23. Vienna Shorts

Under the motto Eyes Wide Open: Matters of Attention, VIENNA SHORTS dedicated its 23rd festival edition to the multifaceted meanings of attention: as social responsibility, political instrument and aesthetic practice.

The Pay What You Can ticketing system established last year, designed to make the festival accessible to everyone regardless of age, origin, background or income, was successfully continued.

352 films were screened in competitions, portraits, late nights, open-air screenings and children's and youth programmes, including industry events and parties. Around one third of the films competed for prize money of nearly €30,000, qualification for the Oscars®, the European Film Award and the Austrian Film Prize. The winners were once again rooted in Vienna with freshly planted trees including an app game (in cooperation with MA 42 and MA 49).

Joining the regular venues Gartenbaukino, Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus, METRO Kinokulturhaus and the Austrian Film Museum was once again the MuseumsQuartier, with its festival centre, Milieukino, mumok kino, open-air cinema and the ASIFAkeil as an exhibition space. The Talent Days for European film students took place for the third time at the Angewandte and the VHS at the Urania.

Particular highlights included a programme tied to the research project Queer Cinema Austria 1906–2026, collaborations with the MQ KinderKulturParcours, the ZOOM Kindermuseum Trickfilmstudio and WIENXTRA-Medienzentrum as part of the Junges Kino strand with a Pitch Lab for young filmmaking talent aged 16 to 22, as well as the co-curation of the Coming Of Shorts programme together with young filmmakers and curators. The Triangle Programme took place in collaboration with the 25 FPS Festival in Croatia and the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A further focus programme was presented in cooperation with Gewächshaus.

Austrian filmmaker Viktoria Schmid and British director Onyeka Igwe were celebrated as portrait guests.

Further offerings included Current Comments for the politically minded, the Late Night strand for genre-savvy night owls, audiovisual live performances by Luis Macias and INTER_SECTION, a cinema concert by FARCE and a wide-ranging programme for children and young audiences.

Showreel 2026