Festival Formula is supporting the WOFFF Student Film Prize 2026
Seven student films from France, Germany, Mexico and the UK are screening at WOFFF26 this year. All seven are available as part of WOFFF26 Online, while three will also be shown at Depot in Lewes on 5 September.
And we’re pleased to announce that Festival Formula are sponsoring this year’s student film prize: the WOFFF–Festival Formula Best Student Award.
The award includes £200 in cash prizes, with £100 for first place and £50 each for second and third place. The winning filmmaker will also receive a one-to-one session with Festival Formula after the festival.
We’re delighted to have Festival Formula back with us for WOFFF26, this time sponsoring the Student Film category.
At WOFFF we welcome filmmakers of all ages and experiences, and it's extremely important to us to recognise student filmmakers and emerging filmmakers who are also putting older women at the centre of their stories.
Festival Formula understands what filmmakers need once their film is finished, so the one-to-one session will be a fantastic opportunity for the winner of the WOFFF-Festival Formula Best Student Award.
Meet the filmmakers
Annie, Justine Servoz
Drama, France
Annie (dir. Justine Servoz) is a drama about a woman whose memory is failing. Frightened of losing one particularly precious memory, Annie tries to recreate it one last time while navigating the care home where she lives and an increasingly unreliable past. Justine made the film for her grandmother, who can no longer remember her daughter’s name but can still recall details of her wedding day.
Birgitte, Maria Zaikina
Documentary, Germany
In the documentary Birgitte (dir. Maria Zaikina), Birgitte lives in a Berlin apartment filled with hundreds of children’s toys. She preserves them, arranges them and lives among them, creating a personal archive within her home. Birgitte is screening online and at Depot.
Fried!, Lizzie Watts
Animation, UK
Fried! (dir. Lizzie Watts) is an animated folk-horror comedy. Driving home from a mysterious, ageing nuclear facility, Dev becomes stranded at an isolated emu farm run by old mystic lesbians. He suspects that they plan to sacrifice him at a nearby stone circle, but the women have other things on their minds. The animation combines 3D and 2D techniques, hand-drawn charcoal and scanned objects.
Held In The Shadows, Lily Palmer-Gray
Animation, UK
The stop-motion animation Held In The Shadows (dir. Lily Palmer-Gray) is set in Budapest in March 2025. It follows an older lesbian couple, Róza and Berta, as rights and freedoms they believed were secure begin to disappear. Made in response to the Hungarian Parliament’s ban on Pride events, the film uses its constructed characters and settings to show the couple becoming increasingly isolated and excluded. It is screening online and at Depot.
Isolated Silence, Vicente Garibay Lijanova
Drama, Mexico
In the drama Isolated Silence (dir. Vicente Garibay Lijanova), Ariadna is struggling to pay for the nursing home where her sister, who has dementia, lives. After stealing from a supermarket for the first time, she begins to see a possible escape from the financial and emotional pressure she is under. Director Vicente Garibay Lijanova was inspired by conversations with his grandmother and his research into loneliness and poverty among older people. Isolated Silence is also screening online and at Depot.
Strokes of Wildflowers, Livvy Seabrook-Wilkins
Animation, UK
Strokes of Wildflowers (dir. Livvy Seabrook-Wilkins) is an animated documentary in which five stroke survivors talk about the physical and emotional challenges they have faced. Their stories cover loneliness and loss, as well as friendship, humour, recovery and finding new ways to express themselves.
Winds of Change, Sharon de Nise
Experimental, UK
Winds of Change (dir. Sharon de Nise) is an experimental film made from photographs of the mountain view outside Sharon’s home in the Scottish Highlands and archive cine film inherited from her father. As the landscape changes through the seasons, memories of family, love, loss and everyday life appear and disappear across it.
Watch at WOFFF26 Online
All seven student films can be watched as part of WOFFF26 Online, running from Friday 4 September to Monday 5 October 2026.
Birgitte, Held In The Shadows and Isolated Silence will also screen at WOFFF at Depot in Lewes on Saturday 5 September, find out more about the WOFFF programme at Depot cinema here.
