This month marks the second edition of KinoCritic’s Monthly Picks, and we are very happy that it went as well as the first. Submissions stayed strong and steady. We are grateful to every filmmaker who used our platform, and we are delighted to help find and curate the best films we can. We are also eager to expand even further.
Many of this season’s films stood out, either for an original point of view or as great examples of how to execute a genre. There was bold, interesting craftsmanship and no shortage of appealing, original ideas, which made the choice harder. Once again, we chose only two winners.
Unlike October, when the abuse of power in its many forms ran through both films, the November 2026 selection has no single common theme. What the two winners share is something different: both bring new ideas and fresh angles to storytelling. Both are also, in their own way, proofs of concept.
Best Director: A Friend of Ours
Directors: François Rabes, Félicie Dutertre | Country: France | Runtime: 9 minutes 17 seconds | Type: Documentary, short, television
Pursuing a dream with passion and determination is what every filmmaker does, but sometimes reality surpasses fiction, and that is exactly what happens here. Two filmmakers set out to convince fundraisers and producers that they can tell a story in a truly unique way, without the traditional means of storytelling and marketing, and even by altering the very product we have known since the beginning of cinema. The result is a documentary that captures how people react to this unconventional uniqueness.
It also explores the relationship between the audience and commercialism. Does the audience engage with a film because of the filmmaker’s craft and the way the story is told, or with the product that the entertainment industry sells? That seems to be the idea behind what the two directors are doing: a kind of sociological experiment. It explores the idea of creating a buzz around a nonexistent audiovisual product that feels just out of reach, and so it obsesses you, not because it is necessarily good, but because it becomes a product everybody talks about.
François Rabes and Félicie Dutertre co-founded the production company Twinkie Films. They have co-written and co-directed several short films, including Good Luck, Mr. Grosky, and were among the producers of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro’s The City of Lost Children. Rabes is also a novelist: his thriller Les Racines des ombres won the Fyctia award for best suspense.
A Friend of Ours has been recognized at festivals including the Richmond International Film Festival (September 20, 2026, Awards of Merit for distribution and directors), the Los Angeles Film & Documentary Awards (September 14, 2026, Best Short Film), the 24 Hours Film Challenge (August 3, 2026, Best Creative Short Film), the One-Reeler Short Film Competition in Los Angeles (July 31, 2026, Special Mention), the New York Film & Cinematography Awards (June 8, 2026, Best Cinematography in a Short Film), the Atlanta Movie Awards (May 11, 2026), the Dallas Shorts festival (April 22, 2026, Best Indie Short), the Hollywood International Indie Film & Screenplay Awards (April 15, 2026), and the Tokyo Indie Shorts Fest (February 26, 2026, Best Indie Short).
Best Editing: Horror Folk
Director: Roberto Loiacono | Country: Italy | Runtime: 13 minutes 48 seconds | Type: Fiction short
In a remote Italian rural community, a group of children gathers around an ancient bonfire, where the patriarch tells them of a ritual passed down through generations, one capable of ensuring the land possesses the fertility necessary for life.
Horror Folk draws on a setting that is modern but rural, one that feels stagnant in time and is usually associated with peace, and builds its horror out of the culture itself. There is little plot or drama, and it works as a proof of concept. It points to the idea of sacrifice, of a community giving up something or someone so that the earth will give something good back. It is pagan in spirit, and rituals of this kind have indeed existed in southern Europe for a very long time.
The award recognizes how well the film uses pacing, atmosphere, and the rhythm of its cuts to present a folkloric scene and make the case for rural southern European folk horror as a compelling subgenre.
Roberto Loiacono is an Italian filmmaker who studied at the Bodoni Institute in Turin and at Ermanno Olmi’s Ipotesi Cinema school. He founded F.D.T. Studio, which has produced shorts, commercials, and horror features, including the feature Zona 3 and the medium-length films Apocalypse and Shooting.
What’s Next
Our full reviews are coming soon, including the motivation behind each award. The review of A Friend of Ours will be published on November 12, 2026, and the review of Horror Folk on November 20, 2026, both at 12:00 p.m. Eastern European Time.
In the meantime, we are pleased to announce that submissions for the December 2026 KinoCritic’s Monthly Picks are now open. Filmmakers can submit through FilmFreeway using the button below.
