5th Annual Student Short Film Competition at Animation First

Online: Sat, Feb 8–Sat, Feb 22, 2025

40 shorts • Mature Audiences

Best French Shorts Winners

Grand prix

• Jour de vent by Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Elise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding 

Coup de cœur 

• The Shyness of Trees by Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D’argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu 

Honorary Mentions for French Student Shorts

• Acrobats by Eloïse Alluyn, Hugo Danet, Anna Despinoy, Antonin Guerci, Alexandre Marzin, Shali Reddy 
• Derrière la porte by Jiyoung Yoon 

Film List

École des Nouvelles Images (Avignon, France)

• Amen by Orphée Coutier, Bettina Demarty, Kimié Maingonnat, Laurène Perego, Louise Poulain, Avril Zündel 
• Jour de vent by Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Elise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding 
• Forever by Théo Djekou, Pierre Ferrari, Cyrine Jouini, Pauline Philippart, Anissa Terrier 
• Sortie de route by Alice Beneux, Victoria Demonin, Laura Lebaillif, Zohra Lecointre, Camille Maniffatore, Nathan Mathieu, Noémie Thiallier 
• Yacht by Pablo Anasse, Loane Baumer, Marine Bouvier, Marie Malaval, Maxence Mouttou, Florence Susanna 

L'École Émile-Cohl (Lyon, France)

• La gabardine by Kimon Papadatos 
• Derrière la porte by Jiyoung Yoon 
• Votre attention s'il vous plait by Colette Natrella 
• Cacophonie by Vincent Coudroy de Lille 
• Galatée by Camille Duperray 

Gobelins, l’École de l’Image (Paris, France)

• Acrobats by Eloïse Alluyn, Hugo Danet, Anna Despinoy, Antonin Guerci, Alexandre Marzin, Shali Reddy 
• The Shyness of Trees by Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D’argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu 
• Dare to be Fabulous by João Buosi, Yangjia Chen, Adam Meziane Philipps, Carla Sampaio Da Silva, Xinxin Qin, Zhen Zhou 
• Wormwood by Matthieu Dupille, Chenhe Liu, Philémon Martin, Ninon Quemener, Alexander Vanderplank , Binlin Xie 
• Layla by Oscar Baron, Emma Ferréol, Rachel Gitlevich, Diego H. Blanco, Narda Rodríguez, Lucille Reynaud 

RUBIKA (Valenciennes, France)

• Courage by Margot Jacquet, Nathan Baudry, Marion Choudin, Jeanne Desplanques, Lise Delcroix, Salomé Cognon 
• Le Cantique des Moutons by Jules Marcel, Anaïs Castro de Angel, Juliette Bigo, Evan Lambert, Alex Le Ruyet, Jeanne Bigo, Anaïs Ledoux 
• Lavomatrix by Matthieu Fulcheri, Simon Vernus, Mila Cottin, Martin Carvalho, Chloé Langlet, Lou-Eva Goimet 
• The day you were gone by Emeline Anne, Léa Bourbouze, Rachel Scherier, Camille Cujaube, Zoé de Groote, Alexandre Jacques 
• Primordial Soup by Clémentine Donneger, Andreas Demetriou, Mathilde Chauvelot, Hugo Mougel, Charlotte Deux, Patrick Crucke, Thibaud Guillon 

AMERICAN SCHOOLS

Best American Shorts Winners

Grand prix

• La mort de Robespierre by Janelle Feng 

Coup de cœur 

• Le Charade by Erika Totoro 

Honorary Mentions for American Student Shorts

• Amon by Justine King 
• Wild Animal by Tianyun Lyu 

Film List

California Institute of the Arts (California, USA)

• La mort de Robespierre by Janelle Feng 
• Testimony by Sumin Ha 
• Amon by Justine King 
• Girls In Real Life Situations by Ofre Sparrow Vaknin 
• Goodbye Nimbus by Xai Yaj 

School of Visual Arts (New York, USA)

• BUCKSHOT by Kaye Diaz 
• LACRIMOSA by Aaron Sams 
• Inter-Dimensional Girl & The Thing of No Real Cosmic Significance by Cris Mestre 
• Open Mind Open Heart by Avery Pendleton 
• The Dream Factory by Jiyoon Oh, Hyojin Shim 

Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia, USA)

• Le Charade by Erika Totoro 
• Time Flies by LJ Burnett 
• Harbor by Sam Jackson 
• Have You Eaten by Pavida Changkaew 
• Animus by Kai Wen Goh 

University of Southern California (California, USA)

• Phosphenes by Delaney McCallum 
• Escape Artist by Kieran Barker 
• Desert Eyes by Jordan LeBlanc, Rika Mizoguchi 
• Scrolling by Sijia Zheng 
• Wild Animal by Tianyun Lyu 

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ABOUT THE COMPETITION

Since 2021, L'Alliance New York's Animation First Festival has held a competition to highlight emerging talent from some of the most renowned animation schools in France and the United States. Four schools are chosen from each country and each school selects five films from its graduating class. Prizes are awarded for Best French Student Short and Best American Student Short. The winners receive a one-on-one session with acclaimed animator Kristof Serrand (The Prince of Egypt, Kung Fu Panda) to discuss their work and gain his advice.

2025 SCHOOLS

France: École des Nouvelles Images (Avigon), L'Ecole Emile-Cohl (Lyon), Gobelins - l’École de l’Image (Paris), RUBIKA (Valenciennes)

USA: California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) (California), Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) (Georgia), School of Visual Arts (SVA) (New York), University of Southern California (USC) (California).

JURY

President: Kristof Serrand

French Jury: Martha Rivière and Alexandra Pewinski (Rubika), Simon Herrera and Samuels Rowella (Gobelins), Gabrielle Diaz et Gaétan Duchesne (L'École Émile-Cohl), Alicia Salvi et Noé Larochaix (Ecole des Nouvelles images) 

American Jury: Addison Fujimoto and Ellie Hui (SVA), Lauren Spitzer and Diya Joseph (CalArts), Andrew Erbskorn and Amina Umirzhanova (SCAD), Xindi Zhang and Jee Suk Kim (USC)