Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2026

Europe’s largest (and the world’s second largest) film festival back, nestled in the heart of France’s wild, volcanic region of the Massif Central. Its international competition, made up of 12 programmes of shorts, is one of the richest platforms for storytelling from around the world. The accessibility and relatively low cost of short filmmaking allow for breadth of voices that can’t be matched by feature film festivals. The more experimental films are given a competition all to themselves - the Lab. On top of which are special programmes, thematic screenings, exhibitions... so much to fill the hefty catalogue the 200,000 festival attendees are lugging and anottating day in day out.

This year’s geographical focus is South East Asia. Festival regular, Filipino director Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan is back. Festival moderator and writer Elise Loiseau has written this in-depth piece on his work - and this edition’s masterclass will be with Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung (The Taste of Things, The Smell of the Green Papaya).

There is so much going on, there’s hardy any point trying to capture the highlights. But a few of the perks that sets Clermont apart include: a fairly exhaustive programme squarely aimed at children (from 4!), filmmaking and film craft workshops (free!), side exhibitions (all around the town!), and a massive film market (pitch your feature!). Every year, the festival team arranges for the Palestinian film delegation to come and present the consistently and astoundingly strong films made and produced by Palestinian filmmakers in the preceding 12 months.

We’ll be back with a few choice Q&As... Watch this space.