Announcement of SSFF & ASIA 2026 4th 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 November, we received 701 submissions. Among these, 21 films were student projects, and 187 were first-time filmmakers. Women filmmakers represented approximately 46% of, which is positive since the gap is closing compared to last month.
International Competition Overview
For the International Competition, we received 428 submissions. The top submitting countries were the United States, France, and Spain.
The trends across these films reveal a focus on stories dealing with significant societal conflict and the realities of daily life are also a notable trend.
Asia International Competition Overview
The Asia International Competition received 109 submissions. The top submitting countries were China, India, and Taiwan. A notable trend is films that explore social issues and life under challenging circumstances.
War and Societal Impact: There is a trend of exploring conflicts, life in war torn regions, and the psychological consequences of conflict.
Japan Competition Overview
The Japan Competition received 109 submissions. Several films were coming of age dealing with the search for identity, family conflict and falling in love in High School.
Animation Competition Overview
The Animation Competition received 84 submissions, with the United States, Germany and Austria leading in submissions. Recurring themes are over consumption, greed. Among these films, there is a sharp, modern critique of how digital culture and corporations “eat” the individual.
Non-Fiction Competition Overview
The Non-Fiction Competition received 72 submissions. The top submitting countries were the United States, Japan, and Spain. Several films grapple with the tension between Ecology and human intervention, often through a lens of mourning or activism.
〜SSFF & ASIA 2026 shortlist(4th)～
~ 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 | ||
| Astro | Tim Ewalts | Netherlands |
| Bloomer | Jimmy Zwedberg | Sweden |
| Imago | Ariel Zengotita | United States |
| Jacaré | Victor Quintanilha | Brazil |
| PALE SUN | Adrian Moyse Dullin, Jawahine Zentar | France |
| Solo un poco aquí | Diego Saram | Australia |
| Some Things Can’t Wait | Vincent Jost | Germany |
| Strive | Jussi Rautaniemi | Finland |
| The Devil And The Bicycle | Sharon Hakim | France |
| The Girl Next Door | Mingjian Cui | New Zealand |
| The Humbug | Cole Paviour | United Kingdom |
| The Pigs Underneath | Charlie Dennis | United Kingdom |
| The Sea Remembers My Name | Hussein Hossam | Egypt |
| The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much | Eric Jackowitz | United States |
| The Taste of your Scales | Rafaël Beauchamp | Canada |
| Asia | ||
| Amelia, Amelia | Daphne | Indonesia |
| Attitude | Shahrzad Rezaei | Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
| Fresh as Daisy | SOCHEATA VAN | Cambodia |
| MOO | Htet Aung Lwyn | Myanmar |
| My Threaded Fireworks | Gang Liu | China |
| Noise Cancellation | Jihye Choi | Korea, Democratic People’S Republic Of |
| Red Heels | Alina Baitokova | Kyrgyzstan |
| Southwest Corner | Zachary YAP | Singapore |
| The Repeater | NAY HEIN | Myanmar |
| White Flag | Perviz Rostemi | Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
| Animation | ||
| DOUBLE OR NOTHING | Tokay | Switzerland |
| Let There Be Light | Tamar Eckhaus | Denmark |
| Like A Fairy Tale | Kirill Khachaturov | France |
| My game | David Navarro Bravo | Spain |
| Radix | Anne Breymann | Germany |
| Rocked by the Wind | Hsiao-Shan Huang | Taiwan |
| Rumination | Syed Munawir | France |
| The Lighthousekeeper | Andy Kaiser | Germany |
| Non Fiction | ||
| Still Standing | Victor Tadashi Suarez, Livia Albeck-Ripka | United States |
| The Signals of Color | DAISUKE ABE | Japan |
| Never Never Land | Danchi Zhao | United States |
| TAMASHI | Ashima Shiraishi, Jess X. Snow | United States |
| Bicycle Face | Amaia Nerekan Umaran, Itziar Zorita Agirre | Spain |
| Tantalum | collective collective | Belgium |
| Where is home? | Tiar Simorangkir | Indonesia |
| El pütì pèrs | Paolo Baiguera | Italy |
| Am I Calling You At A Bad Time | Martta Tuomaala | Finland |
| Amateur in the Moon | Pang-Chuan Huang, Chunni Lin | Taiwan |
| Japan | ||
| A Surplus Moment | Taishi Shiode | Japan |
| catalyst | Nao Kamehira | Japan |
| If I Die | Takahiro Sugimura | Japan |
| Round and Round | Hayato Otogi | Japan |
| The Shimmer of Existence | Goushi Suzuki | 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 October, but the timing of the announcements may vary.
https://app.lifelogbox.com/festival/shortshorts?tab=competition