The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, regarded as the world’s largest event dedicated to the short format, has announced its lineup for the 48th edition, which will take place from January 30 to February 7, 2026. A total of 144 titles will compete for the festival’s top awards, reaffirming the French event’s commitment to showcasing a wide diversity of perspectives on contemporary life.

The International Competition will bring together 64 shorts from different continents, with a selection that spans a wide range of genres and styles. Among the highlights are Magid / Zafar (United Kingdom), a tense drama directed by Luis Hindeman that has just won the BIFA Award for Best Short Film, and Loynes by Dorian Jespers (Belgium/France/Macedonia/United Kingdom), a Kafkaesque tale that impressed audiences following its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Also part of this lineup is El banner, by Argentine director Tomás Terzano, which recently won Best Short Film in the Official Argentine Competition at the 26th edition of BAFICI.

There will also be room for animated and documentary works such as Winter in March by Natalia Mirzoyan (Estonia/Armenia/Belgium/France), a poetic piece about a couple fleeing Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, and Air Horse One by Swiss filmmaker Lasse Linder, a witty look at a prize-winning racehorse and the complexities of equine air travel, recently premiered at Locarno and IDFA.

The National Competition will feature 51 productions — including nine co-productions — that reinforce France’s role as a global powerhouse in the field of short films. Notable selections include festival favorites such as Coyotes by Said Zagha (France/Jordan/Palestine/United Kingdom), which premiered in Venice, and Vultures by Dian Weys (France/South Africa), screened at Cannes. The lineup will also showcase student films from institutions such as La Fémis, offering a platform for a new generation of French filmmakers.

Meanwhile, the Lab section — dedicated to experimental and boundary-pushing works — will present 24 titles, half of them documentaries tackling urgent social and technological issues. Among these are Death of a Fantastic Machine (Sweden), by Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, a critical reflection on media literacy in the age of artificial intelligence, and Their Eyes by Nicolas Gourault (France), which sheds light on the inequalities revealed through the development of self-driving cars.

The program is rounded out by a growing XR section, which this year features five virtual-reality experiences, including Impulse: Playing with Reality, directed by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, focused on people living with ADHD and narrated by actress Tilda Swinton. In addition, the festival will offer a “Holidays” retrospective, celebrating the joy of escaping everyday life, and a spotlight on Southeast Asian cinema.

Additional activities linked to the Short Film Market and other industry events will be announced in the coming weeks, as Clermont-Ferrand prepares what is already shaping up to be one of its most ambitious and diverse editions in recent years.

Full lineup available here