Back for a fourth year, the Animation First Student Short Film Competition highlights the work of emerging talent from some of the most renowned animation schools in France and the United States. Prizes are awarded for Best French Student Shorts and Best American Student Shorts. The winning films will be screened during the festival’s closing night on Sunday, January 28 at 8:15pm.

This year’s participating schools include Gobelins, l’École de l’Image (Paris, France), RUBIKA (Valenciennes, France), Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d’Animation (Angoulême, France), École des Nouvelles Images (Avignon, France), California Institute of the Arts (California, USA), Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia, USA), School of Visual Arts (New York, USA), and University of Southern California (California, USA).

Grouped into two programs—one featuring the American films and the other featuring the French ones—all the student films will be made available to stream online from Monday, January 29–Monday, February 12.

The student jury is presided over by acclaimed animator Kristof Serrand (The Prince of Egypt, Kung Fu Panda). The winners receive a one-on-one session with Serrand to discuss their work and gain his advice.

• RUBIKA (Valenciennes, France)

  • Quem Salva
    Laure Devin, Maxime Bourstin, Nathan Medam, Charles Hechinger, Titouan Jaouen (6 min 56)

    L’animal sauce ail
    Ysaline Debut, Isa Cotte, Aurélien Duchez, Camille Rostan, Clément Mouchel, Diane Mazella (6 min 37)

    #Doudouchallenge
    Julie Majcher, Alexandra Delaunay-Fernandez, Sixtine Emerat, Marine Benabdallah-Crolais, Scott Pardaillhe-Galabrun, Noémie Segalowicz (6 min 16)

    Paumo d’amour
    Ian Halley, Nathan Hermouet, Luka Croisez, Laurène Vaubourdolle, Jade Van De Veire (6 min)

    Loup y es-tu?
    Louise Laurent, Alizée Van de Valle, Emma Fessart, Jeanne Galland, Célina Lebon, Annouck François (6 min 39)

• Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d’Animation (Angoulême, France)

  • Pour ton premier Noël
    Bianca Hanquet (13 min 15)

    La Pâquerette-raclette
    Liselotte Macagno (4 min 50)

    Une Chaise
    Maëlle Oster (6 min 45)

    La valse des demons
    Trinidad Plass-Caussade (7 min 02)

    No Time For Love
    Gabriella Coumau (4 min 42)

• Gobelins, l’École de l’Image (Paris, France)

  • Childeric, Les Nerfs de la Guerre
    Lou Dhelens, Emma Guyot Dlh, Céline Korno, Juliette A. Laurent, Louise Petit, Lucie Tantot (5 min 08)

    Dance with the Seashells!
    Théo Carme, Julie Fournier, Alessandra Rosmarino, Anaëlle Saba (7 min 51)
    Honorary Mention for French Student Short

    El Ombligo de la Luna
    Sara António, Julia Grupinska, Bokang Koatja, Tian Westraad, Ezequiel Garibay (7 min 36)

    Riot Doll
    Daria Skripka, Poornima Subramaniam, Mrunal Khairnar, Lwazi Msipha, Hassan Yola (6 min 55)

    THE NAME
    Alexander Aguilar (1 min 36)

• École des Nouvelles Images (Avignon, France)

  • Fire
    Esther Lamassoure, Baptiste Fraboul, Florent Sabuco, Julie Le Forban, Valentin Serre, Léna Gittler (6 min 25)
    Winner – Best French Student Short

    Papa Bouteille
    Clément Bretou, Lalita Bruguiere, Lucie Carraz, Eléonore Deprun, Nina Marcassoli, Pierre Etienne Mazet (7 min 48)

    Le Grand Saut
    Martina Doll, Anaïs Dos, Coline Reverbel, Kenzo Talma, Edgard Vernier, Lisa Vilaine (7 min 44)

    Atomic Chicken
    Thibault Ermeneux, Lucie Lyfoung, Solène Polet, Capucine Prat, Morgane Siriex, Anna Uglova (5 min 04)

    Coin coin
    Amélie Frit, Anouk Archambault, Jeanne Marotte, Solenn Lelaisant, Lucile Grunder (5 min 45)

• California Institute of the Arts (California, USA)

  • Parrots
    Jennifer Nie (6 min 39)

    Dance On! Nonoko!
    Wanci Hua (4 min 38)

    The Borrower’s Hypnotist
    Michelle Tang (5 min 46)

    Roller Coaster
    Sapphira Chen (6 min 24)

    So Long, Caz!
    Jingqi Zhang (7 min 01)

• School of Visual Arts (New York, USA)

  • in the interim
    Emily Zullo (4 min 30)

    The Fates Align
    Brooke Burnett (4 min 55)

    VISUAL CAPTURE
    Izzy Delore (3 min 45)

    Jamie’s Pond
    Reid Sandlund (3 min 59)

    Kenopsia
    Lu Mikan (5 min 37)

• Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia, USA)

  • Goro Goro
    Agatha Tiara Christa, Everett Zhang, Gillian McDerment, Kazue Tng, Mason Smigel, Mick Bransfield, Rachel Currid, Roman Karoly, Ryotaro Sawada, Will Hawkins (3 min 07)

    The Last Dungeon
    Alexandra Young (3 min 29)

    The Sun Is Bad
    Chenrui Lan, Elle Yeung, Henry Ni, Ivan Chui, Laura Correal, Liren Sun, Quinn Marsh, Rachel Mow, Rielle Yap Ong, Samson Flanagan (2 min 59)
    Winner – Best American Student Short

    Symbiotic
    Arianna Ahrabinejad, Hannah Griffin, Carter Mehel, Kari Miller, Megan Sennett, Tati Abraham Siqueff, Bradley Walker, Avery Wilt (3 min)

    Three Raccoons
    Audrey Randazzo, Madeline Brennan, Victor Martinez, Ashleigh Jones, Chris Arya, Emma Knoell, Sarah Miller, Aaryan Junnarkar, Débora Fuentes, Ramiro Lao (2 min 50)

• University of Southern California (California, USA)

  • Kilig!
    Kacey Layson (5 min 20)

    tue_self.exe
    Victoria Cruell (3 min 55)

    What She Didn’t Know
    Zoe Zheng (3 min 24)

    Perfect City: The Bravest Kid
    Shengwei Zhou (10 min 35)

    The Nectar Instead
    Yoo Lee (4 min 10)