The Worldwide Movie Competition Rotterdam topped its {industry} award winners on Wednesday following an intense six days of actions within the Dutch metropolis. The awards encompassed all arms of the pageant’s {industry} sections, encompassing CineMart, Darkroom, Lightroom and Protected Harbour, benefiting initiatives in all levels of improvement. Winners embrace “Daughters of the Sea,” by “Leonor Will By no means Die” director Martika Ramirez Escobar, and “Neon Phantom,” by “Samba Infinito” director Leonardo Martinelli.
In a press release, the pinnacle of IFFR Professional Marten Rabarts emphasised the significance of recent initiatives equivalent to Protected Harbor, Cinemart x HBF and Lightroom at this 12 months’s version, stating that “the breadth and evolution of this 12 months’s program was a real reflection of our dedication to assembly filmmakers’ shifting wants.”
“Tonight it was a privilege to return collectively and have fun all of the market initiatives, together with the winners, every of which has gained outstanding momentum over the previous few days – and to spherical out one other highly effective version of IFFR Professional that has sparked connections, unlocked new partnerships and propelled initiatives nearer to a life on the display and past,” he added.
The creation of recent key initiatives was one of many a number of key subjects mentioned by {industry} gamers on the bottom. Beneath, Selection rounds up among the principal speaking factors at this 12 months’s IFFR Professional, plus a full listing of award-winners:
The Trump impact: U.S. indies heading again to Rotterdam
In an interview with Selection forward of the pageant, Rabarts emphasised how one among his key priorities this 12 months and within the years to return was to revive the connection between IFFR Professional and the U.S. indie scene. This isn’t solely a call knowledgeable by market wants, but additionally by observing how sure American filmmakers have confronted a special however nonetheless current type of displacement beneath the Trump administration. Rabarts introduced up how “Watermelon Lady” director Cheryl Dunye needed to come to Rotterdam final 12 months as a result of “she couldn’t discover assist for her subsequent mission within the U.S.”
Talking with Selection, “The Gymnast” director Charlotte Glynn spoke as to how the present sociopolitical unrest within the U.S. has made it much more vital for American movies to have house at festivals like Rotterdam. She praised her worldwide crew, together with expertise from Mexico, Brazil and China. “This group from world wide all helped form the film. I’m so grateful for the way every of their views has deepened the story I wished to inform. The fact is that in the USA proper now, lots of my unimaginable collaborators received’t really feel secure or might have come to a premiere due to the viciousness and violence of the present administration, which makes our premiere at Rotterdam much more particular.”
James N. Kienitz Wilkins, whose “The Misconceived” performed in Harbour, provided a extra industry-focused viewpoint: “I used to be not too long ago informed by a widely known U.S. programmer that he was obliged to go to Sundance, however at all times seemed to Rotterdam for what’s actually occurring.”
“The Gymnast,” courtesy of Kayla Hoff
Courtesy of Go to Movies
Displacement disaster: flexibility is essential
This 12 months’s pageant kicked off with the world premiere of the primary batch of movies produced by the Cate Blanchett-spearheaded Displacement Movie Fund, together with new works by “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” director Mohammad Rasoulof and “Klondike” director Maryna Er Gorbach. Inside one 12 months, the pageant introduced the initiative, organized a range committee, chosen grantees, allotted funds and premiered six new movies, crowning their efforts by not too long ago asserting a second spherical of grants.
All through the Professional actions, there was a generalized feeling of: how did they pull that off? A pageant fundraiser, who requested to not be recognized, informed Selection that they have been in “awe” of how HBF managed to profit from personal funding from a serious companion like UNIQLO for the initiative and nonetheless handle to prepare and hand out the grants in time for the movies to be produced beneath a really tight schedule. “I’m very curious as to how this would possibly develop into a sensible instance for different comparable funds,” they added.
HBF head Tamara Tatishvili informed Selection that agility was “key” to delivering the initiative. “One of many strengths of a fund like ours and our ecosystem is that we might be extra versatile than many different financiers. In roles the place the authorized framework is extra vital, we’d not have the ability to do a few of these movies. We needed to be very agile.”
Can Rotterdam discover Southeast Asia’s Park Chan-wook?
Rotterdam has a protracted legacy of supporting and platforming filmmakers from Southeast Asia, with a selected current concentrate on Indonesia and Malaysia. A newer improvement, nevertheless, is how the pageant has became a fruitful connecting level to facilitate co-productions between nations from the area. EST N8 gross sales consultant Sophie Shi informed Selection that Rotterdam remains to be key in relation to fomenting such offers, in addition to “educating” Southeast Asian producers on the significance of worldwide visibility.
“Lots of producers within the area haven’t seen the worth of why we would want worldwide attain,” she provides. “Nevertheless, when you have a look at the event of Korean cinema, it took years of energetic work. We nonetheless don’t have a Park Chan-wook in Southeast Asia, however we have to put money into that concept. Korea has confirmed that content material from Asia can influence the entire world, so that ought to give us hope and encourage producers from our nations to coach producers internationally. Rotterdam is a good place for this to occur.”
They’re Nonetheless Right here: Brazil comes robust
From a packed home on the pageant’s first weekend for a profession dialog with Kleber Mendonça Filho to sold-out screenings of Tiago Melo’s “Yellow Cake,” the Brazilian presence was palpable at this 12 months’s pageant. On the market, that was intensified tenfold due to HBF+Brazil, delivered in partnership with RioFilme, Spcine and Projeto Paradiso, and devoted to supporting the early improvement of initiatives by second and third-time filmmakers from Brazil.
Projeto Paradiso’s govt director, Josephine Bourgois, mentioned their crew leaves Rotterdam feeling it has been a “very particular 12 months” for Brazil on the pageant. The exec highlighted not solely the hefty Brazilian presence in all pageant and professional applications but additionally the 40-person delegation on the bottom, together with over a dozen members of Projeto Paradiso’s very personal expertise community. “It emphasizes a sense of continuity, but additionally of a renewed partnership that’s changing into more and more formidable with initiatives equivalent to HBF+Brazil.”
“Yellow Cake,” courtesy of IFFR
Courtesy of Gilvan Barreto
IFFR Professional 2026 winners in full:
4DR Studios Awards
4DR Studios Award for Greatest Immersive Venture in improvement:
“Chemin des Bâtards,” dir. by Leon Rogissart, produced by BNA-BBOT, UpscaleXR and Muziektheater Transparant (Belgium, Netherlands)
4DR Studios Award for Greatest Immersive work-in-progress mission in Lightroom:
“Cléo,” dir. Coco Chen, produced by Jolene Hsiao and Tsung Hsuan Yeh (Taiwan)
ArteKino Worldwide Award:
“The Poet’s Son,” dir. Nicolas Graux, produced by Alice Antoine, Joseph Rouschop, Rebecca Houzel and Natalia Drozd (Belgium, France, Germany)
Eurimages New Lab Awards
Innovation Award:
“Daughters of the Sea,” dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar, produced by Monster Jimenez and Rajiv Idnan (Philippines, Spain)
Outreach Award:
“LFD Hope,” dir. Joshua Loftin, produced by Balint Revesz and Anna Vághy (United Kingdom, Hungary)
Filmmore Awards
Filmmore Work-in-Progress Put up-Manufacturing Award:
“The Hummingbird Paints Aromatic Songs,” dir Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi, produced by Maria Altamirano (Peru, United States, Spain, Chile)
Filmmore Put up-Manufacturing Award:
“Pale Faces,” dir. Chantel Clark, produced by Cait Pansegrouw and Frank Hoeve (Netherlands, South Africa)
HBF Empowerment Award
“Marina,” dir. Laís Santos Araújo and Pethrus Tibúrcio, produced by Pedro Krull (Brazil)
HBF x PUBLIKUM Viewers Outreach Award
“Coumba,” dir. Mamadou Dia, produced by Eugenie Michel Villette (Senegal, France)
New Impulse Award
“Hidden Journey,” dir. Noura Adil (Sudan)
VIPO Award
“Neon Phantom,” dir. Leonardo Martinelli, produced by Felipe M. Bragança and Marina Meliande (Brazil)
