The eighth annual French Riviera Film Festival has unveiled its 2026 award winners during a special closing ceremony held on May 16 at the Eden Hotel & Spa in Cannes, France.
“This year’s festival was a powerful celebration of bold storytelling and global creative voices,” said FRFF co-founder Nicole Muj. “We continue to see remarkable artistry across emerging formats, and it’s incredibly rewarding to provide a platform for these filmmakers to connect, be recognized, and share their work on an international stage during Cannes.”
Several specialty honors were also presented throughout the two-day festival (May 15-16, 2026). At the opening reception hosted at Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery, filmmaker and actor Christian James Madsen received the One to Watch Award, while filmmaker and artist Eva Lanska was honored with the Creative Excellence Award. During the closing ceremony, British actor Oliver Trevena was presented with the Spotlight Award.
Founded in 2019, the French Riviera Film Festival also stages the annual Global Entertainment Showcase event, this year featuring an all women panel of filmmakers (pictured): Christina Rose, Edit Jakab, Gen LaGreca, Kristina Reiko Cooper, and Veronika Emily Pohl, with Rehna Azim serving as moderator.
The 2026 festival winners are:
Drama – Farewellday (Farzad Ranjbar-Nazari)
Documentary – Emerging from the Shadows (Veronika Emily Pohl)
Micro Short – Be My Double (Fuyubi Kusamori)
Sci-Fi/Horror – The Girl in the Street (Chris Paicely, Miles August)
Animation – King Karno (Richard Thompson)
Music Video – Broken Wings (Sima Galanti)
Student – Ouroboros (Edit Jakab, Anna Rácz) – Tie
Student – The Day the World Fell Apart (Damon Condon)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Georges (Alphonse Marcel)
Comedy – The Universal Temple (Bertrand Normand)
Experimental – I Deserved It (Monika Barbara Ekiert, Aurelia Sobczak)
Fashion – Elysion (Christos Panagiotou)
Commercial – Gift a Feeling (Alex Fouquet)
Screenplay – Amberica (Amber Shaheen Nelson, Mokotsi Rukundo) – Tie
Screenplay – Vol et Nocturne (Shaun Rylee)
Special Jury Awards included Best Ensemble Cast to Elena Pribicevic, Iva Viskovic Krizan, Zoran Pribicevic (The Race); Best Director to Farzad Ranjbar-Nazari (Farewellday); Best Actress to Lou Amara, Leeloo Eyme (No Wind to Hold); and Best Actor to Zoran Pribicevic (The Race).
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