The top prizes at the 66th Zlín Film Festival went to films from Egypt, Poland, Denmark, and Switzerland
03. June 2026
After careful deliberation, the international expert and children’s juries at the 66th Zlín Film Festival have reached their verdict. The Golden Slipper awards went to the Egyptian film Happy Birthday (Best Feature Film for Children), the Polish film The Altar Boys (Best Feature Film for Teens), Weightless from Denmark (Best Feature Film for Young Adults), and the Swiss film The Ostrich (Best Animated Short Film for Children).
The 66th International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín presented audiences with 300 films from a record 57 countries around the world.
The Polish film Ministranti also impressed the ecumenical jury, so they are taking home two awards from Zlín. The creators of the British animated film Lavice pro neposlušné (Benches for the Disobedient) received the same number of awards—in addition to the Special Mention from the international expert jury for a short animated film for children, they had already accepted the Children’s Jury Award on Wednesday morning.
During the festival’s final day, additional awards from the children’s and youth juries were also presented. The children’s jury honored the British-Canadian-American film Pumpkin Village, while the youth jury was most impressed by the Irish film TRAD. This film also won the Golden Apple—the City of Zlín’s award for the most popular feature-length film among audiences.
Domestic productions also clearly stood out among the strong international competition. The ČT :D Audience Award for Best Animated Short Film for Children went to The Adventures of Brouk Pytlík and Ferda the Ant: How They Went to Congratulate.
This year’s winning films are united by exceptional artistic quality, strong stories, and the ability to appeal to young audiences across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Each of the award-winning titles offers a unique perspective on the world and confirms the high standard of contemporary filmmaking for children and young people,
said Markéta Pášmová, the festival’s artistic director.
On Wednesday evening, the unique Večerníček Award was presented to Jiří Chalupa, a longtime programmer and screenwriter for Czech Television, whose credits include eight cult television fairy tales, such as *Princes Are for Dragons* and *How About a Wedding, Prince?*
When people stop me on the street and say, ‘You gave me a wonderful childhood,’ it’s amazing. Thank you!
Jiří Chalupa responded during the live broadcast.
As is tradition, the Czech Technology Agency (TAČR) award was also announced. In this competition, elementary school students competed in creating short films on the theme of the future of transportation, vehicles, and travel. The expert jury was most captivated by the short animation *A Walk Through Time*, created jointly by fifth-grade students Dora Volfová and Alan Veselý from the ANIDĚTI Studio.
