COMPETITIONS

Featured
Ukrainian Competition 1
Sep 7
Ukrainian Competition 1

The Ukrainian Competition brings together a vibrant mix of short films that really tap into the weirdness of our times. These filmmakers are capturing and portraying a world full of contradictions, where everything feels sharper, and the desire to live fully is stronger than ever. It’s a showcase of eagerness and resilience, offering fresh takes on what it means to navigate through such a surreal moment in history.

Ukrainian Competition 2
Sep 8
Ukrainian Competition 2

The Ukrainian Competition brings together a vibrant mix of short films that really tap into the weirdness of our times. These filmmakers are capturing and portraying a world full of contradictions, where everything feels sharper, and the desire to live fully is stronger than ever. It’s a showcase of eagerness and resilience, offering fresh takes on what it means to navigate through such a surreal moment in history.

KISFF SPECIAL

Featured
ANIMANIA
Sep 4
ANIMANIA

ANIMANIA is a selection of short films where the boundaries of the familiar expand into an absurdist mosaic, open to interpretation. This program is for those ready to discover animation not only as a space for visual experimentation, but also as a way to explore the world and oneself in it — through unexpected imagery, surreal situations, and poignant moments

Short Attack
Sep 4
Short Attack

Short Attack is a selection of boldest, bravest and funniest short films that challenge traditions, forms, storytelling and simply common sense.

Midnight Sexy Shorts
Sep 5
Midnight Sexy Shorts

Our superstar program which looks into a broad spectrum of endless issues, insecurities, coincidences, comedy and drama that evolve around sex and sexuality.

HIGHLIGHTS

Featured
Park chan-wook Shorts
Sep 5
Park chan-wook Shorts

Visionary, provocative, and formally daring, Park Chan-wook is a defining figure in contemporary South Korean cinema. Known for masterpieces like Oldboy and The Handmaiden, his work has long challenged moral boundaries and visual conventions. This focused retrospective brings together three short films that offer a rare glimpse into his experimental side.

Noul val românesc: Forms of love
Sep 6
Noul val românesc: Forms of love

The New Romanian Wave is a cinematic movement that began in the mid-2000s and rapidly achieved international recognition. Its filmmakers are distinguished by a restrained visual approach, the use of long takes, focus on everyday details, and deep psychological insights. The directors included in this program have expanded the possibilities of auteur cinema and have become a genuine phenomenon.

Artist in Focus: Peter Tscherkassky
Sep 7
Artist in Focus: Peter Tscherkassky

Artist in Focus: Peter Tscherkassky is a retrospective program showcasing the Austrian filmmaker’s visionary analog works, where found footage and darkroom manipulation collide to create hypnotic, subversive explorations of cinematic form and desire.

KINO SUSIDIV

Featured
BOO KIDS 6+
Sep 5
BOO KIDS 6+

Summer holidays with family, helping each other out, making new friends, dealing with tricky feelings or spotting cute creatures where they definitely don’t belong! This playful collection of five animated shorts by Slovak and Czech filmmakers invites you to explore different emotions and dive into colourful worlds full of surprising stories and distinctive, imaginative animation styles.

Family animation: autism-friendly screening
Sep 5
Family animation: autism-friendly screening

"Kino Susidiv" in collaboration with the Centre for Audiovisual Culture Kino Úsmev ("Cinema Smile," Košice, Slovakia), presents a selection of Ukrainian animation for the whole family — the best festival hits that captivate both children and adults alike.

Showcase: Warsaw Film School
Sep 8
Showcase: Warsaw Film School

The Warsaw Film School is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special program as part of Kino Susidiv and Kyiv International Short Film Festival. To mark the occasion, we are proud to present five outstanding short films created by our talented Ukrainian students.

Visegrad Shorts: Everyday Magic
Sep 10
Visegrad Shorts: Everyday Magic

“Where is the place where I can feel peace?” – asks the Stone, the main character of one of the films in this program.

CHILLS & THRILLS

Featured
Horrors Beneath the Skin
Sep 4
Horrors Beneath the Skin

This year's Short Horrors program pays homage to the genre of body horror and plays on our deepest physiological fears.

Comedies
Sep 6
Comedies

YOUNG FILM LOVERS

Featured
BOO KIDS 6+
Sep 5
BOO KIDS 6+

Summer holidays with family, helping each other out, making new friends, dealing with tricky feelings or spotting cute creatures where they definitely don’t belong! This playful collection of five animated shorts by Slovak and Czech filmmakers invites you to explore different emotions and dive into colourful worlds full of surprising stories and distinctive, imaginative animation styles.

Family animation: autism-friendly screening
Sep 5
Family animation: autism-friendly screening

"Kino Susidiv" in collaboration with the Centre for Audiovisual Culture Kino Úsmev ("Cinema Smile," Košice, Slovakia), presents a selection of Ukrainian animation for the whole family — the best festival hits that captivate both children and adults alike.

EXTRA SHORTS

WOMENS* IN FILM

Featured
Reclaim, Reframe & Rejoice
Sep 4
Reclaim, Reframe & Rejoice

From one's intimate relationships – with their mothers, and their own bodies – to their communities or society at large – these shorts explore nuanced and multifaceted experiences of womanhood, gender, identity and expression.

Nicole Medvecka: The Future of The Past
Sep 5
Nicole Medvecka: The Future of The Past

In the “Women in Cinema” section, we showcase diverse female perspectives on screen.

Nicole Medvecka, a German director of Ukrainian origin, explores themes such as human coexistence, the impacts of war, and her personal identity.

FEM* RIOT
Sep 8
FEM* RIOT

The program brings together the stories of women (and about women) from different territorial, social, cultural, traditional contexts.

Kira Muratova Retrospective
Sep 8
Kira Muratova Retrospective

For the first time in Ukraine, we will present a retrospective of Kira Muratova’s short films, curated by Aliona Penzii, a researcher at the Dovzhenko Centre.

In the “Women in Cinema” section, we showcase diverse female perspectives on screen.

CELEBRATE DIVERSITY

Featured
Reclaim, Reframe & Rejoice
Sep 4
Reclaim, Reframe & Rejoice

From one's intimate relationships – with their mothers, and their own bodies – to their communities or society at large – these shorts explore nuanced and multifaceted experiences of womanhood, gender, identity and expression.

Queer Animation
Sep 6
Queer Animation

Explore the limitless ways of loving yourself and others, breaking free from conventional frames and boundaries. Join us in celebrating the beauty of fluidity, self-discovery, and the freedom to live and love beyond expectations.

FEM* RIOT
Sep 8
FEM* RIOT

The program brings together the stories of women (and about women) from different territorial, social, cultural, traditional contexts.

Out & Proud: Slay, Serve, Survive
Sep 8
Out & Proud: Slay, Serve, Survive

Fierce, fearless, and fabulously unfiltered (almost) – this selection of queer shorts celebrates queer heroes and villans with all their rights and wrongs. Whether navigating the end of the world or enduring a dinner date with a high-school enemy, these stories spotlight queer resilience, joy, and chaos in equal measure, and each film is a testament to the art of slaying, serving, and surviving (literally).

MUSIC THEN & NOW

Featured
Classics Minute
Sep 4
Classics Minute

In this program, instrumental music becomes the starting point for a wide range of directorial visions — from ironic miniatures to reflections on the influence of “classical” music on contemporary art and culture.

THE URGENCY OF NOW

KISFF & FRIENDS

Featured
Emerging Artists - Contemporary Experimental Films and Video Art from Germany
Sep 4
Emerging Artists - Contemporary Experimental Films and Video Art from Germany

Greeting by Florian Fischer Emerging Artists – Contemporary Experimental Films and Video Art from Germany Vol. 7 The current edition comprises six works by artists approaching their subjects in an experimental, performative, and essayist way. Their works elude a distinctive conceptual classification:

AMARO KINO – A TRAVELING PROGRAM OF RECENT ROMA SHORT FILMS
Sep 9
AMARO KINO – A TRAVELING PROGRAM OF RECENT ROMA SHORT FILMS

Amaro Kino offers a carefully curated selection of films that speak to the richness and complexity of Roma life today, from intimate portrayals of identity and belonging, to bold forms of resistance, memory, and imagination. The programme moves beyond stereotypes, making space for Roma-led narratives and creative authorship in European cinema.