Submissions are Open for the third edition of Bref International Short Film Festival

Animation HUB September 30, 2026 3 min. read

The third edition of the festival in Aosta Valley, organized by the cultural association AIACE VDA, will take place at Plus, in Aosta, from April 20 to 25, 2027.

Submissions are officially open for the third edition of Bref International Short Film Festival, the first short film festival in Aosta Valley. Until January 8th (included), filmmakers can submit their short films for the selection.

The festival welcomes short films with a maximum running time of 30 minutes, divided into the following competitive sections:

1. International Short Film Competition: open to fiction and documentary short films, with no limitation on theme, genre of country of origin;

2. Animation Competition: open to animated short films

3. Creepshorts: dedicated to horror and fantastic cinema;

4. MiniBref: a section dedicated to children’s films;

5. Fight for your rights!: a thematic category for films that represent forms of resistance and the fight for rights: human, civil, gender, anti-fascist, anti-speciesist, and so on;

6. Ciné-Passage: dedicated to films from francophones countries;

7. SuperBref: ultra-short films under 5 minutes;

8. ItalianBref: a section reserved for Italian short films.

Awards:

The juries will assign the following awards:

• Critics’ Jury Award for the Best Film

• Technical Jury Award for the Best Film

• Youth Jury Award for the Best Film

• NepToon Award for the Best Animated Film, in partnership with Animation Hub and Animation Journal

• Super Bref Award for the Best Film under 5 minutes

• Creepshorts Award for the Best Film in the Creepshorts program, in partnership with BloodStreamTV (includes a streaming distribution contract)

• FEDIC Award for the Best Italian Film

• MiniBref Award, selected by the youngest audience members during screenings as the Best Children’s Film

• Audience Award

Special awards:

• SAVT Award: worth €500, assigned by the Syndicat Valdôtain des Travailleurs to the film that best explores issues related to the labor market and working life

• Resist Award! worth €500 for the for the best film that explores themes related to resistance

• Bear With Me Award in partnership with Bear With Me Distribution (includes consulting on the film’s distribution strategy)

• Queer ed Ora Award, presented by Arcigay Nazionale to the best film dedicated to civil rights and inclusive representation

• AostaSera Award, presented by the online newspaper AostaSera.it to the best film directed by a director under 35

• BIM Award, presented by BIM to the best film dedicated to environmental themes

From April 20 to 25, 2027, Bref International Short Film Festival returns to Aosta Valley with screenings, literary events, workshops and masterclass, to promote democratic and anti-fascist values through cinema. The festival showcases young and emerging cinema, with a strong focus on representation and inclusivity, on screen, both in front of and behind the camera. The choice of the week of April 25th – the anniversary of Italy’s Liberation – reaffirms the festival’s commitment to keeping the spirit of Resistance alive, embracing stories that challenge injustice, promote equality and freedom, and narrate the power of resilience.