Every year in February, Talking Shorts and the European Network for Film Discourse (END) host the New Critics & New Audiences Award online, in which a variety of European short films compete for the audience vote.
Participants from the European Workshop for Film Criticism and the European Workshop for New Curators collectively nominate one European film per festival they attend. This way, eight European short films are made available globally for free for two weeks, presented with an interview with the filmmaker(s), and competing for the New Critics & New Audiences Award.
The Award aims to connect emerging film critics and curators with new audiences for European short films. The different groups of Audiences worldwide are invited to vote for their favourite film. The winner receives a cash prize of €1000.
Previous winners are Paradise Europe (Du bist so wunderbar) by Leandro Goddinho and Paulo Menezes in 2024, and Boys by Anna Martí Domingo in 2025.
The New Critics & New Audiences Award is a project by the European Network for Film Discourse (The END), hosted on Talking Shorts and funded by the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme—with the support of This Is Short.
The European Network for Film Discourse is a collective of European festivals that now includes eight distinct and diverse European film festivals: Filmfest Dresden (DE), Vienna Shorts (AT), Lago Film Fest (IT), Kortfilmfestival Leuven (BE), FeKK Ljubljana Short Film Festival (SI), Vilnius Short Film Festival (LT), and the newly announced Curtas Vila do Conde (PT) and Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (RO).
