The 26th Seoul International New Media Festival (NeMAF 2026), taking place from August 21 to 26, has officially announced the 50 finalists selected for this year's Competition Section.
 
As Asia's longest-running international alternative film festival and Korea's only genre-defying festival dedicated to moving image art that transcends the boundaries of film, art, and technology, NeMAF received a total of 635 submissions this year, including 407 works for the Korean New Works section, 173 for the Glocal New Works section, and 55 for the New Media section.
 
The Competition Section comprises both screening and exhibition programs. The screening program includes the Korean, Glocal, and Feature categories, showcasing alternative films, experimental moving-image works, and documentaries. The exhibition program, the New Media category, presents media art in all its forms—including media performances and multi-channel video installations—without regard to genre distinctions.
 
As one of the festival's most anticipated sections, the Competition Section offers audiences the opportunity to encounter some of the most compelling contemporary moving-image and media art practices.
 
The 50 finalists will be presented to the public as part of the Competition Section throughout the festival period of NeMAF 2026.

An Increase in AI-Driven Works Highlights Technological and Formal Experimentation
 
This year's submissions encompassed a wide range of alternative moving-image practices, including experimental film, narrative cinema, documentary, media art, and animation.
 
Across these diverse genres, many works engaged with pressing contemporary concerns and formal experimentation, addressing themes such as diaspora and identity, political experience, ecological imagination, memory and time, and critical reflections on artificial intelligence and rapidly evolving technological environments.
 
The NeMAF Selection Committee remarked, "This year's submissions have moved beyond a stage of fascination with emerging technologies, including generative AI, and have begun to approach technology and media with critical distance, posing philosophical questions about their implications.
 
We were particularly struck by works that linger in memory and sensation, inviting sustained reflection. Their experimental spirit demonstrates that the moving image remains a vital medium through which to think about and reimagine the contemporary world."

From Public Squares to Redevelopment Sites: Capturing the Contemporary Moment
 
This year's finalists also reveal a keen engagement with the urgent questions of our time.
 
Among the selected works are those that reframe the meaning of public squares in the aftermath of the December 3 declaration of martial law in Korea, portray the lived realities of Myanmar migrants who crossed borders in search of refuge from political oppression, and persistently document the shadow of urban redevelopment and reconstruction that continues to unsettle people's lives and communities.
 
Also prominent are works that challenge conventional perceptions of the female body and motherhood, as well as those that move beyond anthropocentric worldviews through ecological imagination.

The Glocal section brings together new international works that move fluidly across media—from 16mm film and digital video to generative AI—demonstrating a wide spectrum of contemporary moving-image practices.
 
Featuring artists from Spain, Austria, Mexico, Canada, Iran, and beyond, the selected works engage with global concerns ranging from urban alienation to ecological transformations in the posthuman era.
 
The 26th Seoul International New Media Festival (NeMAF 2026) will take place from August 21 to 26 at venues including Megabox Hongdae and KT&G Sangsangmadang Gallery in Seoul. Further information on the Competition Section finalists is available on the official NeMAF website.

References

• 서울국제대안영상예술페스티벌 보도자료 (Seoul International New Media Festival Press Release)