Announcement of SSFF & ASIA 2026 6th shortlist
We will release a shortlist from among the entries for the Academy Award(R) eligible categories (Live-action Competitions, Animation Competition, and Non-fiction Competition) for the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2026.
This January, we received 656 submissions. Among these, 105 films were student projects, and 255 were made by first-time filmmakers. Women filmmakers represented approximately 41%.
International Competition Overview
For the International Competition, we received 229 submissions. The top submitting countries were the United States, France, and Spain.
A strong trend across the films from the International competition is the exploration of relationships, particularly the bond between siblings, friends, and chosen family.
Asia International Competition Overview
The Asia International Competition received 92 submissions. The top submitting countries were China, Korea, and India. A notable trend is stories that deal with characters struggling with work and hustling to have a better life.
Japan Competition Overview
The Japan Competition received 88 submissions. Trending topics among the films were the pressures of dealing with daily social life, mental health, and isolation.
Animation Competition Overview
The Animation Competition received 64 submissions, with the United States, France, and China leading in submissions. Recurring themes were related to the aging process, like dementia, and the final steps towards death.
Non-Fiction Competition Overview
The Non-Fiction Competition received 50 submissions. The top submitting countries were the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. Notable topics from the non-fiction films are dedicated to subjects such as natural disasters, living in war zones, and finding empathy and friendship with AI chatbots.
〜SSFF & ASIA 2026 shortlist(6th)～
~ The name of the film, the director name, and the country name will be listed in alphabetical order by category
| Project Title | Directors | Country of Origin |
| International | ||
| Ambush | Kameen | Yassmina Karajah | Canada |
| Dëmm (MATI) | Aida Captijn | Senegal, Switzerland |
| Double Shift Dad | Eduardo Venado Chávez | Mexico |
| Nobody Knows the World | Roddy Dextre | Peru |
| Qaher | Nada Khalifa | Poland |
| Sauna Sickness | Malin Barr | Sweden |
| That’s My Sister | Zoé Pelchat | Canada |
| The Evaluation | Laura Kazbaraite | Lithuania |
| The Mystery of Father Metz | Félix Brouillet-Desrosiers | Canada |
| Trio | Fridtjof Stensæth Josefsen, Morten Borgestad | Norway |
| Asia | ||
| Amazing Fantastic Extraordinary People | Nadina Habsjah, Yusgunawan Marto | Indonesia |
| Baby Gangster | Thyestes Tong | Hong Kong |
| Beyond The Mind | Lanya Nooralddin Abdallah | Iraq |
| Collar | Pouyan Ramezanpour | Iran, Islamic Republic of |
| Rock Berkut | Tamerlan Almanov | Kazakhstan |
| Shadows | Sreileak Prum | Cambodia |
| Something In the way | Sai Ma | China |
| The Animal Inside Us | Jane Zhang | China, Macao, Malaysia, United States |
| Animation | ||
| ONDO | Miyoung Baek | South Korea |
| Saba | Liron Topaz | United States |
| The Dog | Konstantinos Demis | Greece |
| The Garden | Carolina Charadán, Miguel Machado | Canada, Cuba, Mexico |
| The Tale of Tran Thanh Duong | Hachul Le Do | Vietnam |
| Traces of Summer | Katsuki Yokoyama | Japan |
| Non Fiction | ||
| 3740 | Lynn Song | Japan, United Kingdom |
| Boomerang Atomic | Rachid Bouchareb | France |
| Hyodo’s Paradise | Jacque Rabie | United States |
| Ikuko Kawai “Sado: A Journey of the Heart” | Masaki Toya | Japan |
| Please Do Not Resuscitate | Leah Finegold | United Kingdom |
| Rio Remains Beautiful | Felipe Casanova | Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland |
| Rite of Passage | Jose Luis Jiménez Gómez | Cuba |
| The Baker’s Hotline | Emily Schuman, Dave Schuman | United States |
| The Noble Witness | Yuta Okamura | United States |
| Japan | ||
| Backstage Pass | Kanji Furutachi | Japan |
| Destinagency | Hiroki Yagi | Japan |
| Husband’s Legs | Kimi Yawata | Japan |
| IM PERFECTION | Mika Sasaki | Japan |
| IN/VISIBLE | Eureka Toki | Japan |
| MABITO | Issei Yoshioka | Japan |
| mopim | Yutaka Mizuochi | Japan |
| Mortals at the Cliff | Shuhei Murata | Japan |
| shady | Hidaka Yamada | Japan |
| Sonic Beat | Shunta Seki | Japan |
| The Parting Day | Kazutomo Ogata | Japan |
| Tokyo Submarine | Ryosuke Takahashi | Japan |
| Unknown | Nanase Nakamura | Japan |
| urar suye | Masashi Sogawa | Japan |
| Who Needs a Cliff? | Yu Sanbonsuge | Japan |
Festival selections will be made from among the shortlisted films. The shortlist films will be selected monthly until the end of March, 2026 and will be uploaded on the festival’s official website by the end of April, 2026. This month’s shortlist is mainly for films submitted by the end of January, but the timing of the announcements may vary.
https://app.lifelogbox.com/festival/shortshorts?tab=competition