Frontiers of our lives: all the winning films from the 8th edition of the Andaras Traveling Film Festival.

The eighth edition of the Andaras Traveling Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, July 5. This year, the festival embraced the theme Frontiers to explore travel as an experience of crossing, discovery and transformation. Frontiers, rather than borders: not lines that divide, but places of passage towards what we have yet to discover—physical, emotional and psychological thresholds that cinema helps us inhabit with a renewed perspective.

The result was a rich and diverse international selection, reflecting the complexity of our present through stories of courage, freedom, migration, community and the desire for change. Fifty films in competition, spanning fiction, documentary, animation and experimental cinema, came together across the festival’s various sections, drawing new maps of the collective imagination and reaffirming cinema as a space for dialogue and shared experience.

With sensitivity and boldness, the festival travelled across both real landscapes and inner territories, welcoming films that approached the idea of the frontier not as a barrier, but as a possibility: a starting point from which to look at the world—and at ourselves—from a different perspective.

“I’m very happy with the results Andaras continues to achieve. The remarkable participation in this year’s competition and the outstanding quality of the selected films confirm that the festival has strengthened its position and is becoming, year after year, a synonym for quality,” said Artistic Director Joe Juanne Piras.

“What continues to surprise me most, however, is the relationship with our audience. Seeing people return, attend the talks, inhabit the festival venues and place their trust in us is the greatest reward. It means that Andaras is not simply a film festival, but a relationship that grows year after year alongside the territory and the communities that live in it and pass through it.”

The awards were presented by the festival's two international juries, composed of Daniele Ciprì, Bianca Ferrari, Lucio Besana, and Valeria Solarino, Lorenzo Richelmy and Federico Gironi.

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Best Narrative Short 2026

ANNGEERDARDARDOR

by Christoffer Rizvanovic Stenbakken

For portraying the protagonist’s diversity from an internal perspective, avoiding easy narrative devices; for making his search deeply human and urgent, while connecting it to our own universal inability to fully understand and interpret the world; and for staging, through a thoughtful use of framing and locations, both an external and an inner journey, set in geographically distant places yet leading towards a destination profoundly close to us all.

Best Docu Short 2026

SIXTY-SEVEN MILLISECONDS

by Fleuryfontaine

For combining political urgency with the language of experimental cinema, using chronophotography and CGI to expand a single frame until its full weight becomes visible; and for giving shape to an impossible image, transforming it into a lucid denunciation of state violence.

Best Andaras Noas (New Paths) 2026

EASTER DAY

by Mykola Zasieiev

The story of a young man stopped in the street and abruptly conscripted into military service becomes, in this short film, a bittersweet and gently absurd comedy. The contrast between the banality of everyday life and the threat hanging over the population proves more unsettling than many scenes of war itself, while the protagonist’s kindness becomes a moving invitation for us all.

Best Gazes from the World 2026

WALL OF DEATH GYPSY

by Didier Canaux

A passion for heavy metal, motorcycles and a nomadic way of life becomes the banner of a modern-day wandering tribe, proudly and effortlessly embodying the spirit of punk. The director delivers a remarkable portrait of a way of life too often overlooked or forgotten by contemporary society. An ode to the margins, and ultimately, an ode to freedom.

Best Strange Worlds 2026

AS IF TO NOTHING

by Jia Hao Pek & Jia Jun Ang

The seemingly aimless search for a missing cat by a quiet craftsman becomes an existential and almost mystical journey, unfolding through encounters with people, places and vividly tangible sensations. A film of extraordinary formal and narrative maturity, offering unforgettable imagery that captures the finest qualities of recent Southeast Asian cinema while echoing subtle Lynchian influences.

Best Animation 2026

BROWN MORNING

by Carlo Vogele

For its thoughtful use of symbols, initially harmless yet gradually unsettling, in depicting the rise of fascism; for the seamless transition from the tenderness of the opening scenes to the waking nightmare of the conclusion; and for creating a cinematic experience that strikes deeply and remains unforgettable.

Special Andaras Award 2026

ALMOST CERTAINLY FALSE

by Cansu Baydar

For presenting migration through a fresh, authentic and never rhetorical perspective. For moving beyond the physical journey to explore the complex emotional landscape of displacement, reminding us—with the elegance of impeccable direction and outstanding performances—that behind every story of migration are human beings.

Special Jury Prize – Andaras 2026

DOG AND WOLF

by Terézia Halamová

For portraying loneliness, guilt and the longing for liberation through the careful observation of the body and its cinematic representation; for the protagonist’s powerful performance, capable of conveying a deeply complex inner world; and for creating, through the contrast between nocturnal chaos and silence, a space in which audiences can recognise themselves.

Best First Routes – New Generations 2026

I FIORI NON HANNO LE SCARPE

by Matteo Vicentini Orgnani

For the extraordinary performance of its young lead actor; for direction that perfectly serves both narrative structure and thematic purpose; for an open ending rich with nuance that encourages multiple interpretations, reflection and dialogue; and for the emotional and visual impact of a beautifully crafted screenplay.

Andaras Honorable Mention

AMERICA

by Javier Arias-stella

With remarkable simplicity and without rhetoric, the story of young America becomes a metaphor for the journey of emancipation every human being undertakes—from ignorance of the self towards self-awareness. Echoing Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the young protagonist frees herself from the constraints imposed by family and society, beginning her own path towards adulthood. A modern fairy tale told with technical mastery and genuine sensitivity.

Andaras Honorable Mention

LIKE FRIEND, LIKE DEER

by Malek Eghbali

For an animation style that beautifully blends the painterly textures of 2D animation with the realism of 3D; for creating, with remarkable economy, an alternative world that feels both convincing and tangible; and for the precision and poetic quality of its visual storytelling.