Animated Shorts 2026: Program One
RiverRun is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in the category of Animated Shorts, meaning the winner in this category may submit for Academy Awards consideration.
Animated Shorts 2026: Program Two
RiverRun is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in the category of Animated Shorts, meaning the winner in this category may submit for Academy Awards consideration. Sponsored by Zaloo’s Canoes.
Because Today is Saturday
It’s Saturday, and a woman struggles with the difficulty of reconciling her home life and her need to escape.
Carcassone-Acapulco
As flight 7836 reaches cruising speed above the Atlantic Ocean, the pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendant are startled by an unexpected knock at the door! Chaos and confusion ensue as the crew enter a long and meandering debate regarding the stranger’s fate: should they open the door, or not?
Casa
A group of 20-year-olds pursue their fashion dreams at Casa 93, a unique institute offering a last chance for some and a new beginning for others, capturing their transformative journey through an extraordinary year.
Colors of Time
A group of strangers—each a descendant of a woman named Adèle Meunier—gathers in Normandy, where the town hopes to purchase her long-abandoned property. Their journey takes us back to Paris in 1895, as the City of Light stands at the edge of an industrial and artistic revolution.
Do You Love Me
An immersive journey through 70 years of images and sounds from Lebanon. Exploring the collective psyche of Beirut, marked by beauty, trauma, joy, and forgetting.
Documentary Shorts 2026: Program 1
RiverRun is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in the category of Documentary Shorts. This is one of two shorts blocks in competition, of which the winner may submit for Academy Awards consideration.
Films With Class Shorts Program – Middle/High School 2026
Teaching through film. RiverRun recognizes the unique and critical role arts education plays in reaching students both inside and outside the classroom. Through our free education program, Films With Class, we present free screenings of carefully curated films for area students at the Festival each spring.
I Found a Box
One day, Guy, a bird running in the forest, runs into a box. Guy asks himself, “But what can this box be used for?”
Jaripeo
A journey to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing, leading to a reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind.
The Big Cheese
The Big Cheese follows a team of eccentric, determined, and scrappy American cheesemongers as they battle cultural clashes, personal struggles, and melting cheese in pursuit of respect, redemption, and a historic victory at the Olympics of cheese.
The City of Silence
In a world where breaking the silence will get you killed, Ethan will discover the healing power of music.
The Flowers of Malva
In a small village in the Ukrainian countryside, Nina, a grandmother deeply attached to her land, welcomes her granddaughter Yana for what appears to be a simple holiday. In reality, she is trying to hide the war that is ravaging the country from her granddaughter by creating an imaginary world where everything is fine.