55th International Film Festival Rotterdam

55th International Film Festival Rotterdam

Promotional poster
Opening film	Providence and the Guitar by João Nicolau
Closing film	Bazaar by Rémi Bezançon
Location	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Founded	1972
Awards	Tiger Award: Audience Award: Robby Müller Award: Yorick Le Saux
Artistic director	Vanja Kaludjercic
Festival date	Opening: 29 January 2026 (2026-01-29) Closing: 8 February 2026 (2026-02-08)
Website	IFFR
International Film Festival Rotterdam
2027 2025

The 55th International Film Festival Rotterdam, is the 2026 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which will be held from 29 January to 8 February 2026. ^[1] In this edition a retrospective for Egyptian film director Marwan Hamed, as one of its Focus strands in celebration of his prolific career will be featured along with European premiere of his 2025 film El Sett, a biopic of Egyptian singer and actress Umm Kulthum. ^[2] In its second focus strand the festival will present films from the Japanese V-Cinema. ^[3]

Jury

The jury for its three competition sections was announced on 2 December 2025. ^[4]

Tiger Competition

• Soheila Golestani, Iranian actress and film director
• Marcelo Gomes, Brazilian film director, screenwriter and visual artist.
• Ariane Labed, Greek-French actress and film director.
• Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director since 2023, and formerly the Creative Director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Director of Film at Australia’s national museum of screen culture ACMI.
• Jurica Pavičić, Croatian writer, columnist and film critic

Tiger Short Competition

• Sammy Baloji: photographer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Anka Gujabidze: visual artist from Tbilisi
• Jukka-Pekka Laakso: Festival director of Tampere Film Festival since 2002

Big Screen Competition

• Jan-Willem van Ewijk: Dutch film director, actor and screenwriter
• Sara Ishaq: Yemeni-Scottish film director, screenwriter, and trainer
• Loes Luca: Dutch actress, singer and comedian
• Chris Oosterom: Director of Imagine Film Festival
• Mila Schlingemann: Senior Programmer & Acquisitions at EYE, the national museum for film and the art of moving image in the Netherlands.

Official selection

The titles were revealed on 16 December 2025. ^{[5] [6]}

Opening and closing films

The opening and closing films of the festival are: ^[7]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Opening film
Providence and the Guitar	A Providência e a Guitarra	João Nicolau	Portugal
Closing film
Bazaar		Rémi Bezançon	France

Tiger Competition

The competition titles are as follows: ^[8]

• La belle année, Angelica Ruffier (Sweden, Norway)
• A Fading Man, Welf Reinhart (Germany)
• The Gymnast, Charlotte Glynn (United States)
• A Messy Tribute to Motherly Love, Dan Geesin (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium)
• My Semba, Hugo Salvaterra (Angola)
• Nangong Cheng, Shao Pan (China)
• O profeta, Ique Langa (Mozambique, South Africa, Qatar)
• Roid , Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, (Bangladesh)
• Supporting Role, Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States)
• Unerasable!, Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos (Belgium, Thailand, Sweden)
• Variations on a Theme, Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar)
• Yellow Cake, Tiago Melo (Brazil)

Big Screen Competition

• 2m², Volkan Üce, Belgium, Germany, Turkey
• The Arab, Malek Bensmaïl, Algeria, France, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Belgium
• Butterfly, Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany
• Cyclone, Philip Yung, Hong Kong
• The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford , Sean Dunn, United Kingdom
• Home, Marijana Janković, Denmark, Serbia
• Master, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, Bangladeshis
• Moonglow , Isabel Sandoval, Philippines
• Now I Met Her, Xiao Luxi, China
• Projecto Global, Ivo M. Ferreira, Portugal, Luxembourg
• Talking to a Stranger (Hablando con extraños), Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Mexico
• Tell Me What You Feel, Łukasz Ronduda, Poland

Tiger Short Competition

• A donde nos lleva la fe de José Gerónimo, director Juliano Kunert (Dominican Republic)
• Acid City, dir. Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim (United States)
• The Apple Doesn’t Fall…, dir. Dean Wei (China)
• Body, remember…, dir. Matthew Berka (United Kingdom)
• CUL-DE-SAC !, dir. Clyde Gates, Gabriel Sanson (Belgium, France)
• Deep Cobalt, dir. Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Congo, Democratic Republic, United States)
• DISSONANCE, dir. Jordan Strafer (Germany)
• Domestic Demon, dir. Anahid Yahjian (United States, Portugal)
• Futuros luminosos, dir. Ismael García Ramírez (Colombia)
• Golden Island, dir. Arief Budiman (Indonesia, Singapore)
• Home Is where the heart Is, dir. Timothée Engasser (France)
• I am a River, dir. Heidi Piiroinen (Finland, France)
• Last Shot, dir. Parham Rahimzadeh (Netherlands)
• like moths to light, dir. Gala Hernández López (Spain, Italy, France)
• Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon, dir. Jesse Jones (Ireland)
• The Next World, dir. Grau Del Grau (United States)
• Objet d’énigme, dir. Chiara Caterina (Italy, Belgium)
• Orla, dir. Marie Lukáčová (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
• RELUCESCO, dir. Shannon Lynn Harris (Canada)
• The Second Skin, dir. Mariia Lapidus (United States, Mexico)
• Smriti~, dir. Shahi A J (India)
• The Tragic Movement of the Spheres, dir. Simon Rieth (France)

Limelight

A programme showcasing cinematic highlights of film festival favourites and international award-winners. ^{[9] [10]}

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
100 Nights of Hero		Julia Jackman	United Kingdom, United States
ChaO	チャオ	Yasuhiro Aoki	Japan
Dead Man's Wire		Gus Van Sant	United States
El Sett		Marwan Hamed	Egypt
Exit 8	8番出口	Genki Kawamura	Japan
Father Mother Sister Brother		Jim Jarmusch	United States, Ireland, France
The History of Sound		Oliver Hermanus	United Kingdom, United States
Hi-Five	하이파이브	Kang Hyeong-cheol	South Korea
I Swear		Kirk Jones	Scotland
Late Fame		Kent Jones	United States
The Little Sister	La Petite Dernière	Hafsia Herzi	France, Germany
My Daughter Is a Zombie	좀비딸	Pil Gam-sung	South Korea
My Tennis Maestro	Il Maestro	Andrea Di Stefano	Italy
No Other Choice	어쩔수가없다	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Quezon		Jerrold Tarog	Philippines
The Secret Agent	O Agente Secreto	Kleber Mendonça Filho	Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands
Silent Friend	Stille Freundin	Ildikó Enyedi	Germany, France, Hungary
Sore: Wife from the Future	Sore: Istri dari Masa Depan	Yandy Laurens	Indonesia
The Stranger	L'Étranger	François Ozon	France
The Testament of Ann Lee		Mona Fastvold	United Kingdom, United States
Tokyo Taxi	TOKYOタクシー	Yoji Yamada	Japan
Tunnels: Sun In The Dark	Địa đạo: Mặt trời trong bóng tối	Bui Thac Chuyen	Vietnam
Two Prosecutors	Два прокурора	Sergei Loznitsa	Latvia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Lithuania
The Wizard of the Kremlin	Le mage du Kremlin	Olivier Assayas	France, United Kingdom, United States
Whitetail		Nanouk Leopold	Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland

Bright Future

The programme highlights first-feature films from promising filmmakers. ^[11]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Ah Girl	阿 Girl	Ang Geck Geck Priscilla	Singapore
Chronovisor		Jack Auen & Kevin Walker	United States
I Grew an Inch When My Father Died		P. R. Monencillo Patindol	Philippines
Let Them Be Seen		Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi	South Africa, Germany
Mayilaa		Semmalar Annam	India

Harbour

The programme showcases contemporary cinema. ^[12]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Accept Our Sincere Apologies		Juja Dobrachkous	United Kingdom, Italy
Art Is Dark and Full of Horrors	El arte es oscuro y está lleno de horrores	Artemio Narro	Mexico
Earth Song		Erol Mintaş	Finland, Germany
The Hole, 309 Days to the Bloodiest Tragedy	Bolong, 309 hari sebelum tragedi berdarah	Hanung Bramantyo	Indonesia
Gaua		Paul Urkijo  ( ca; eu )	Spain
Krakatoa		Carlos Casas	United Kingdom, Poland, France
The Misconceived		James N. Kienitz Wilkins	United States
The Passion According to GHB	A Paixão Segundo GHB	Gustavo Vinagre, Vinicius Couto	Brazil
A Useful Ghost	ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ	Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke	Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany

Focus: Marwan Hamed

This will feature Marwan Hamed's work from the past twenty years. ^[13]

Year	English title	Original title	Production countrie(s)
2014	The Blue Elephant	الفيل الأزرق	Egypt
2019	The Blue Elephant 2	2 الفيل الأزرق
2018	Diamond Dust	تُراب الماس
2009	Ibrahim Labyad	إبراهيم الأبيض
2022	Kira & El Gin	الجن و كيرة
2017	The Originals	الأصليي
2006	The Yacoubian Building	يعقوبيان عمارة

Focus: V-cinema

Japan’s V-Cinema Focus will showcase a range of Toei titles: ^[14]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Crime Hunter	クライムハンター　怒りの銃弾	Okawa Toshimichi	Japan

Awards

• Robby Müller Award: Yorick Le Saux, French cinematographer ^[15]

References

1. Leo Barraclough (23 October 2025). "Rotterdam Festival Unveils Nine World Premieres Across Bright Future, Harbour Strands". Variety . Retrieved 2 November 2025.
2. Georg Szalai (16 October 2025). "Rotterdam Fest Sets Marwan Hamed Retrospective, Biopic of Arab Music Icon Umm Kulthum". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2 November 2025.
3. Georg Szalai (6 November 2025). "Rotterdam Film Fest Unveils Focus Program on Japanese V-Cinema Phenomenon". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 8 November 2025.
4. Leo Barraclough (2 December 2025). "'Father Mother Sister Brother' Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux to Receive Robby Müller Award". Variety . Retrieved 5 December 2025.
5. Goerg Szalai (16 December 2025). "Rotterdam Film Fest IFFR Sets Competition Lineup, Opening and Closing Films". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 16 December 2025.
6. Tim Dams (16 December 2025). "Rotterdam unveils 2026 Tiger and Big Screen competition lineups". ScreenDaily . Retrieved 16 December 2025.
7. Leo Barraclough (16 December 2025). "'Providence and the Guitar' to Open International Film Festival Rotterdam With 'Bazaar (Murder in the Building)' Closing Dutch Event". Variety . Retrieved 16 December 2025.
8. Katz, David (16 December 2025). "IFFR unveils its eclectic 2026 competition line-ups". Cineuropa . Retrieved 17 December 2025.
9. Georg Szalai (13 November 2025). "Rotterdam Film Fest Adds 'The Misconceived' and Absurdist Musical Road Movie Whose Title Is Way Too Long for This Headline". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 15 November 2025.
10. "Limelight Programme IFFR 2026". IFFR official site. Archived from the original on 29 November 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
11. "First wave of world premieres announced for IFFR 2026". International Film Festival Rotterdam . 23 October 2025. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
12. "In Harbour". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
13. Goodfellow, Melanie (16 October 2025). "Umm Kulthum Biopic 'El Sett' To Make European Premiere At Rotterdam As Part Of Marwan Hamed Retrospective". Deadline . Retrieved 3 November 2025.
14. Naman Ramachandran (6 November 2025). "'Female Teacher: Forbidden Sex' Among Selections as Rotterdam Spotlights Japan's V-Cinema Movement". Variety . Retrieved 8 November 2025.
15. Georg Szalai (2 December 2025). "Rotterdam Fest to Honor 'The Wizard of the Kremlin' Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, Sets Juries". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 5 December 2025.

External links

• Official website