ShortStick

Gauze, dirs. Noran Fikri Alezabi, Nicholas Arujah, Yulin Yue, Xinyue MA, Xiaonan Zhou Continuing the impressive streak of Student Academy Awards finalists coming out of Gobelins in Paris - joining the ranks of The Shyness of Trees (bronze 2025), El Ombligo de la Luna (finalist 2024), Goodbye Jérôme! (finalist 2022), The Tree (finalist 2020) and The Ostrich Politic (finalist 2019) - is the animated short Gauze directed by Noran Fikri Alezabi, Nicholas Arujah, Xinyue Ma, Yulin

I Want to Live, dir. Jason Elliott The second Student Academy Award winner for Best Documentary in our series is Jason Elliott's I Want to Live from the National Film and Television School. The short narrates the history of Mallory Smith, a girl who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 3. The medicine regiment she is put on is relentless. Every day she receives countless amounts of pills, goes through lung exercises, and undergoes antibiotic treatments. Throughout

Kamathipura Express, dir. Leon Korzyński “Do you ever think of going back home?” When Leon Korzyński first arrived in Mumbai, he was only ten years old. The city made such a lasting impression on him that, even then, he could imagine himself returning one day to make a film there. Years later, while studying Directing at the Warsaw Film School, he turned that childhood idea into reality. Working with an international crew, he created Kamathipura Express, an unusually acc

The Panic Inside, dir. Matthias Strasser Toxic people pleasing has a way of sneaking up on you. It starts as a desire to be helpful, to keep the peace, or to avoid disappointing anyone. Over time, though, you stretch yourself thin. You ignore your own needs until the pressure finally cracks open. The Panic Inside from director Matthias Strasser, one of this year’s Student Academy Award winners for Best Animated Film, channels that struggle into an emotionally powerful and vis

Artificial Love, dir. Arjun Fischer Artificial intelligence has become a central part of the debate in society. Across multiple spheres, there are different approaches to AI, and it is a complex issue. One of the Student Academy Award winners for Best Documentary explores romance in the age of AI. Arjun Fischer's Artificial Love, from the University of Southern California (USC), explores a new form of relationship. Patrick, a middle-aged man, falls in love with an AI - he nam

Volklore, dir. Viktorie Štěpánová Czech filmmaker Viktorie Štěpánová’s Volklore has won a Student Academy Award in the Alternative/Experimental category, making it the first Czech film ever to receive the honour. Štěpánová, a graduate of Prague’s FAMU film school, turns to the country’s rich traditions and folklore and gives them a distinctly Gen Z makeover. The result is a riotously playful, visually inventive film that asks a surprisingly serious question: what happens to