Encounters Film Festival 2026 Selects 142 Shorts From 39 Countries

Encounters Film Festival has revealed its 2026 international competition, bringing 142 short films to Bristol this September across live action, animation, documentary and ultra-short filmmaking.

Encounters Film Festival has unveiled its 2026 Official Selection, with 142 films from 39 countries set to compete at the festival’s 31st edition in Bristol from 23–27 September 2026.

Announced on 21 August, the programme includes 71 premieres — 17 world premieres, seven international premieres and 47 UK premieres — meaning half of the competition has not previously screened in the United Kingdom.

The line-up spans Encounters’ Brief Encounters, Animated Encounters and Documentary Grand Prix competitions, alongside its Children’s Jury programmes and the long-running DepicT! competition for films running 90 seconds or less.

For filmmakers following the international short-film circuit, Encounters remains particularly relevant because its competition is BAFTA, BIFA and European Film Awards qualifying.

71 premieres across the 2026 competition

The scale of this year’s premiere programme is notable.

Of the 142 films selected:

17 are world premieres
7 are international premieres
47 are UK premieres

Films come from countries including Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Iran, Mexico, Palestine, Romania, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Among the world premieres are Radu Gaciu’s Happy New Year, Rachel MacLean’s Finished, Jakub Gomółka’s Intimate Scenes, Paul Holbrook’s Tor Lewa, Mohammadreza Mayghani’s Yo Yo and Nazgol Kashani’s Uncle Filmi.

Several films will also make their first international appearances at Encounters, while dozens more arrive in Bristol for their first UK screenings.

Saoirse Ronan’s directorial debut joins the programme

One of the headline titles is Paper Plane, the directorial debut of four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, which will receive its UK premiere at Encounters.

The programme also includes new short-form work from several established filmmakers.

Oscar winner Aneil Karia is represented by Vote Gavin Lyle, while Oscar nominees Joshua Oppenheimer, Don Hertzfeldt and Jérémy Comte bring The Revolution Against Death, Paper Trail and Brute respectively.

Experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison is represented by Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon, while Jamie Hewlett and Max Taylor bring the Gorillaz film The Mountain, The Moon Cave & The Sad God.

That combination of established names and emerging filmmakers is a defining part of the Encounters competition model.

Animation remains central to Encounters

Animation continues to occupy a substantial part of the festival programme.

The Animated Encounters selection includes work from filmmakers such as Anna Mantzaris, Theodore Ushev, Anna Ginsburg, Emma Calder and Coco Cripps, and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski.

Their selected films include PLEASE, Life with an idiot, HAG, House of Love and The Girl Who Cried Pearls.

Encounters has historically had close ties to animation through its Bristol base, a city that is also home to Aardman and a wider animation and screen-production community.

Documentary shorts also compete for a Grand Prix

Documentary work has its own major competitive strand through the Documentary Grand Prix.

The 2026 programme includes films such as Maryam Tafakory’s Daria’s Night Flowers and Elham Ehsas’ Forgotten Spaceman.

The wider selection demonstrates how broadly Encounters interprets contemporary short cinema, with fiction, documentary, animation, experimental work and extremely short filmmaking all represented within the same festival.

Encounters is BAFTA, BIFA and European Film Awards qualifying

For filmmakers, the festival’s awards status is one of the most significant aspects of selection.

Encounters describes itself as a qualifying festival for BAFTA, the British Independent Film Awards and the European Film Awards.

The festival’s international short-film competition has operated for more than three decades, with previous participants including filmmakers who later established substantial international careers.

Encounters lists alumni including Denis Villeneuve, Lynne Ramsay, Ruben Östlund, Julia Ducournau, Joachim Trier, Rungano Nyoni, Charlotte Wells, Molly Manning-Walker and Radu Jude.

The qualifying status should not be confused with automatic nomination. Winning or selection outcomes remain subject to the applicable rules of each awards organisation.

DepicT! returns for films under 90 seconds

Encounters also continues its unusual DepicT! competition, which challenges filmmakers to tell a complete story in 90 seconds or less.

Launched in 1999, the competition has grown from several hundred entries to more than 1,000 submissions annually from over 80 countries, according to Encounters.

Submissions for the 2026 DepicT! edition are now closed, with selected films incorporated into the September festival programme.

The format gives ultra-short filmmaking a dedicated competitive space alongside Encounters’ longer narrative, animation and documentary shorts.

When is Encounters Film Festival 2026?

The 31st Encounters Film Festival will run:

23–27 September 2026
Bristol, United Kingdom

Filmmakers exploring the wider short film festival circuit can also consult Indie Shorts Mag’s guide to established festivals for short films.

Festival and industry passes are already available, with passholders receiving an advance booking window before individual ticket sales.

The programme combines competition screenings with talks, masterclasses and industry events, while an Industry Pass also provides access to the festival’s Filmmaker Lounge and delegate network.

With 142 films, 71 premieres and filmmakers representing 39 countries, the newly announced competition gives short-film audiences one of the larger international programmes arriving on the European festival calendar this September.

For filmmakers, the results will also be worth following once Encounters announces its Grand Prix winners, particularly because of the festival’s BAFTA, BIFA and European Film Awards qualifying status.