BFI London Film Festival 2026 Reveals 10-Film Short Film Competition

The 70th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its full 2026 programme, including 10 films competing for Best Short Film and 19 short-film world premieres across its wider shorts selection.

The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the full programme for its 70th edition, with short films forming a substantial part of the 251-title selection coming to London and venues across the UK this October.

Announced on 2 September 2026, the programme brings together features, short films, series and immersive works from 88 countries.

For short-film audiences, the announcement confirms a 10-film Short Film Competition for Best Short Film, alongside thematic shorts programmes spanning animation, comedy, experimental work, horror and contemporary international filmmaking.

The festival runs from 7 to 18 October 2026.

10 films will compete for Best Short Film

Ten films have been selected for the festival’s Short Film Competition: Best Short Film.

The competition sits alongside LFF’s feature competitions and gives the selected filmmakers a dedicated competitive platform within one of the UK’s largest international film events.

The festival will also bring back its audience awards, including an Audience Award for Best Short, meaning short films will receive recognition through both the juried competition and audience voting.

The full programme announcement is particularly significant because it moves LFF’s 2026 short-film programme from individual previews and announcements to the complete festival selection.

19 short films will have world premieres

The festival’s wider programme includes 33 world premieres, of which 19 are short films.

Short films account for a further seven international premieres and seven European premieres.

That gives shorts a significant share of the festival’s premiere programme, rather than positioning the format purely as supporting material alongside the feature selection.

LFF has organised its wider short-film selection into thematic programmes designed to bring films together around shared ideas and styles.

The 2026 programmes include Altered States, exploring fractured memories and uncertain futures; As the Years Roll By, centred on ageing and human connection; and Call Your Bluff, which brings together comedy shorts from the UK.

Other programmes include I See Myself, focusing on identity, resistance and self-expression; Land of Hope and Gory, moving into darker territory including body horror; and Life / Drawing, dedicated to animated shorts exploring relationships and identity.

Shorts form part of a 251-title international programme

Across all formats, the 70th London Film Festival will present 251 works from 88 countries.

The programme includes 109 works made by female filmmakers, representing approximately 43% of the overall selection.

The festival will primarily operate from BFI Southbank and venues around central London, while selected parts of the programme will also reach audiences through partner cinemas elsewhere in the UK.

For short filmmakers, LFF remains particularly useful as both a public exhibition platform and a meeting point for the wider international film industry.

The shorts programme places emerging filmmakers within the same festival infrastructure as high-profile international features, established directors, producers, distributors and other industry professionals attending the event.

Animation has a dedicated place within the shorts programme

One of the six thematic programmes, Life / Drawing, is devoted specifically to animation.

The selection explores different ways animated filmmakers approach relationships, identity and connections with the surrounding world.

This gives animation a clearly defined presence within the wider shorts programme instead of distributing animated work solely across mixed-format screenings.

Experimental and formally unconventional films also appear throughout the shorts selection, particularly within programmes such as Altered States.

The structure allows audiences to discover short films according to themes and filmmaking approaches rather than simply presenting one large competition screening. Check out our article to discover film festivals for short films.

Best Short returns alongside the Audience Awards

LFF’s short-film programme ultimately offers two prominent routes to festival recognition.

The first is the juried Best Short Film competition involving the 10 selected competition titles.

The second is the festival’s returning Audience Award: Best Short, where audiences vote for their favourite short-film work from the festival.

The festival will additionally present Audience Awards for Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery.

For filmmakers, audience prizes can provide a different measure of a film’s reception from jury awards, particularly when shorts are screened for general festival audiences rather than exclusively for industry professionals.

When do BFI London Film Festival tickets go on sale?

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday, 7 October to Sunday, 18 October 2026.

General ticket sales open on 17 September, with BFI Members receiving earlier booking access.

The programme will be presented at BFI Southbank, the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and other cinemas around London, alongside selected screenings and events at partner venues elsewhere in the UK.

Audiences interested specifically in short films can explore the dedicated LFF Shorts strand and the six thematic programmes when planning screenings.

With 19 short-film world premieres and 10 films competing for Best Short Film, the newly announced programme gives short-form work a sizeable presence at the festival’s 70th edition.

The next developments to watch will be the individual screenings in October, followed by the announcement of the Best Short Film winner and the Audience Award for Best Short.