French Riviera Film Festival Unveils 2026 Award Winners

The eighth annual French Riviera Film Festival (FRFF) has revealed its 2026 award winners, revealed during a special closing ceremony held on May 16 at the Eden Hotel & Spa in Cannes, France. Take a look at the full list below.

The 2026 program recognized Finalists and Special Mention selections across categories, including AI, Micro Short, Student, Animation, Sci-Fi/Horror, Comedy, Documentary, Music Video, Fashion, Experimental, Commercial, Drama, and Screenwriting. In addition to in-person events, select films were available online via Entertainment Oxygen's eoFlix platform.

Several specialty honors were also presented throughout the two-day festival. At the exclusive 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 celebrates innovative storytelling across film, television, web, and digital platforms. Held during the Festival de Cannes, each year FRFF brings together filmmakers, industry leaders, media, and influencers for screenings, networking events, vip receptions, and a closing gala awards ceremony.

The festival also features the annual Global Entertainment Showcase event, this year featuring an all-women panel of filmmakers - Christina Rose, Edit Jakab, Gen LaGreca, Kristina Reiko Cooper, and Veronika Emily Pohl, with Rehna Azim serving as moderator.

Submissions for the 2027 festival open on June 1st via Film Freeway. More information is available here.

2026 Winners

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

Best Ensemble Cast - Elena Pribicevic, Iva Viskovic Krizan, Zoran Pribicevic (The Race)
Best Director - Farzad Ranjbar-Nazari (Farewellday)
Best Actress - Lou Amara, Leeloo Eyme (No Wind to Hold)
Best Actor - Zoran Pribicevic (The Race)

Photo Credit: Erick Seban Meyer 

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