Being Is Negative was featured in the same section.
Russian premiere
In 1833, mathematician Simon von Stampfer introduced the stroboscopic disc in Vienna—one of the earliest cinema prototypes. The discs feature all forms of animation: abstract and narrative, documentary and (quite literally!) experimental. This film is based on images from Stampfer’s discs.
About the director:
Thomas Renoldner
Born in 1960 in Linz, he studied psychology and educational theory (1979–83), followed by painting and animation film studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna (1989–94). A self-taught filmmaker since his youth, he also works in music, painting, installation, and performance. Renoldner has directed numerous experimental, animated, and documentary films as well as commercials, and is active as a producer, teacher, film historian, festival organiser, and curator for animated films.
Russian premiere
Born in 1984 in Aomori. Her short films have been widely screened and awarded, including Anxious Body (2021), which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and went on to win 15 international awards. Alongside her short films, she also creates music videos, commercials, and installation pieces.
About the director:
Yoriko Mizushiri
Born in 1984 in Aomori. Her short films have been widely screened and awarded, including Anxious Body (2021), which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and went on to win 15 international awards. Alongside her short films, she also creates music videos, commercials, and installation pieces.
Russian premiere
Yujin accidentally breaks her glasses and visits an optician for a new pair. During an eye exam, she sees a small house in the middle of a field and suddenly finds herself inside it. There, she moves through three rooms, each containing a shadow version of herself. One by one, she faces and reconciles with these hidden parts she had long rejected.
About the director:
Jeong Yumi
Filmmaker, animation artist, and illustrator. Studied animation directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. A participant and award-winner at leading global festivals, her films Dust Kid (2009), Math Test (2010), Love Games (2013), House of Existence (2022), The Waves (2023) have been selected for Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, and Zagreb film festivals. In addition to animation, she works in book illustration and has been awarded prizes at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. One of Jeong Yumi’s recent works, Circle (2024), was featured in the International Competition of the 34th Message to Man Film Festival.
Russian premiere
Death takes centre stage and faceless spectators applaud the inevitable in a series of murderous dreams
About the director:
Stephen Irwin
British animation director and writer. An alumnus of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, his films have won multiple awards and been screened at more than 100 international festivals. In 2024, World To Roam was one of six films longlisted in the British Short Animation category at the BAFTA Film Awards. A laureate of the British Animation Awards, Irwin has also won prizes at animation festivals in Ottawa, Kraków, Chitose, and London.
Russian premiere
“Challenges of a Solitary Mind” tells the story of an introvert facing various challenges such as social expectations she cannot meet as an introverted person. Retreating into her shell, she seeks the comfort of tranquility.
About the director:
Astrid Rothaug
Animation director living and working in Vienna. From 2014, she studied graphics and printmaking at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. In 2018, she studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon on an Erasmus scholarship. Following her studies, she began working independently in printmaking, drawing, painting, writing, and animation. Rothaug’s short films such as Metanoia (2021), Swallowed (2022), and The Missing Spots (2023), have received national and international recognition.
A film about the mundane and the ordinary, which imperceptibly turns catastrophic.
About the director:
Lera Oleynikova
Director and animator. Born in 2000 in Novosibirsk’s Akademgorodok. In 2021, she enrolled in the Animation and Multimedia Faculty at VGIK, studying under Aleksei Dyomin. Socially Approved Positions of Bodies in Space (2025) is her coursework project.
Russian premiere
…where do we travel when we dream – to hidden spaces, landscapes, countries, worlds? …what guides, confuses or frightens us when we dream? Do we move forward, do we get lost, do we get closer or even find… ourselves when we dream? One after the other we are dragged into different dreamscapes.
About the director:
Luzia Johow
Director of music videos and original short films. Born in Burgenland, Austria, in 1995, she graduated from Ortweinschule Graz in 2016, majoring in Film and Multmedia Art. From 2017 to 2022, she studied editing and sound design at the Film Academy Vienna, contributing to numerous film productions, primarily in post-production. Following her editing studies, she pursued a Master’s degree in film at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (KASK).