In the International Competition Animation Avantgarde, Victor Van Rossem convinced the jury with toward a fundamental theory of physics, winning the ASIFA Austria Award. "For his rigorous and lyrical return to the fundamentals of cinema – light, time, space and celluloid – this film transforms the experiment into a hypnotic choreography and meditation on perception itself," the jury said of this cinematic reflection on the conditions of cinema. Van Rossem thereby also qualifies for the Oscars in the Animation category.

Chinese filmmaker Shui Yuan (Water) receives the Jury Prize for Special Artistic Achievement for Not Satisfied, Redo. The animated work delivers a sharp commentary on our gamified present and exposes with wit and precision how the internet has structured perception, desire and attention itself.

An Honorable Mention as well as the Audience Award went to Dieu ist timide (God is shy) by French director Jocelyn Charles for his existentialist journey through archetypal dreams, intertwined realities and a Faustian pursuit of omniscience.

News 30.5.2026