08/09/2026 - The competition, the winner of which is decided by a public vote, is streaming on This Is Short until 15 October, before all of the nominated films screen at FilmFestival Cottbus

Voting is under way for the 2026 MIOB In Shorts Award, the short-film initiative organised by the MIOB (Moving Images – Open Borders) network. Running online from 1 September-15 October, the competition brings together 12 European short films, with the winner determined entirely by a public vote.

Each of the six partner festivals in the MIOB network – Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz (Austria), European Film Festival Palić (Serbia), FilmFestival Cottbus (Germany), European Film Festival Scanorama (Lithuania), Les Arcs Film Festival (France) and Trieste Film Festival (Italy) – nominates two European short films for the competition. The full selection can be watched via the European streaming platform This Is Short throughout the voting period. The programme will subsequently travel to FilmFestival Cottbus in Germany in November, where all 12 films will be screened and the winner will be revealed during the closing ceremony.

Covering fiction, documentary and experimental filmmaking, the selection tackles themes including identity, memory, displacement and belonging. All of the works are available with English subtitles. Viewers can register on This Is Short, which offers a 14-day free trial followed by a €0.99 monthly subscription, and cast their vote directly on each film’s page until 15 October.

The Austrian contingent comprises Reza Rasouli’s Found&Lost and Michael Heindl’s From Something to Nothing. Romania is represented by Index, directed by Radu Muntean, while Portugal has two titles in the running: Tem Fé by Helen Esther Aschauer and Leonor Patrocinio, and Those Who Move by Stephanie Ricci. Hungary’s entry is Máté Gergely Kiss’s Pvrgatorivm.

Completing the line-up are Lime Kiln Workers by Nevena Micić, Katarina Micić and Filip Marojević (Serbia), Beyond Silence by Marnie Blok (Netherlands), Kjæledyrutryddelse by Mikkel Storm Glomstein (Norway), Pra/Rasti Pasauliai by Aušra Lukošiūnienė (Lithuania), Marelle by Kristjan Poom (Estonia), and Dead but Not Gone by Hêvî Çinar, a Turkish-German production.

The MIOB In Shorts Award forms part of the network’s broader efforts to circulate European cinema across borders, combining an online audience vote with a subsequent festival presentation of the complete selection.