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Bali International Short Film Festival Minikino Film Week has selected 122 shorts from 1,454 international submissions, with its wider 2026 programme expanding to 202 films across 42 screening programmes.
Minikino Film Week has unveiled details of its 12th edition, with 122 short films from 60 countries making the Official Selection for the Bali International Short Film Festival.
The festival received 1,454 short films from around the world through its international submission platforms before completing a multi-stage selection process.
Minikino Film Week 12 will run across Bali from 11 to 18 September 2026, with Denpasar serving as the main hub.
Beyond the Official Selection, invited programmes, regional exchanges and filmmaking initiatives will bring the festival’s overall programme to 202 short films presented across 42 screening programmes.
The scale of the selection makes the 2026 edition a useful snapshot of contemporary international short filmmaking, while the festival’s accompanying Short Film Market creates an additional industry component around the screenings.
122 shorts selected from 1,454 submissions
The 122-film Official Selection represents filmmakers from 60 countries, including Indonesia.
Fiction accounts for the largest portion of the films being presented at the festival, representing approximately 59.46% of the programme.
Animation follows at 20.27%, while documentaries account for 9.91%. Experimental films represent approximately 8.11%, with docufiction making up the remaining 2.25%.
The international selection forms only one part of Minikino Film Week’s broader programming.
The festival will also present Indonesia Raja 2026, its national short-film exchange programme, alongside programmes connected with Southeast Asian programming networks, guest selections and films emerging from Minikino’s filmmaking initiatives.
Combined, these strands expand the programme to 202 shorts.
International and Indonesian short films compete for awards
Minikino Film Week operates both international and national awards.
The festival’s main Best Short Film of the Year Award carries a cash prize of IDR 5 million.
Separate awards for Best Fiction Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Animation Short, Best Experimental Short and Best Children’s Short each carry IDR 1 million.
International award eligibility includes a premiere requirement.
Eligible international competition films must hold their Indonesian premiere at Minikino Film Week, meaning they cannot have screened elsewhere in Indonesia before the conclusion of the festival.
For Indonesian productions seeking national awards, the festival generally requires a Bali premiere, with exceptions applying to some of Minikino’s own curated programmes.
The festival accepts shorts of up to 25 minutes for its international selection.
Minikino Film Week returns across Bali
MFW12 will take place over eight days from Friday, 11 September to Friday, 18 September.
Rather than concentrating every screening inside a single multiplex or festival complex, Minikino uses a combination of dedicated cinemas, cultural spaces and temporary screening locations.
Core 2026 locations include MASH Denpasar Art House Cinema, Rumah Tanjung Bungkak and Dharma Negara Alaya.
Community screenings will extend the programme to additional locations around Bali, continuing the festival’s decentralised approach to short-film exhibition.
The programme includes international and national competitions, Indonesia Raja, Southeast Asian selections and collaborative programmes developed through Minikino’s international festival network.
Short Film Market returns for its eighth edition
Minikino Film Week will also host the eighth Short Film Market, extending the event beyond public screenings.
First introduced in 2019, the market brings filmmakers, producers, programmers and other industry professionals together through talks, workshops, seminars, professional meetings, market screenings and networking activities.
A Short Film Library also gives industry participants another route to discover participating work.
For filmmakers, this industry component is particularly relevant because festivals increasingly function not only as exhibition spaces but also as places to build relationships with programmers, distributors and other professionals working specifically with short-form cinema.
The market sits alongside Minikino’s education and filmmaker-development initiatives during festival week.
Filmmaker development remains part of the festival
Minikino Film Week also incorporates programmes aimed at developing short-film projects and emerging filmmakers.
Shorts Up 2026, now in its third edition, received 43 project applications. Seven projects were shortlisted before five were ultimately selected for the programme.
The initiative supports developing short-film projects through mentoring and project-development activities.
Minikino also operates its long-running Begadang filmmaking competition, alongside educational activities connected with festival programming, criticism and production.
Together with the market, these programmes position MFW as more than an eight-day screening event, with activity taking place around short-film development, production, exhibition and professional exchange.
A growing international short-film platform in Southeast Asia
Minikino Film Week is organised by Yayasan Kino Media and has developed around a model that places international work alongside Indonesian and Southeast Asian shorts.
The festival’s regional programmes are particularly significant within that structure.
Indonesia Raja connects short-film programmes curated in different parts of Indonesia, while Minikino’s Southeast Asian network links programmers and films across neighbouring countries.
This year’s 60-country Official Selection expands that local and regional foundation into an international programme.
The combination is particularly useful for filmmakers whose festival strategies include Southeast Asia, where opportunities for sustained short-film exhibition and industry exchange remain more limited than in some European festival markets.
Minikino Film Week 12 key details
- Festival: Minikino Film Week 12 — Bali International Short Film Festival
- Dates: 11–18 September 2026
- Location: Bali, Indonesia, with Denpasar as the primary hub
- International submissions received: 1,454
- Official Selection: 122 short films
- Countries represented: 60
- Overall festival programme: 202 short films
- Screening programmes: 42
- Best Short Film of the Year prize: IDR 5 million
- Short Film Market: Eighth edition
With the selection now confirmed, attention turns to the screenings and awards when Minikino Film Week opens in Bali on 11 September.
For filmmakers and programmers following short cinema from Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asian region, the 122-film international selection and accompanying Short Film Market make MFW12 one of the region’s notable short-film events to watch this month.
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