2026 Student Academy Award Series Part 1: COWS

COWS, dirs. Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, Valentin Brachet, Maxence Corriette, Tanguy Delepine, Eireen Failly, Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, Yulia Nikitina, Alexandre Verspuce

First out in our coverage for the 2026 Student Academy Awards is the animation finalist COWS. Coming out of the École Supérieure de Métiers Artistique (ESMA) in France, it marks the first time the school has made it into the the winners circle. Originating from the 2025 class in 3D Animation and Visual Effects, it is the graduation film created by Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, Valentin Brachet, Maxence Corriette, Tanguy Delepine, Eireen Failly, Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, Yulia Nikitina and Alexandre Verspuce.

The film follows the cow Moo Moo who, despite living a picturesque life on a traditional farm, dreams of greener pastures outside the fence. Bored of her mundane existence, she gets excited beyond belief when one day a new farm under the banner Milkley opens down the road. With a hyper modern aesthetic and promises of a better life, the new neighbour sounds like the answer to all her prayers. The following night Moo Moo jumps the fence and makes a run for it, getting picked up by their truck turned partymobile along the way. But as we soon come to learn, not all that glitters is gold.

The film opens up with a viewer's discretion about themes of animal exploitation, and that is certainly the social commentary that runs as a main theme through the film, albeit at times with a somewhat exaggerated satirical angle. We have seen plenty of animation take this approach of putting the animals in the role of the protagonist, making humans, or in this case their robotic substitute, the antagonist of the story. A recent example of this would be the Aardman produced sequel to Chicken Run, Dawn of the Nugget, which was in contention for a BAFTA award a couple of years ago.

There are plenty of parallels that can be made to the masters at Aardman, and I think deservedly so. The majority of the animation has a claymation look with exaggerated facial features like Moo Moo’s massive eyes. There are also more subtle nods like the cheese wheel moon peeking through the clouds or the household objects turned inventions through elaborate mechanical work. I suspect this is a very intentional decision but it is well balanced and comes off as admiration rather than imitation.

Interspersed with this style are many recognisable real world objects of various scales and use cases, that had me not only chuckling along in my seat but also immediately wanting to go back for a rewatch. Some of my favourites include; The airplane handing out flyers for Milkley being constructed from tin cans and hinges, the LEGO plates turned transport platform shuttling around cows, the milking lab built from a slurry of devices including an original Game Boy, a kitchen scale and a handful of first gen iPhones.

Last but not least I would be remiss if I did not mention the soundtrack. The lack of human characters often comes with a fitting lack of dialogue, and as such the sound has to do a lot more of the heavy lifting to engage us as viewers. Here the students have gone for a very classic approach of a grand orchestra serving as the backbone and tension, with a hefty dose of sound effects and various grunts and gulps to fill in the gaps. Not only does this feel appropriate for the setting, but I would argue it also makes the film more approachable for the youngest audience. A true family short where even the parents can enjoy it, whether it's the first or tenth time around.

Review by: Robin Hellgren