Hungarian submissions include several shorts that have earned acclaim at other international festivals already, the organisers' statement said, adding that they were:

"unique, creative films focusing on transgenerational issues, social challenges or personal stories related in a novel language".

Entries include Balint Kenyeres's No. 3 (The Spectacle) about a young Roma whose talent suddenly puts him in the limelight, Rebeka Hathazi's 27 April, the actress' debut as film director, as well as Zsolt Kristof Toth's The Other Side and Denisa.

The festival will run until June 4.
 

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Signs of the Apocalypse, Rebel Without Age, Rites of Passage, Hauntings – the Friss Hús Short Film Festival's International Competition program is divided into four thematic blocks, curated by Bori Péterfy, Beton.Hofi, Gábor Reisz, and Flóra Anna Buda. This year’s guest country is Germany, with a special focus on German short films.  

The organizers have just announced the international competition program of Friss Hús Budapest. The selection, which spans a wide range of genres, is structured into four thematic blocks and will feature 22 films, including fiction shorts, animations, and documentaries. The blocks were curated by Bori Péterfy, Beton.Hofi, Gábor Reisz, and Flóra Anna Buda.

◾ Signs of the Apocalypse (curated by Bori Péterfy)
"Exploitation, alienation, collapse. The apocalypse is inevitable."

◾ Rebel Without Age (curated by Beton.Hofi)
"Birdsong, psychedelic breakups, rebellious kids and defiant retirees."

◾ Rites of Passage (curated by Gábor Reisz)
"Teenage girls and aging men are all in search of themselves – sometimes even while going bald."

◾ Hauntings (curated by Flóra Anna Buda)
"Humans turning animal, a vacuum cleaner coming to life, torn between family traditions and a passion for football."

Focus: Germany

Each year, Friss Hús presents the short film culture of a different country. In 2025, the spotlight is on Germany, featuring a curated showcase of outstanding German short films and a producers’ forum for German and Hungarian industry professionals.

German filmmakers and producers will attend closed-door events where they can meet key figures from the Hungarian film scene, with the goal of building potential short- and long-term partnerships and opening up international opportunities for Hungarian talent.

The German short film selection, Stories from the Edge: Best of German Shorts, was curated in partnership with Interfilm Berlin. The German Focus program series is supported by the Goethe-Institut, German Films, and Interfilm.

The international competition features films with strong, distinctive creative voices. This year’s program includes 22 films from abroad – a diverse lineup of animated shorts, documentaries, and fiction films, including political dramas, dark comedies, experimental works, satires, and more.

These films come from the competition lineups of major international festivals such as Berlinale, Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Annecy, Palm Springs, Ottawa, and Locarno. The full program is now available on the Friss Hús website.

With surprising, thought-provoking, heartbreaking, moving, or humorous themes, the international selection invites viewers into new, sometimes familiar, sometimes distant and unknown inner or outer worlds.

Sweet Like Lemonds is a hand-painted animation about escaping a toxic relationship; Class is a black comedy that spirals into chaos in a Dutch primary school; My Mother is a Cow takes viewers to Brazil’s swamplands and a mythical jaguar; Rúnar Rúnarsson’s O (featuring Icelandic star Ingvar Sigurdsson) dives deep into our most personal struggles; Abel explores father-son bonds, grief, and male vulnerability; the satirical Bad For a Moment examines social tensions and contradictions of city life; Hymn of the Plague follows a band recording a piece inspired by The Feast During the Plague in an old Soviet sound studio.

The selection introduces a wide variety of characters – children and adults, rich and poor, elderly and young. Among them: a retired opera extra (Mind the Gap), three balding brothers heading to Turkey for hair transplants (Beautiful Men), TikTok influencers (Wassupkaylee), troubled teens (Moon Lake), a lost undertaker (Allégresse), a woman seducing a ghost (Spring), and abandoned child stars (Wander to Wonder).

At times lonely, at times briefly connected by fate – their stories are at once unique, personal, and universal.

Winners of the competition programs will be announced on the final day of the festival, June 4.

The festival runs from May 29 to June 4, with screenings at the Puskin Cinema and outdoor venues at City Hall. Alongside the best Hungarian and international short films, visitors can look forward to inspiring industry events, panel discussions, lectures, and workshops.

About Friss Hús

Since 2013, the Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival has been cultivating a dynamic creative space for Hungarian cinema, supporting young filmmakers with screenings, workshops, pitching forums, and other professional events.

Over the years, it has grown into Hungary’s largest short film festival and one of the country’s key film industry gatherings, drawing over 10,000 visitors annually. In October 2024, Friss Hús became the first Hungarian festival to be added to the list of Oscar®-qualifying festivals.

The festival showcases fresh and original works by emerging talents with strong artistic voices – including Kristóf Deák’s Academy Award-winning short Sing and Flóra Anna Buda’s Palme d’Or-winning animation 27. Audiences and professionals alike can enjoy the latest Hungarian and international short films on the big screen, alongside roundtable discussions, concerts, and many more events.

The weeklong festival continues to expand its programs and venues each year.

In 2025, Friss Hús screenings will take place not only in Budapest but also in Veszprém, Szigetszentmiklós, Szombathely, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, and Szentendre.

See the films on show here: 
Friss Hus Budapest International Short Film Festival Website