First held in 1997, the Film and Art School Etudes Competition (formerly the Student Etudes Competition) supports the development of novice filmmakers and provides unique opportunity to confront cinematic achievements of students from film schools all around the world. Each year, the winners are chosen by an international jury of acclaimed filmmakers and industry professionals.
The author of the best cinematography wins the coveted László Kovács Student Award – the Golden Tadpole. In addition, the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP) will present the winner with a cheque for PLN 10,000.
Beyond the main award, the student competition also recognizes the second- and third-place entries with the Silver Tadpole and the Bronze Tadpole respectively.
List of Nominees:
BYE BYE
DIRECTOR: Tanya Lialina
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas Sandler
SCHOOL: National Film and Television School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: UK, 2026
Henry decided to end his life by hanging himself. He planned everything carefully, but miscalculated one thing: when he sat down to write his suicide note, he suddenly discovered that his pen had run out of ink.
ECHOES BENEATH THE HILL
DIRECTOR: Aime Octave
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Clarence Haakmat
SCHOOL: Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Belgium, Rwanda, 2025
Set in 1994 Rwanda, on the verge of the genocide against the Tutsi minority, the film follows Jeanne, a 10-year-old daredevil, as she searches for her pet goat. During this final quest of childhood, amid the warmth of family, days full of play and calming mountain winds, she is exposed to new realities about her ethnicity.
EMBER
DIRECTOR: Ruiyang Zhang
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Zean Lin
SCHOOL: London Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: UK, 2025
Young Dalai, aspiring to follow in his injured brother’s footsteps, trains relentlessly for the Naadam Fair to save their horse from being sold. Despite his father’s doubts and the weight of family struggles, Dalai faces emotional challenges, balancing family expectations with his own dreams and ultimately forging his own path through the deep bond between man and horse.
EVERY TIME I SEE A COCK I GO FUNNY
DIRECTOR: Lyndon Henley Hanrahan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Catharina Scarpellini
SCHOOL: National Film and Television School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: UK, 2026
In 1950s Yorkshire, miner Fish Greenaway is a husband, local hero and the smiling face of the National Coal Board’s propaganda films. But when his flamboyant pitmate and lover, Hob Godfrey, is arrested, a scandal erupts, exposing the unspoken culture of gay sex and camaraderie that has long thrived underground. As shame spreads through their tight-knit community, Fish clings to respectability while Hob refuses to hide.
EVERYTHING’S FINE
ORIGINAL TITLE: Alles in Ordnung
DIRECTOR: Lorena Maunz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daniel J. Müller
SCHOOL: University of Television and Film Munich
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Germany, 2026
Sila, just sixteen, enjoys a summer with her best friend while simultaneously trying to bring order to the cluttered apartment of 64-year-old Margot. Margot is ill and unwilling to leave her home, living instead amid memories of a past life and the pleasure of new acquisitions. Slowly, Sila comes to understand that her efforts to help are really about herself, and that genuine understanding begins when we relinquish control.
THE GLOOM
ORIGINAL TITLE: Szaruga
DIRECTOR: Katarzyna Kosajda, Jan Sokala
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jan Sokala
SCHOOL: Łódź Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Poland, 2026
A social worker witnesses some disturbing events. She decides to trust her intuition and find answers to the questions that trouble her.
HERMETICA
DIRECTOR: Carmen-Louise Suuroja
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Villem Sooster
SCHOOL: Baltic Film, Media and Arts School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Estonia, 2025
A man goes missing from the district where solitary Irene lives, and an investigator contacts her as part of a routine inquiry. She agrees to meet him, but the initially polite detective becomes increasingly obtrusive when it is revealed that Irene was the last person to see the missing man. During a seemingly endless and surreal night, Irene is forced to face what was done to her in the past and what she herself has done.
KAMATHIPURA EXPRESS
DIRECTOR: Leon Korzyński
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Witold Prokopczyk
SCHOOL: Warsaw Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Poland, 2026
Osa, a young Polish man living in the slums of Mumbai, finds love and a sense of purpose with Sapna. She is a teenage dancer whose family lives in poverty. When her father tries to sell her to a brothel, the young lovers decide to make a desperate escape across the country. Their journey together puts their mutual trust and desire for freedom to the test.
THE LACEY WAY
DIRECTOR: Regina de Faoite
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Klug
SCHOOL: National Film School at IADT
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Ireland, 2026
Teenage George Lacey does not fit in. She’s a weirdo amongst her conforming peers and a conformist amongst her weirdo family. Only the cows are kind to her. The real world calls to George. Tonight she answers. She goes to her first disco. She wears her first face of make-up, stepping into unfamiliar territory without the support of her family.
LARNACA
DIRECTORS: Talia Tai Biton, Gil Peled
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gil Peled
SCHOOL: Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Israel, 2025
After embarking on a sailing trip to their wedding in Larnaca, Ruth and Yona find themselves stranded at sea with no wind in their sails. As they wait for conditions to change, Ruth’s past resurfaces.
THE LAST ALLY
ORIGINAL TITLE: Poslední spojenec
DIRECTOR: Filip Liška
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Kovář
SCHOOL: FAMU Prague
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Czech Republic, 2026
Poland, spring 1945. In a landscape suspended between the end of the war and the beginning of uncertainty, two survivors meet: a Polish prisoner on the run and a young German deserter. Sharing a hiding place in an abandoned barn, they must find a common language in order to escape the clutches of the all-consuming war around them.
NIKA'S ROOM
ORIGINAL TITLE: Nikas Zimmer
DIRECTOR: Konstantin Münzel
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Ader
SCHOOL: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Germany, 2026
Jakob, a single father by day and sex worker by night, watches his teenage daughter Nika losing herself in the frenzy of nightlife. The more Nika rebels against him, the more desperately Jakob seeks comfort and validation from his client Martha.
OTHER'S MEADOWS FLOWERS
ORIGINAL TITLE: Kwiaty Cudzych Łąk
DIRECTOR: Hanna Drzazga
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Grotyński
SCHOOL: Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Poland, 2026
When her younger sister Róża mysteriously disappears, Morwa begins searching for her and recalls the last moments they spent together.
PANKAJA
DIRECTOR: Anooya Swamy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Luke Kao
SCHOOL: NYU Tisch School of the Arts
COUNTRY AND YEAR: India, USA, 2026
A determined mother and her young daughter navigate Bangalore's slums on a desperate quest to find her missing husband and reunite their broken family.
PRUDENCE AND THE WANDERING EYE
DIRECTOR: Jason Wolfmiller
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Giuliana Tambellini
SCHOOL: AFI Conservatory
COUNTRY AND YEAR: USA, 2026
In a strange, purgatory-like room where workers exchange small bundles for coins, Prudence notices an elderly blind woman waiting in line. She offers to help, but her seemingly good deed soon takes an unexpected turn.
REVOLVER
DIRECTOR: Paoli de Luca
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Francesca Avanzini
SCHOOL: CSC National Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Italy, 2026
Naples. In a pulsing techno club, Ronga, a trans stripper, spins inside an iron cage. Around her: a photographer, a chaser and Medusa, the queen, with revolvers in her bra. As bodies pulse, beats collide with lust for power. Ronga fights for her dignity within the hierarchy of her nocturnal world. In the end, roles shift: she raises the revolver towards Medusa and dawn breaks.
ROLLING MOTHER
ORIGINAL TITLE: Dosenmutter
DIRECTOR: Alex Peskador
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anian Krone
SCHOOL: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Germany, 2026
Wilhelm has decided to sell the house that belonged to his late mother, Hildegard. However, he is plagued by pangs of conscience. His mother was very attached to her home, and especially to its furniture. Just as the furniture removers are clearing out the house, Hildegard returns from the dead as a rolling coffee can and goes on a killing spree.
SISTER OF MINE
ORIGINAL TITLE: Syster min
DIRECTOR: André Vaara
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Patrik Careland
SCHOOL: Stockholm University of the Arts
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Sweden, 2025
Ten-year-old Noel wants to be like his older sister Stephanie. But when his longing for a feminine identity clashes with others’ expectations, tensions arise in the sibling relationship. Set in the 2000s, the film explores identity, sibling rivalry and longing.
UNTIL WE BURY THEM!
ORIGINAL TITLE: ¡Hasta enterrarlos!
DIRECTOR: Marco Araujo
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Enrico Barbaro Jr.
SCHOOL: Madrid Film School
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Spain, 2026
A group of neighbours has been evicted from the communal housing where they had lived all their lives. They decide to take revenge on the speculator responsible for the injustice.
YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU
ORIGINAL TITLE: Sabes Que Te Quiero
DIRECTOR: María Mondragón
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alejandro Maytorena
SCHOOL: AFI Conservatory
COUNTRY AND YEAR: USA, 2026
Rebellious Lucía visits her grandparents’ house with her family. What begins as innocent play with her siblings takes a dangerous turn when they find their grandfather’s revolver. Tired of being told what she can do and what is not ‘for girls’, Lucía crosses a dangerous line. After an accidental gunshot, the hierarchies within a family ruled by its patriarch are exposed. The incident changes how Lucía sees herself.