From June 25 to 29, 2026, the 9th Yerevan International Short Film Festival will be held in Yerevan and Gyumri under the general sponsorship of the Yerevan Municipality and with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia. The festival is organized on the initiative of the “Arm Film Industry Development” Cultural Foundation and, according to the organizers, aims to identify the potential of young film directors, support their professional development, and foster creative and professional ties among emerging filmmakers from different countries.
This year again, the festival’s program structure is built around two main competition strands: the international and national selections. In addition to screenings, the festival will include masterclasses, creative meetings, screening discussions, presentations, and other professional formats.
The international competition includes 24 films from 22 countries and co-production contexts. The program features works by filmmakers from Luxembourg, Iran, New Zealand, Belgium, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Lebanon, South Africa, Hungary, Jordan, Palestine, Italy, Switzerland, China, Canada, Romania, and Cabo Verde. This range gives the program not only broad geographic scope, but also a concentrated mix of different cinematic languages and thematic directions.
Moreover, a number of films in the international lineup have already had a notable festival run: selected titles are associated with Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand, San Sebastián, Rotterdam, and the PÖFF Shorts program of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. This gives the international section additional weight and suggests that the selection was shaped not only by broad geographic representation, but also by the logic of current festival circulation.
In this context, The Spectacle and Vultures stand out as films associated with the Cannes Film Festival, Coyotes with Venice, Sheep with Berlin, Le Mur Du Son with Locarno, Dream Up The Title with Rotterdam, while Faux Bijoux, Pale Sun, dying of the young deer, and When The Tiger Roars are linked to other international platforms.
This year, for the first time, the international competition also includes films created with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The national competition includes 15 films. The shape of the national section makes it possible to view the festival not only as an international platform, but also as a site for mapping contemporary Armenian short cinema. It brings together filmmakers representing a range of recent thematic and artistic approaches — from personal stories to motifs related to war, displacement, family relations, and memory.
KinoPress is the festival’s official information partner and will cover its progress, programs, and professional events.
Competition Programs
International Competition
- The Last Sunday in May, dir. Alejandro Bordier (Luxembourg)
- Haze Over, dir. Seyed Ali Ghasemi (Iran)
- When the Geese Flew, dir. Arthur Gay (New Zealand)
- Icarus, dir. Christos Kardana (Belgium, France, Greece, United Kingdom)
- Run River!, dir. Anastasia Ostapenko (Russia)
- Barlebas, dir. Malou Jansen (Belgium, Netherlands)
- Dream Up The Title, dir. Klaudia Fortuniak (Poland)
- A Winter Mirage, dir. Wang Guoju (United Kingdom)
- Faux Bijoux, dir. Jessie Moussalem (France, Lebanon)
- Pale Sun, dir. Adrian Mois Dallin, Javahin Zentar (France)
- Vultures, dir. Dian Weiss (France, South Africa)
- The Spectacle, dir. Bálint Kenyeres (France, Hungary)
- Coyotes, dir. Saeed Zagha (France, Jordan, Palestine, United Kingdom)
- Sheep, dir. Hadi Babaeifar (Iran)
- Le Mur Du Son, dir. Antonio La Camera (Italy, Switzerland)
- dying of the young deer, dir. Angelika Sigal (Poland)
- Lovable, dir. Artashes Andreasyan, Evgeniya Razgulyaeva (Russia)
- When The Tiger Roars, dir. Lam Tsan-Zhao (China)
- FANA: Back in a Sec, dir. Rita Rahimi (Canada)
- Noise, dir. Yu Ziping (China)
- 11:11, dir. Nikita Mark, Sergey Romanovich (Russia)
- Khlyst, dir. Rafał Kijas (Poland)
- The Black House, dir. Dumitru Grosei (Romania)
- Removal, dir. Hala Al-Daas (Cabo Verde)
National Competition
- Goodbye, Yesterday, dir. Satenik Dzhavrshyan (Armenia)
- Motherland, dir. Gor Arushanyan (Poland)
- Salt, dir. Tatev Asatryan (Armenia)
- You Still Love Me, Don’t You, Dad?, dir. Marina Soloyan (Armenia)
- Displacement, dir. Yervand Rumyan (Armenia)
- 18th Spring, dir. Menua Hovhannisyan (Armenia)
- Echoes of Lamu, dir. Arshak Khachatryan (Armenia)
- Life Goes On, dir. Mary Vardanyan (Armenia)
- Robinson?, dir. Marianna Movsesyan (Armenia)
- 50 Days, dir. Elizaveta Ayvazyan (Armenia)
- Dora’s Yellow Shoes, dir. Gohar Sargsyan (Armenia)
- The Prettiest, dir. Ashot Zhamkochyan (Armenia)
- The Violin, dir. Eva Sukiasyan (Armenia)
- Rêverie, dir. Samvel Tadevosyan (Armenia)
- Papaya, dir. Hrach Simonyan (Armenia)
Even from the program announced so far, it is already clear that the Yerevan International Short Film Festival is trying to unite two important vectors: auteur short films circulating within the global festival ecosystem, and the consolidated presence of new Armenian cinema. Through this combination, the festival presents itself both as a platform for promoting emerging filmmakers and as a meeting point between local and international short film landscapes.
