Competition Programs | Ukrainian competition
UNIT.Verse | B.12

12+

This competition program brings together recent short films by Ukrainian animators working across a lively range of forms, materials, and tones. The selection moves from urban rhythms, family tensions, dark comedy, fantasy, displacement, and mental health to the direct experience of war. Intimate, strange, playful, and unsettling, these works show artists pushing ideas, styles, and points of view in different directions.Please note that the Ukrainian competition and New Faces are combined into one screening.

Running time 70 min.

  • Falling out of love
    Sofia Komarova

    Ukraine | 01:40 | 2026 

    An experimental animation capturing the continuous deformation and sequential transformation of mechanical, industrial, and biological forms within a monochrome space.

  • Subway Under The Chicken Coop
    Hanna Beskrovna

    Ukraine | 04:00 | 2025

    Two boys decided to dig a subway under a chicken coop and got into trouble.

  • MOTH
    Illia Yanchytskyi

    Ukraine | 13:30 | 2025

    In a dark wardrobe, in the land of moths, a dictator is dying! But only you will know how the stubborn little bug will finally be crushed, and by whom.

  • I Met Papo And Pepe
    Viktoria Filmako

    Switzerland, Ukraine | 07:30 | 2026

    A lost girl without a name meets Papo with his dog, Pepe. Through his memories of a distant island, she embarks on a magical journey between dream and reality, exploring her identity. Together, they find liberation and rediscover the meaning of belonging.

  • Cat's nights
    Daria Kozlovska

    Ukraine | 01:20 | 2025 

    Two girls and their cat go to the school shelter during an air raid alert.

  • Talk to Me
    Yuliya Tabenska

    Poland, Ukraine | 02:49 | 2025

    The film is adapted from her original picturebook of the same title and addresses the difficult subject of depression within a family, told from a child’s perspective.
    The protagonists are a child and a mother struggling with depression. The child observes changes in the mother’s behaviour, attempts to understand what is happening, seeks ways to help, and sometimes takes on responsibility.

  • StarFall
    Yuliia Pankiv

    Ukraine | 02:30 | 2026 

    The little star descends toward the earth, bound to a journey it knows will end in ruin. The distant stars pleading for its return are the echoes of reason—an internal warning it chooses to ignore. Just as stars vanish from our sight with the dawn, the protagonist fades away with the first light of day, unable to exist in a world where he was never meant to belong.

  • Don't be naughty
    Artem Kuznecov

    Ukraine | 04:37 | 2026

    After the owner leaves, a feline conflict begins to brew in the flat, tensions flare, and no one knows where it might lead.

  • City
    Valeriia Zinevska

    Ukraine | 01:05 | 2025

    An animated reflection on the role of the individual in the ever-changing urban landscape, drawing on Mykhailo Semenko’s futuristic poetry and the realities of contemporary Ukraine. The film draws parallels between the historical rise of industrialisation and modern challenges such as forced displacement, rapid gentrification, and systemic instability. A visual dialogue about the urban environment, which rhythmically shapes collective values and the individuality of life. The result lies hidden beneath the surface of everyday changes, which from the very beginning already carried consequences — whether friendly or hostile.

  • Ember
    Vladyslav Kalenskyi

    Luxembourg, Ukraine | 12:00 | 2026

    With the arrival of Russian troops in the suburbs of Kyiv in 2022, an elderly couple lost their home and all their belongings. Left isolated, they survive thanks to the kindness of their neighbours. But as the fighting draws ever closer, they are eventually forced to make the hardest decision — to leave their home behind forever to save themselves.

  • Etudes of Consciousness
    Kateryna Karpovych

    Ukraine | 04:18 | 2026

    Three surrealist études explore the inner world of a human being: a man on the metro struggles against obsessive forces, a young girl loses her balance under her mother’s pressure, and a boy confronts Anxiety but friendship helps him overcome it. Stories about fear, loneliness, and support.

  • Schmes'
    Viktoriia Turetska

    Germany, Ukraine | 07:14 | 2026

    A monster lady named Schmes lives hidden in a basement, unbeknownst to the young couple in the house above her. Schmes longs to be accepted as a member of the family and decides to enter their bedroom one night. But will they be able to accept a strange creature such as herself?

  • 12-Hour Shift
    Maryna Dovhanych

    Ukraine | 02:00 | 2025

    An ordinary working day at a metallurgical plant — a place where clouds are born and rivers of fire flow; a place where everything feels like a dream turned into memory. Dedicated to the steelworkers of Azovstal.

  • ?
    Anastasia Shtolko

    Ukraine | 05:08 | 2026

    Yellow Angel, Kor, settles in a new place. One night, he is awakened by the melody of a ukulele played by Blue Angel, Dium. A bond begins to grow between them. They communicate through question clouds and spend more and more time together.

    But over time, everything changes. Kor keeps sending his messages but receives no reply. Absorbed in rehearsals with his band, Dium drifts away from him. When Kor discovers that Dium is packing his suitcase and preparing to leave, he stands on his last cloud and watches as the train approaches. He has only one chance left to say what has remained unspoken for so long.