The International Competition, present since the first edition of Curtas Vila do Conde, in 1993, is always one of the main focus of attention at the festival and works as a showcase of the best that is done worldwide in the field of short films, presenting a diverse selection, both in terms of the geographical origin of the films and in terms of style: fiction, documentary and animation, displaying the different variants of contemporary cinema. This section has allowed us to get to know the new works of established authors, and new emerging talents.

In 2022, among the first group, we highlight several directors who are repeat participants in Curtas: the French Yann Gonzalez (“Hideous”) and Antonin Peretjatko (“Saturday Encounters”), the Malaysian Tsai Ming-Liang (“The Night”), the Romanian Radu Jude (“The Potemkinists”) and, particularly in animation, the Belgian duo of Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar (“Panic in the Village: The Big Vacation”), and the Canadian duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (“The Flying Sailor”). New filmmakers include Icelandic Hlynur Pálma- son, Canadian Kurt Walker, Spanish Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, and Greek Manolis Mavris.