15th edition
from
09 09 26
to
13 09 26
Short Film Competition 1 - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Cinéma Beaumont
september 9 2026, 20:00
2h 30m
Presented across four programs and dedicated to showcasing emerging talent from Quebec and around the world, the Short Film Competition offers a window onto the world for anyone who loves bold, impactful storytelling.
The Plein(s) Écran(s) Audience Award for Best Short Film will be presented to one of the 33 Quebec and international films in the Official Competition, as selected by audience vote. The jury will also present the Spira and Paraloeil Award for Best Quebec Short Film.
The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, September 13, at 11:00 a.m. in the Salle Multi at Méduse.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers featured in the program.
in the program
C'est ma soeur - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
C'est ma soeur
Zoé Pelchat
14m
Camille, a teenager with Down syndrome, dreams of dancing in a semi-professional dance troupe. On the day of the audition, her sister Agathe witnesses how the world still stumbles over difference. Love and rage find their own choreography.
Zoé Pelchat
Zoé achieved her first critical success with her web series DOMINOS (Best Digital Series, Canneseries). LUNE (2020), her debut short, premiered at Clermont-Ferrand, then played over 40 festivals. In 2021, Zoé participated in the TIFF Filmmaker's Lab. Her sophomore GABY LES COLLINES (2023) was selected at Berlinale (Generation Kplus) and TIFF.
Zoé Pelchat - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Assembly
Amélie Labrèche
Sound
Francis Gauthier, Isabelle Lussier, Laurent Ouellette
Photography
Vincent Gonneville
Scenario
Léalie Ferland Tanguay
Performance
Alexandre Bergeron, Pascale Desrochers, Anne Florence, Stéphane Jacques, Florence Saint-Yves
Artistic direction
Yola Van Leeuwenkamp
technical sheet
Origin
Quebec
Language
French
Production year
2026
Broadcast type
Fiction
Direction
Zoé Pelchat
Duration
14m
Yégolé, mi amor - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Yégolé, mi amor
Renaud Gélinas
20m
In Yégolé, a village in Mexico, Cecilia celebrates her quinceañera surrounded by her family and community. Through the beauty and weariness of both festivity and everyday life, Cecilia feels a growing tension within her: to stay or to leave Yegolé, as she approaches adulthood.
Renaud Gélinas
A native of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Renaud Gélinas is an emerging filmmaker now based in Montreal. His cinema explores the complexity of human relationships, memory, and our connection to the environment, all within an aesthetic that oscillates between mystery and realism. He directed several short films, including The Wind Will Carry Her (2024) and, more recently, Yégolé, mi amor (2025).
Renaud Gélinas - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Music
Michel Robichaud
Assembly
Renaud Gélinas
Mixing
Benoît Dame
Photography
Lucrezia Galli
Scenario
Renaud Gélinas
Performance
Cecilio López, Cecilia López Sánchez, Yair López Sánchez
Sound design
Michel Robichaud
technical sheet
Origin
Quebec
Language
Spanish
Subtitle
French subtitles
Production year
2026
Broadcast type
Documentary
Direction
Renaud Gélinas
Duration
20m
Ouarda ouarda: yet another flower film - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Ouarda ouarda: yet another flower film
Samy Benammar
4m
Flowers shimmer along a strip of 16mm film, just before or just after the flames. They can be heard lamenting, screaming, and resisting. In response to this piercing sound, an explosion of light bursts from a black petal. Created from scientific audio recordings, the film is an act of reclamation and resistance, refusing to let the flowers burn.
Samy Benammar
Samy Benammar is a filmmaker, photographer and art critic based between Marseille and Montreal. Drawing from his Algerian roots and working-class upbringing, he creates films that combine reflective documentary techniques with a tactile, experimental approach. He holds a master's in research-creation from the Université de Montréal, focusing on the circulation of Middle Eastern war images.
Samy Benammar - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Assembly
Samy Benammar
Sound design
Héloïse Gruz
technical sheet
Origin
Quebec
Language
- Without dialogue
Production year
2026
Broadcast type
Experimental
Direction
Samy Benammar
Duration
4m
P'tite Jeunesse - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
P'tite Jeunesse
Vincent Careau
12m
Oli (12) is being babysat by his older brother Guillaume (16). They are about to spend an evening without their parents in their modest suburban home.
Vincent Careau
Vincent Careau graduated from the Bachelor’s program in Film Studies at UQAM in the fall of 2023. A member of the Wendat Nation, he incorporates themes of culture and mixed identity into his films, notably in his two documentary shorts Kaia and Wendat Endi. For the past two years, he has also been involved in the film industry as a programmer for the Regard and Présence autochtone festivals, as well as a writer for the film magazine Panorama.
Vincent Careau - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Camera
Sebastien Charlebois-Chouinard
technical sheet
Origin
Quebec
Language
French
Production year
2026
Broadcast type
Fiction
Direction
Vincent Careau
Duration
12m
Luz Diabla - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Luz Diabla
Patricio Plaza, Paula Boffo, Gervasio Canda
11m
Martín, a flamboyant urban raver, is involved in a strange road accident while making his way to a party in the middle of the Argentine Pampas. Finding refuge in a mysterious country grocery store and sheltered by two peculiar locals, Martín’s paranoia begins to overwhelm him. As the hours pass, his perception becomes increasingly distorted, unleashing disturbing visions that will lead him to confront the supernatural forces lurking in the night.
Patricio Plaza
Patricio Plaza is an animation filmmaker based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After studying visual arts and audiovisual communication at the National University of La Plata, he has worked in animation filmmaking for over 20 years. His authorial work centers on political animation, using genres like horror and fantasy to explore Latin American historical and political struggles. Plaza has authored and co-authored six short films, which have been selected in over 500 festivals and received more than 240 international awards.In 2019, he founded Ojo Raro, a production space focused on creating animation from a South American and queer perspective. The company's first short film, *Carne de Dios*, was selected for the Official Competition of the Annecy Festival and won awards such as Best Argentine Short Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, the Rigo Mora Award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, Best Latin American Short Film at Pixelatl and Chilemonos, and the Best Animation Award at the Havana Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the 2024 Annie Awards in the Best Short Subject category.
Patricio has collaborated with Human Rights NGOs like Madres and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, and is committed to promoting LGBTIQ+ animation creators and racialized minorities in Latin America, leading initiatives like "Voces del Sur" and "Furtive Glances: Femininities and Dissidences of Argentine Animation." He curated the LGBTIQ animation program "Hidden Desires" at the 2023 Annecy Festival and has given his master class, "Political Terror in Latin American Animation," in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. He has received support from Argentina's INCAA and the National Fund for the Arts, Mexico’s FONCA and the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the French Institute in Argentina. He also teaches direction and storytelling in diverse formational spaces and has been jury and lecturer in many international film festivals.
Patricio Plaza - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Paula Boffo
Paula Boffo, filmmaker and cartoonist, was born in 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied animation at the Institute of Cinema of Avellaneda and illustration in the Professional Illustration PostGraduate Program at Buenos Aires University (UBA). Her art primarily focuses on visual storytelling with themes of gender and political content. As a comics author, she has won several prizes for her graphic novels, including "Santa Sombra" (2022), "Highland's Shadow" (2018), and "SI MOJÁS ME ENCIENDO" (2019), which have been recognized at festivals across Argentina. She has also been published by Penguin Random House with the book "El Viaje Real" alongside Carolina Unrein. Additionally, she has worked as an editor for comics anthologies and has been published in comics magazines in Argentina, Spain, and the United States. Boffo has also created comic strips for several Argentinian newspapers and has worked with international clients such as Netflix. Her works have been exhibited at various comic festivals in countries like Argentina, France, and Algeria. She is an associate at Ojo Raro, a production house focused on queer animation, where she directed, "Santa Sombra," with the support of Argentina’s Film Institute (INCAA). She has also worked commercially on projects for Cartoon Network, Disney, Hasbro, Netflix, and UNESCO and and has given lectures, panels, and masterclasses at festivals like Bitbang, Annecy, and Cartón. With her film adaptation project "Santa Sombra," she has been selected for mentorship and development programs in Argentina, Spain, Mexico and France. As an illustrator, she has contributed to various awareness campaigns for NGOs and governmental organizations, including UNOPS and the Ministry of Gender of Argentina. Her work has focused on sex education, gender identity, and gender violence, and has been used in sex education programs in public high schools and LGBTQ+ workshops.
Paula Boffo - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Gervasio Canda
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Gervasio's artistic journey began at an early age, under the guidance of his grandfather, a painter and sculptor, who introduced him to the world of form and color. This early influence laid the groundwork for a creative career that spanned multiple disciplines. He participated in art clubs, refining his creativity and technique by engaging with talented artists who became close friends and colleagues.His curiosity led him to pursue an academic path in architecture, and he graduated as an architect, gaining expertise in space design, user interaction, and functionality, but his curiosity drove him to explore animation and video games.
Over the years, he collaborated with companies to create visually compelling and boundary-pushing projects. As Senior Concept Artist at Epic Games for Fortnite and Art Director at Ojo Raro Animation, Gervasio’s work shines through in projects like Carne de Dios. Released in 2023, the short film has won over 40 awards, was long-listed for the Oscars, and nominated for the Annies. Following its success, he co-wrote and co-directed Luz Diabla (2024), further solidifying his standing in the industry.
Gervasio’s skills in Unreal Engine, unity and 3D spatial design, influenced by his architectural background, contribute to his work in creating immersive visual experiences. His world-building expertise is evident in VR titles like Paper Birds and Eggscape. He is now Art Director for the VR project ZIX with HIDDEN IO.
As a partner at Ojo Raro, Gervasio continues to push the boundaries of design, animation, and video games. His move to Montreal introduced him to a new multicultural environment that fuels his creativity. With a focus on teamwork, originality, and storytelling, he remains committed to creating innovative visual narratives and exploring new frontiers in audiovisual media.
Gervasio Canda - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Music
Emanuel GABOTTO, Antu LA BANCA, David TOKAR
technical sheet
Origin
Canada (out of Quebec)
Argentina
Language
Spanish
Production year
2025
Broadcast type
Animation
Direction
Patricio Plaza. Paula Boffo. Gervasio Canda
Duration
11m
Une brèche - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
Une brèche
Jean-François Leblanc
Jean-François Leblanc
Born in Lac St-Charles in 1984, Jean-François Leblanc has written and scripted several short films and series, all of which have met with notable success. In 2015, he wrote and directed THE GUY FROM WORK, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2025, he directed his first feature film, VILE & MISERABLE, an adaptation of Samuel Cantin’s graphic novel.
Jean-François Leblanc - Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec
team
Assembly
Jules Saulnier
Photography
Vincent Biron
Performance
Christine Beaulieu, Sacha Charles, Éric Robidoux
Sound design
Simon Gervais
technical sheet
Origin
Quebec
Language
French
Production year
2026
Broadcast type
Fiction
Direction
Jean-François Leblanc
Duration
28m