Three Ukrainian short films have been included on the shortlist for the 2027 European Film Awards. The selection was confirmed on the official European Film Academy website, highlighting a range of documentary, animated, and fiction projects produced by contemporary Ukrainian filmmakers.
Nominees for the awards will be announced on November 14. The official presentation ceremony is set to take place on January 16, 2027.
The European Film Awards are presented annually by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinema across various genres and disciplines. Founded in 1988, the institution brings together film directors, writers, and producers from across the continent to honor major achievements in European filmmaking.
Documentary exploration of displacement
The documentary short Homecoming, titled Open World in Ukrainian, was created by directors Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimey. The film centers on a Ukrainian teenager who was forced to move to Poland following the invasion of Ukraine.
Living in exile, the youth uses a remote video connection from his room in Poland to operate a four-legged robot dog located in Ukraine. By navigating the machine through familiar places, he attempts to retrace his past and maintain his memory of home.
Malashchuk and Khimey said the robot featured in the documentary was originally designed and deployed by the Ukrainian military for battlefield reconnaissance. In the film, the device serves as a physical surrogate for a boy displaced from Khortytsia, a prominent island on the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhia known historically as a stronghold of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.
Homecoming previously secured the main prize at the Wiz-Art Lviv International Short Film Festival. The annual festival in western Ukraine is one of the nation's key showcases for independent short cinema and emerging media artists.
Animation and urban survival in Kyiv
The animated shortlisted entry Kyiv Cake was directed by Mikita Liskov and produced as an international co-production between Ukraine and Estonia. Baltic film funds and animation studios in Estonia frequently collaborate with Ukrainian creators on independent European animation projects.
The animated project portrays an impoverished family living in modern Ukraine around the time a child is born. As the parents struggle to secure basic needs, a new threat emerges at their moment of severe crisis.
Liskov said the storyline reflects his personal experiences of enduring wartime conditions and his efforts to rethink past events. Kyiv Cake previously won the national competition grand prix at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival and was recognized as the best animated film at Ukraine's 2025 Kinokolo Film Critics Awards.
Wartime draft story in Easter Day
The third shortlisted title is the live-action fiction film Easter Day, directed by Mykola Zasieiev. The project was created as a joint co-production between Ukraine and France, combining French cultural funding with Ukrainian narrative production.
The film takes place on Easter Sunday in Kyiv as two military officers from the local Territorial Center of Recruitment drive through the city to locate men for army mobilization. Territorial Centers of Recruitment operate across Ukraine as the primary regional bodies responsible for military registration and draft enforcement.
During their round, the recruiters encounter a young man who stepped outside for the sole purpose of buying cat food. The narrative is based on the actual experience of the director's friend and co-writer Illya Volynets-Tryfonov, who was stopped for a document check while primarily concerned about his pet being left home without food.
The military officers agreed to drive the young man to the store first before taking him to the registration office. Easter Day won the National Assembly of France award for best political short film in March, received the short film jury prize for best European film at the 66th Krakow Film Festival in June, and earned the Golden Dzyga award for best short fiction film in Ukraine.
Broader international recognition
The shortlist selection coincides with further international recognition for Ukrainian films on the festival circuit. The documentary Black Sunflowers placed second in the audience voting for best documentary film at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.
In addition, the Ukrainian Oscar Committee selected the documentary Traces as the official submission from Ukraine for the 99th Academy Awards. The film will compete for a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category.
