Short film competition (7:30 PM) -> Cinema ZED
At Cinema ZED Vesalius, you can discover short films featuring people with disabilities as actors, directors, or producers during our international short film competition. Want to make your voice heard as a film fan? Then attend our international short film competition and vote for the audience award. In addition, an expert jury will award a jury prize for best short film. Afterwards, you can celebrate with the winners at the reception.
More information about the short film competition and the festive toast can be found through this link.
Program:
Birdhouse
- Director: Moritz Valero
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 13 minutes
- Country: United Kingdom
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
Frankie, a local gang leader, has brought Lewis a present and introduces his friend Des. Frankie hides something in Lewis's home, and as quickly as he arrives, he's out the door. When morning comes, he sits down to a game of Chess, when to his surprise, Frankie and Des return and interrupt his game. Pretending they are there to visit Lewis, they take over his living room when a third member, Theo, arrives. Throughout this, Lewis is frustrated by a buzzing he can hear, and when he points out that it is coming from Des's jacket, all hell breaks loose.
The Gift Of A Second Wind
- Director: Laurent Etchamendy
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 17 minutes
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
Soldiers wounded in overseas operations are repatriated to France and cared for at the Percy Army Training Hospital. But what happens next? How do they cope with their physical and psychological wounds? How do they rebuild their lives? These stories are the very definition of resilience. A wonderful human and sporting adventure to discover!
Jährlinge
- Director: Jonathan Schaller
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 18 minutes 55 seconds
- Country: Germany
- Language: German
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
17-year-old Max recently moved into a group home for teenagers with mental disabilities. Visiting his father Peter on his horse farm, Max tries to convince him of his new life. While breaking in Peter’s new racehorse, old patterns between the two break out again. Torn between insecurity and the desire for emotional closeness, Max begins to challenge his father.
- Director: Blake Derksen
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 8 minutes 25 seconds
- Country: United States
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
A young boy must find courage through his imagination while undergoing cancer treatment.
Picture Girl
- Director: Simon Brown
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 14 minutes 59 seconds
- Country: Ireland
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
Sadie, an autistic nonverbal teenager, develops a crush on her new neighbour, and expresses her deep feelings for her through a stream of portraits. When Sadie’s secret blows out into the open, this unexpectedly brings the girls closer in a connection neither of them could have foreseen.
- Director: Angeline Teh
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 13 minutes
- Country: Hungary
- Language: Hungarian
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
Through the eyes of Olivér, a six-year-old in Budapest, we enter a vivid world where language moves through hands, connection transcends words, and joy comes in many shades.
- Director: Rachel Gray
- Year: 2026
- Duration: 13 minutes 22 seconds
- Country: Canada
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English and Dutch
Dreamscapes is a genre-blurring experimental film exploring mental health not as a diagnosis, but as a shifting inner reality, at once painful, beautiful, glamorous and strange. Centered on a powerful performance by Amelia Rose Griffin, the film transforms her lived experience into movement, colour, and sound. Dreamscapes gives voice to experiences that are often hidden because of shame, stigma and silence.
Practical information:
The short film competition will take place at Cinema ZED Vesalius in Leuven.
Andreas Vesaliusstraat 9c, 3000 Leuven
Accessibility:
- All films have both Dutch and English subtitles.
- A Flemish Sign Language interpreter will be present.
- A limited number of wheelchair seats are available.
Tickets & reservations required
Screening
01 May 2026 - 19:30 Cinema ZED Andreas Vesaliusstraat 9c, 3000 Leuven Calculate route Reserve place
The archive
See what was on view in previous years
The archive of a film festival is a collection of all the films that have been shown at the festival in previous years. It offers people the opportunity to watch the selected films of the past on discover.