Meet the festivals: BREF International Short Film Festival

The Bref International Short Film Festival is the first festival in the Aosta Valley entirely dedicated to short films, held in Aosta, the regional capital. Now in its second edition in 2026, it showcases cinema from around the world – across animation, fiction, and documentary – alongside masterclasses, literary talks, workshops for young people, and social events designed to explore what it means to resist today, both on and off screen.

Organized by AIACE VDA, an association founded in 2020 with a strong social and cultural mission, the festival includes the day of April 25th, Italy’s Liberation Day. Bref promotes democratic and antifascist values, gives space to young and emerging cinema by bringing to the Aosta Valley works that are rarely accessible, and invites audiences to reflect on what it means to resist today, both on and beyond the screen, in everyday actions as well as in creative expression. The latest edition recorded over 1,800 attendees.

At the heart of Bref is the idea of cinema as an act of resistance, culture as a political gesture, and the screen as a mirror where stories and perspectives meet and transform. The selected short films are presented in several sections designed to offer a rich and multifaceted overview of contemporary short cinema: the “Fight for Your Rights!” section, dedicated to the theme of resistance; the national section; the French-language section “Ciné-passage”; the “MiniBref” program for younger audiences; the “Creepshorts Program”, focused on horror and fantastic; and “SuperBref”, dedicated to short films under five minutes selected by a team of programmers under 25.

Among the award winners are animated films from all over the world. In its second edition, 35 animated films were in competition, several of which were among the award winners:

Critical Jury Award
Sixty-seven milliseconds by Fleuryfontaine (France, 2025, 15’)

Technical Jury Award
Sulaimani by Vinnie Ann Bose (France, 2025, 20’)

Bear with me Award – granted by Bear With Me Distribution, including a distribution consultancy
Ducks by AJ Jeffries (United Kingdom, 2025, 5’)

Special Mention
Prout by Marc-Henri Wajnberg (Belgium, 2025, 8’)

Francophone Young Jury Award
Dieu est timide by Jocelyn Charles (France, 2025, 16’)

SuperBref Award – Special Mention
Cottage Cheese by Liina Luomajoki, Lena Metzger, Janina Müller and Alice Kunz (Switzerland, 2024, 5’)

Fight for Your Rights! Award – Best film dedicated to the theme of resistance.
Pie dan lo by Kim Yip Tong (Réunion, Mauritius, 2024, 13’)

Creepshorts Award – Best Genre Film, awarded by Heidi Honeycutt and including publication on the BloodStreamTV platform
Ducks by AJ Jeffries (United Kingdom, 2025, 5’)

MiniBref Award – Best children's film
La légende du colibri by Morgan Devos (France, 2025, 9’)

The 2027 edition will take place from April 21 to April 25, 2027.