Shorts Race Dispatch — 2026-10-05

Festival Updates

This week has seen a flurry of updates from prominent film festivals around the world, all of which are crucial in the lead-up to the 99th Academy Awards. The Festival de Cannes and Palm Springs International ShortFest have both updated their pages with the latest selections and award winners. Meanwhile, the Locarno Film Festival has released its awards palmares, with Deadline providing a verbatim reprint of the official release, complete with sponsor names.

European Festivals

In Europe, the Raindance Film Festival has announced its nominees and winners for 2026, with Variety via Yahoo naming all four short winners. However, it's worth noting that the official Raindance website is currently blocking Cloudflare egress, making it difficult to access information directly from the source. The Venice International Film Festival has also updated its Cinema page, providing a wealth of information on the latest films and talent.

North American Festivals

Across the Atlantic, the HollyShorts Film Festival and Tribeca Festival have both updated their pages, with the former providing a comprehensive festival page and the latter releasing its festival schedule. These updates are all crucial in helping us track the shorts race as it heats up in the coming weeks and months.

Looking Ahead

With the Chicago International Film Festival set to start on October 14, the next two weeks are shaping up to be exciting times for short film enthusiasts. As the festival season continues to unfold, we'll be keeping a close eye on all the latest developments and updates. For the full picture, be sure to visit shorts-tracker.com/race for all the latest news and updates on the road to the 99th Academy Awards.