ClujShorts Winners 2026
Best Screenplay Award
Awarded to the film Poor Me (Săraca de mine), Norway, written and directed by Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad, for its simultaneously humorous and dramatic portrayal of a family that manages to remain united despite the challenges they face.
Best Editing Award
Awarded to Nicolas Houver for the editing of the films Test Day (Jour de permis) and The Eco-Blasé (Les éco-blasés), France, in which he brilliantly achieved effects of surprise, suspense, shock, and comedy through a masterful articulation of cinematic shots.
Best Cinematography Award
Awarded to the film In a Thousand Petals (En mille pétales), directed by Louise Bongartz, Belgium, for the pictorial quality of the imagery, which blends colors, shapes, and textures to support a moving and poetic narrative.
Best Acting Award
Awarded to the duo Yankalle Filtser and Ihab Elias Salami for their performance in the film Samuel on the Sand (Samuel în deșert), directed by Mahmoud Abu Ghannam. In a parodic film filled with meta-cinematic allusions, they succeeded in building a human relationship that transcends beliefs and words, reaching toward the simplest gestures and the most mundane emotions.
Best Animation Award
Awarded to the film Dear End (Chère fin), directed by Khéma Cousin, Lien Franckel, Laora Le Boursicot, Alissende Masson, Joséphine Mounier & Clément Saden, France, for its exceptional visual qualities and the intelligent way it explores the end of the era of handwriting and letters alongside a potential ecological crisis.
Best Sound Award
Awarded to the film There Will Come Soft Rains (Vor veni ploi blânde), directed by Elham Ehsas, UK, for the care and precision used to construct its sonic universe and for the poetic effects generated through words, music, and silence.
Best Student Film Award
Awarded to the film The Things We Do For Love And A Foreign Passport, directed by Ayal Sgerski, Israel, for the maturity with which it handles the difficult themes of freedom and choice, successfully embedding grotesque and comic accents within the core of the most serious issues.
Press award
For the humor used to address grave issues such as the Holocaust, fleeing from war, and the relationship with an abusive system that behaves absurdly simply because it can. For bringing us closer to Kafka while offering solutions: language must remain here. For satirizing how social media can destroy our lives, especially when trying to cross borders. A film that, if it isn't already, will be inspired by true events. Also, for depicting a country that doesn't exist but is entirely possible, and the moral decisions we must make to escape hell. And because the past walks gloriously into the future, while dystopias are closer than we delude ourselves into thinking. For all these reasons, the Press Award goes to 'The Things We Do for Love and a Foreign Passport', Israel, 2025, directed by Ayal Sgerski."
Persona Association Award
Three Venezuelan women cross the border into Colombia to buy a packet of pasta.
Why do we award Pasta Negra, directed by Jorge Thielen Armand, a Canada-Colombia-Italy-Venezuela co-production?
We grant this award to the film "Pasta Negra" for the courage to transform the collapse of a nation into a disturbing sensory and human experience.
The film masterfully weaves together two obsessions of Venezuela: black pasta (the poor man's food, the symbol of shortage) and "La Mancha Negra" (the oily substance that devoured the roads of Caracas). The result is a visceral metaphor of a country melting under its own weight.
Inspired by the universe of Karina Sainz Borgo, the short film refuses the clichés of victimization. It highlights the fierce dignity of the women navigating through chaos, transforming survival into an act of pure resistance.
Director Jorge Thielen Armand captures not just an economic crisis, but an existential one, where the border between life and death is as thin and slippery as the hot bitumen on the highways.
"Pasta Negra" is awarded because it succeeds in giving a human face to a systemic tragedy, reminding us that, in the midst of darkness, the only remaining compass is desperate solidarity.
Jury Award
Awarded to the film What Do Dragons Eat? (Ce mănâncă dragonii?), directed by Álvaro León, Spain, for providing a timeless parable of courage that transcends its accurate and compelling recreation of Civil War-era Spain.
Best Director Award
Awarded to the film Golden Swingers (Swingers de aur), directed by Pol Aguilera, for a directorial vision that impeccably controls every aspect of the film within a dynamic, humorous narrative sustained by varying rhythms that perfectly match the situations described.
ClujShorts Trophy
Awarded to the film Leonardo, directed by Meka Ribera & Álvaro G. Company, for the relevance of the issues it raises and its visionary approach to the relationship between humans and Artificial Intelligence. Dynamic, well-paced, elegantly crafted, highly tense, and profoundly human, Leonardo fully deserves the Festival Trophy.
Cluj Shorts 2026 Schedule
Friday, March 20, 2026
6:00 PM, Casino – Opening Gala
Opening remarks
Exhibition of puppets, props, and sets from the film Puppets of a Digital Brain
Launch of the official website of the Persona Association – asociatiapersona.ro
7:30 PM, Casino – Film Screening
Leonardo, dir. Meka Ribera & Álvaro G. Company, 15:55, 2025, Spain, Sci-Fi
No God No Father, dir. Paul Kermarec, 11:27, 2025, France, Documentary
404, dir. Marina Ganina, 19:59, 2025, Russia, Thriller
Golden Swingers, dir. Pol Aguilera, 13:27, 2025, Spain, Comedy
Into Balloon, dir. Rareș H. Stoica, 26:00, 2025, Romania, Documentary
Discussion: Intertwined Destinies on the Road
The story of relationships formed while traveling
Ioana Cosman and Vasile Cipcigan (Nomadis)
Saturday, March 21, 2026
4:00 PM, Cinema Mărăști – Film Screening
Test Day, dir. Laura Ghazal, 04:20, 2024, France, Comedy
Caged, dir. Joan Maura, 13:57, 2025, Spain, Drama
Empty Skies, dir. Lihy Gotlieb, 18:10, 2025, Israel, Drama
Phoenicia, dir. Ainara Fernández, 13:00, 2025, Spain, Drama
Cold Hands, dir. Sergio Checa, 19:50, 2025, Spain, Drama
Biting the Hand That Feeds You, dir. Chantal Peten, 05:54, 2025, Belgium, Animation
Poor Me, dir. Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad, 19:39, 2025, Norway, Comedy
The Boy Who Erased Kisses, dir. Radostina Neykova & Fernando Glarito, 09:50, 2025, Bulgaria & Portugal, Animation
5:00 PM, Casino – Reflections:
The Relationship as Identity: Not Only Who We Love, but Who We Become Through Our Connections
Guest – Nelu Lesuțan – psychologist, psychotherapist, PhD in Philosophy
6:00 PM, Cinema Mărăști – Film Screening
Samuel on the Sands, dir. Mahmoud Abu Ghannam, 16:27, 2025, Israel, Drama
The Border, dir. Daria Sliusarenko, 12:36, 2025, France, Drama
The Things We Do for Love and a Foreign Passport, dir. Ayal Sgerski, 14:32, 2025, Israel, Comedy
Pasta Negra, dir. Jorge Thielen Armand, 15:05, 2025, Canada & Colombia & Italy & Venezuela, Drama
Mandatory Physical Education, dir. Pablo Porcuna, 13:44, 2026, Spain, Drama
Inflatable Bear, Hourly, dir. Elisabeth Werchosin, 11:59, 2025, Germany, Comedy
What Do Dragons Eat?, dir. Álvaro León, 15:11, 2025, Spain, Drama
8:00 PM, Cinema Arta – Film Screening
Puppets of a Digital Brain, dir. Rareș H. Stoica, 47:00, 2026, Romania, an educational–scientific project
Sunday, March 22, 2026
4:00 PM, Cinema Dacia – Film Screening
The Environmentally Blasé, dir. Laura Ghazal, 03:48, 2024, France, Comedy
Your House, dir. Adèle Perrin, 15:00, 2025, France, Documentary
Upon Sunrise, dir. Stefan Ivančić, 14:27, 2025, Croatia & Serbia & Montenegro & Slovenia & Spain, Drama
Blackout, dir. Ahmed Elzogbhy, 14:54, 2025, Egypt, Comedy
Dear End, dir. Khéma Cousin & Lien Franckel & Laora Le Boursicot & Alissende Masson & Joséphine Mounier & Clément Saden, 07:49, 2025, France, Animation
In a Thousand Petals, dir. Louise Bongartz, 10:15, 2024, Belgium, Drama
Saturn in Venus, dir. Alla Eliseeva, 05:00, 2025, Georgia, Comedy
There Will Come Soft Rains, dir. Elham Ehsas, 14:45, 2025, United Kingdom, Drama
Don’t You Dare, dir. Andrey Vasilyev, 14:25, 2025, Russia, Comedy
5:00 PM, Casino – Debate:
What Still Keeps Us Together?
Guests: Ciprian Mihali – Professor of Philosophy, and Vasile Hotea Fernezan
7:00 PM, Casino – Awards Ceremony
Hosted by Dragoș Pop and Alexandra Ghejan
Official Selection ClujShorts 2026
| Original Title | English Title | Director | Year | Contry | |
| 1 | Blackout | Blackout | Ahmed ElZogbhy | 2025 | Egypt |
| 2 | Cracher dans la soupe | Biting the hand that feeds you | Chantal Peten | 2025 | Belgium |
| 3 | Engabiat | Caged | Joan Maura | 2025 | Spain |
| 4 | Frío en las Manos | Cold Hands | Sergio Checa | 2025 | Spain |
| 5 | Chère Fin& | Dear End& | Khéma Cousin& Lien Franckel& Laora Le Boursicot& Alissende Masson& Joséphine Mounier& Clément Saden | 2025 | France |
| 6 | Ne vzdumai! | Don’t you dare | Andrey Vasilyev | 2025 | Russia |
| 7 | Shamaim Rekim | Empty Skies | Lihy Gotlieb | 2025 | Israel |
| 8 | A La Vejes, Viruelas | Golden Swingers | Pol Aguilera | 2025 | Spain |
| 9 | En mille pétales | In thousand petals | Louise Bongartz | 2024 | Belgium |
| 10 | Inflatable bear& hourly | Inflatable bear& hourly | Elisabeth Werchosin | 2025 | Germany |
| 11 | În balon cu Sabina Fati și Marius Chivu | Up In a Hot Air Ballon with Sabina Fati and Marius Chivu | Rareș H. Stoica | 2025 | Romania |
| 12 | Leonardo | Leonardo | Meka Ribera& Álvaro G. Company | 2025 | Spain |
| 13 | Educación Física Obligatoria | Mandatory Physical Education | Pablo Porcuna | 2026 | Spain |
| 14 | Ni Dieu ni Père | No God no Father | Paul Kermarec | 2025 | France |
| 15 | Pasta Negra | Pasta Negra | Jorge Thielen Armand | 2025 | Canada&Colombia&
Italy&Venezuela |
| 16 | Fenicia | Phoenicia | Ainara Fernández | 2025 | Spain |
| 17 | Stakkars Meg | Poor Me | Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad | 2025 | Norway |
| 18 | Samuel El Hacholot | Samuel on The Sands | Mahmoud Abu Ghannam | 2025 | Israel |
| 19 | Saturn in Venus | Saturn in Venus | Alla Eliseeva | 2025 | Georgia |
| 20 | Jour de permis | Test Day | Laura Ghazal | 2024 | France |
| 21 | The border | The border | Daria Sliusarenko | 2025 | France |
| 22 | Momcheto koeto iztri celuvkite/ O Rapaz que apagava beijos | The boy who erased kisses | Radostina Neykova&Fernando Glarito | 2025 | Bulgaria&Portugal |
| 23 | Les éco-blasés | The environmentally blasé | Laura Ghazal | 2024 | France |
| 24 | Hadvarim Sheanchnu Osim Bshvil Ahava Vezrahut Zara | The Things We do for Love and a Foreign Passport | Ayal Sgerski | 2025 | Israel |
| 25 | There Will Come Soft Rains | There Will Come Soft Rains | Elham Ehsas | 2025 | United Kingdom |
| 26 | Kad svane | Upon Sunrise | Stefan Ivančić | 2025 | Croatia&Serbia and Montenegro&
Slovenia&Spain |
| 27 | ¿Qué Comen los Dragones? | What Do Dragons Eat? | Álvaro León | 2025 | Spain |
| 28 | Ta Maison | Your House | Adèle Perrin | 2025 | France |
| 29 | 404 | 404 | Marina Ganina | 2025 | Russia |
ClujShorts Awards 2025
ClujShorts Awards 2025
ClujShorts Trophy
Film: Cava / Dig/ Sapă
Directed by: JANDRO
Country: Spain
Genre: Thriller
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the extremely effective way in which it tells a story that is both comic and tragic, using all the resources of cinematic expressiveness—script, cinematography, editing, direction—and delivering a powerful final twist.
Best Student Film
Film: Die Letzte Wette / The Last Bet
Directed by: Meike Wüstenberg
Country: Austria
Genre: Drama
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the craftsmanship with which this student film is constructed and for the stylistic maturity it demonstrates.
Best Animation
Film: J’ai Avalé Une Chenille / My Teenage Blackout/
Directed by: Basile Khatir
Country: France
Genre: Drama
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the way it combines a deeply moving tragic story with an animation style that may seem simple but fits perfectly with the innocence of the narrative voice.
Jury Award
Film: The Eggregores’ Theory/ Teoria eggregorilor
Directed by: Andrea Gatopoulos
Country: Italy
Genre: Animation
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the strong visual representation of a dystopian universe where words become deadly, for the memorable imagery in various shades of black and white, and for the innovative use of modern technology to critique those very technologies.
Persona Association Award
Film: Heaven Forbid
Directed by: Alexandra Bégin
Country: Canada
Genre: Drama
Persona Association’s Award Motivation
The Organiser’s Award is presented to a film that transcends the conventional boundaries of short storytelling and creates an authentic space for reflection, emotion, and humanity.
Through the eyes of a young girl who, after losing her mother, seeks meaning, faith, and hope
in her relationship with her father and her dog, Joan of Arc,
the film gently navigates themes such as grief, unconditional love, spirituality, and belonging.
The “baptism” ritual of the dog, performed in an empty church, becomes a pure act of faith.
A tender form of resistance against dogma.
A declaration of how suffering can be transformed into light.
For its emotional depth,
for the sincere questions it raises, and for the beauty with which it gives voice to innocence and absolute love, Heaven Forbid receives the Persona Association Award.
Best Direction
Film: L’enfant À La Peau Blanche / The Boy With White Skin
Directed by: Simon Panay
Country: Mali
Genre: Dramă / Drama
Jury motivation:
Awarded for a boldly undertaken approach, for a story full of meaning, and for the challenging shoots that were handled with great directorial creativity.
Best Screenplay
Film: Kidnapping John Malkovitch
Directed by: Koya Kamura
Country: France
Genre: Comedy
Jury motivation:
Awarded for a highly dynamic screenplay, for the wacky story imagined by the film team, filled with humorous lines, and for the way the writing highlighted specific aspects of the actors’ performances.
Best Editing
Film: Les Liens Du Sang / Blood Ties
Directed by: Hakim Atoui
Country: France
Genre: Horror
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the creative use of editing in building both horror and intensely comedic moments, elevating the film’s aesthetic impact.
Best Soundtrack
Film: À Toi Les Oreilles
Directed by: Alexandre Isabelle
Country: Canada
Genre: Dramă / Drama
Jury motivation:
Awarded for an ordinary story in which sound and music not only contribute to the narrative but actually become main characters and a source of salvation for the dysfunctional characters depicted.
Best Cinematography
Film: Ahora Vuelvo / Be Right Back
Directed by: Lucas Paulino & Gabe Ibañez
Country: Spain
Genre: Horror
Jury motivation:
Awarded for a film that, through its cinematography, masterfully uses all the resources of horror: slow shots, sudden transitions, detailed frame composition, and a haunting color palette.
Best Acting
Film: Vida o Teatre / Life Or Theater
Directed by: Guillem Manzanares
Actresses: Laia Manzanares & Miriam Iscla
Country: Spain
Genre: Drama
Jury motivation:
Awarded for the energetic performances of the two actresses, their expressive delivery, physical interaction, and the emotional complexity they bring to the screen.
Press Award (ex aeqvo)
Film: The Last Bet
Country: Austria
Genre: Drama
Jury motivation:
A film full of gentleness, that speaks about death without taking away the beauty of life. I truly appreciated how the end-of-the-world kind of light and the understated set design support and complete the story, alongside the carefully chosen music and the actors’ impeccable performances. Even though death is present in almost every line, humor and playfulness turn life into something bearable — even luminous. And the wisdom of old age reminds us that sometimes, a prize — one last piece of chocolate — is all we can wish for from life.
Film: Blood ties
Country: France
Genre: Horror
Jury motivation:
The creators demonstrate a very good understanding of (dysfunctional) family relationships and of the attempts to substitute them with electronic alternatives. We appreciated the flawless mastery of horror-introducing techniques, the perfect pacing of the story, and the happy ending: everyone dies.
Audience Award
Film: Jocurile Nomade/ Nomad Games
Country: România
Genre: Documentar