Big Short Films 2026. And the winners are.
Discover the winning projects.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Onassis Foundation has made space for new cinematic ideas through its open call for short films. This year, more than 130 proposals were submitted by Greek and international creators – and five of them stood out and were selected for funding.
Standing Ground
Director & Screenwriter: Kyriaki Theodorou
“Standing Ground” is an essay documentary film that begins with a personal loss to shed light on a collective one. Following the death of her farmer father, the filmmaker returns to her village to document grape cultivation and reconnect with him through the family home, the vineyards, and the local people. This journey reveals the gradual devastation of the land, as water becomes scarce and the crop is 2threatened, weaving a story of loss, memory, life, death, and people’s relationship with the soil that sustains them—and is, in turn, sustained by them.
"Standing Ground" Image
The Fall
Director & Screenwriter: Stefanos Pletsis
“Broken doesn’t mean useless.”
“The Fall” tells the story of a boy raised by a father who repairs everything, a missing wheel replaced with a bottle cap, a broken antenna reshaped by hand, a way of seeing the world where nothing is disposable. Years later, alone on a failing space station, the same boy, now an astronaut, is surrounded by systems that demand replacement. Screens flash instructions. Components fail. The solution is always the same: REPLACE. But he doesn’t.
The film unfolds across two timelines, past and present, gradually revealing how a philosophy learned in childhood becomes the only thing keeping him alive in space. “The Fall” is a quiet story about resilience, inheritance, and the human instinct to repair not just objects, but ourselves.
"The Fall" Image
The Bear’s
Director & Screenwriter: Ilya Tranoudi
A van gets a flat tire and pulls over on a rural road, causing a traffic jam involving many cars. As the driver struggles to change the tire, a “witness” bystander misinterprets what he sees and spreads false information. As this information spreads by word of mouth, it becomes distorted within a few minutes, dividing stranded drivers and passengers.
The film is a social satire and allegory about how information is distorted and the truth is twisted in the modern era, when critical thinking and rational judgment are in crisis.
"The Bear's" Image
Jamal
Director & Screenwriter: Spyros Christoforatos
Thrace, 2024. Twenty years after the mysterious death of a thirteen-year-old shepherd on the day of the Jamal ritual, the villagers decide to revive the long-forgotten custom in the hope of ending the region’s prolonged drought. Paschalis, a claustrophobic livestock farmer, sets to clean the old well on his property, despite repeated warnings that it is inhabited by an evil presence. When his young son goes missing inside the well, Paschalis descends after him, only to uncover a truth that will shatter everything he believed about faith, fear, and the village’s enduring legend.
The Magic Goblet Drum
Director & Screenwriter: Minas Kouroglou
Markos, a restless nine-year-old Roma boy, spends a sleepless summer night on the eve of a lavish wedding celebration. He has only one goal: to learn how to play the goblet drum, so he can be the first one to persuade the shy Maira to dance. Although he has never even touched the instrument, he ‘plays’ it by vocalizing its rhythms, much to his father’s despair, his sister’s teasing, and his grandmother’s affectionate concern, who convinces him that his goblet drum is enchanted.
On the day of the celebration, Markos finds himself confronted with challenges, rivalries, and social prejudice. Through his relationships with his family and friends, he begins to recognize both his strengths and weaknesses, questions everything he has taken for granted, and takes his first meaningful step towards self-discovery. When he finally steps onto his own small stage, he must face not only the audience and Maira, but above all, himself.
