These are the Award Winners of Cinekid Festival 2026

Miss Moxy, produced by Phanta Animation and directed by Vincent Bal and Wip Vernooij, won the Cinekid award for Best Dutch Children’s Film. The jury for Best Dutch Children’s Film comprised Dewi Reijs from the Buddy Film Project, director Ayla Spaans and Max de Valck, programmer at De Sien. The jury was unanimous in its verdict: “We find this film an adventure to watch and to listen to. Both the family story and the colourful characters have been carefully crafted. Miss Moxy draws you in and never fails to entertain… It’s a film that children can watch over and over again. The animation is of a very high standard. We are immensely proud that this production was made in the Netherlands and Belgium, and hope that the film will be seen by as many children as possible beyond our borders.”

The Romanian-Bulgarian film Atlas of the Universe by Paul Negoescu, produced by deFilm, took home the Cinekid Lion for Best Children’s Film of 2026. The Brazilian film Gugu’s World by Allan Deberton received a Special Mention from the jury, which consisted of Els Kuiper, a programme buyer at VPRO, Marie Limkilde, a director, and Jitendra Mishra, director of the SIFFCY Smile film festival in India.

Cinekid for Professionals, the international industry program for youth media, also presented its awards. Three expert juries honored the best youth media projects in development.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award is a prize of €20,000 for the development of a European co-production. The prize goes to the film The Island of Nose by Studio Ruba, directed by Noël Loozen and written by Saar Ponsioen. The jury, made up of Ilse Ronteltap, Head of International Affairs at The Netherlands Film Fund, Sigrid Ekbaum, Head of Outreach and Engagement and Vincent Förster, filmmaker and Programme Manager Short Films at Berlinale Generation, describes Tom Tippelaar as “a project that is ambitious both in its storyline and its visual language. With a timely story about the health of our planet at its core, we honor a project that aims to translate impressive illustrations into an even more impressive world that comes to life in moving images. We are curious and look forward with anticipation to seeing how this film takes shape.”

The Filmmore Post-Production Award for the best live-action project in development was won by Finger Thief, produced by Asterisk* and Shampoo Films, and written and directed by Harry Patramanis. The prize is €5,000 to be spent on the project’s post-production at Filmmore. Remco Mastwijk from Filmmore praises Finger Thief for “the bold approach to sensitive themes and the exciting combination of action, drama and thriller.”

The PUBLIKUM Audience Awareness Award went to the series Matey, directed by Arne Toonen, written by Bodil Matheeuwsen and Rik van der Bos, and produced by Fiction Valley in co-production with VPRO. The award money (€9,000) is paid in the form of services by the Danish business consultancy Will & Agency, who hands out the award. Will & Agency blends anthropology, data, and IT to analyse audience responses during the screenwriting process, helping filmmakers create a deeper connection with their viewers.

The Craftsmanship in a Series Production Award went to Fri Fri Suriname (NTR), by directors Mischa Kamp and Sacha Vermeulen.

Bollox (VPRO), by directors Cassandra Offenberg & Martijn de Vos, won the Most Original Series Production Award. The jury consisted of Dewi Reijs of the Buddy Film Project, director Ayla Spaans, and Max de Valck, programmer at De Sien.

The short films also competed for prizes in two competitions: the Sparks Competition for short films for children up to 9, and the Flames Competition for ages 9+.

In the Sparks Competition, Let’s Play (Marzieh Rasekh) won the Amarte Best Dutch Short Film Award. The Day I Licked a Pebble (Goli Atefi, Marie Pijollet, Nathan Jauze, Maud Kolasa, Chloé Bernuchon, Flavie Eliézer) won the Best International Short Film Award. The Sparks jury consisted of directors Jorn Leeuwerink and Annechien Strouven, and Karolina Śmigiel of the Let’s Doc Film Festival in Warsaw.

In the Flames Competition, Brus (Merel van Kesteren) won the Amarte Best Dutch Short Film Award, and the Best International Short Film Award went to Abracadabra (Amay Mehrsishi). The Flames jury was made up of directors Luka Kluskens and Sylwia Szkiłądź, and Konrad Neisse, youth section programmer at the Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen.

From five contenders, the Cinekid Youth Jury chose the thrilling Fanboy by Gregory Samson as the Youth Jury Award winner.

The MediaLab Game Award was won by the game Kitiklop from Sweden, made by Dorian Beaugendre and Felix Roman.

In addition, this week all children who visited the MediaLab were allowed to place three stickers on the games and works they liked best. Together, they voted the Dutch VR installation Planeetpoort the winner of the MediaLab Audience Award! Planeetpoort was created by XR Lab and students from Mediacollege Amsterdam, Grafisch Lyceum Utrecht, and HKU.