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IFFR closes its 55th edition celebrating an uptick in new, younger audiences and industry attendees

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IFFR has wrapped its 55th edition, achieving over 286,000 in annual attendance and welcoming a 20% increase in audiences aged between 20 and 30, with half the festival audience now under 40. IFFR 2026 included 441 films from 92 countries, of which 217 were world premieres, as well as its vibrant industry strand IFFR Pro which welcomed 10% more industry delegates, the inaugural HBF Reunion Day, immersive works through the new Lightroom industry programme, and curated creative conversations across the Talks programme. 

IFFR continued to respond to the growing crisis of displacement by presenting two major programmes supporting impacted filmmakers. The Festival welcomed the first five filmmakers supported by the Displacement Film Fund to world premiere their funded works, and also hosted the first Safe Harbour cohort within CineMart, a new initiative for forcibly displaced filmmakers with projects in development.

The festival’s Audience Award was announced at Closing Night and went to I Swear by Kirk Jones. Based on a true story, the film centres on John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) as he grows up with Tourette syndrome in a small Scottish town in the mid-1980s and fights the odds to eventually become a trail-blazing, decorated activist and advocate for his peers in the UK. As previously announced, IFFR’s Tiger Award for 2026 was presented to Hubert Bals Fund supported Variations on a Theme by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar (South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar), with Master by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh) taking this year’s Big Screen Award. Additionally, La belle année by Angelica Ruffier (Sweden, Norway) and Supporting Role by Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States) each received Special Jury Awards in the Tiger Competition. 

Film still: I Swear by Kirk Jones

Displacement Film Fund

A press conference was held at Fenix during the Festival, at which Cate Blanchett, actor, producer and global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, announced a second round of the Displacement Film Fund (DFF) short film grant scheme for 2026, with films to world premiere at IFFR 2027. For the next cycle, Amahoro Coalition, MASTER MIND, the Tamer Family Foundation and UNIQLO return as Founding Partners, the SP Lohia Foundation joins as a new Major Partner while HBF continues as Management Partner and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as Strategic Partner. The announcement was made ahead of the World Premieres at IFFR of the inaugural films backed by the DFF, directed by Maryna Er Gorbach (Rotation), Mo Harawe (Whispers of a Burning Scent), Hasan Kattan (Allies in Exile), Mohammad Rasoulof (Sense of Water) and Shahrbanoo Sadat (Super Afghan Gym).

Vanja Kaludjercic, IFFR Festival Director said: “As the world around us changes in increasingly difficult ways, coming together matters more than ever at IFFR. The festival offers a shared space shaped by presence, curiosity, and exchange, where cinema provides the common ground. It is this engagement from audiences, filmmakers, and artists that gives the festival its energy and its purpose. While this year’s programme has embraced joy, romance, and laughter, it has also borne witness to a world in turmoil, and to the growing pressure on democratic spaces where equity and inclusion should be safeguarded, yet are increasingly under threat.”

Clare Stewart, IFFR Managing Director said: “History has taught us that in such uncertain times, support for culture can also be precarious. In this context we are hugely grateful to all our partners, donors and Tiger Members whose commitment ensures the future of the Festival. We do not, and collectively should not, take this for granted as we look to build a sustainable future for IFFR. Rising costs continue to affect film festivals in the Netherlands and worldwide, and this year’s reduction in the number of talks, performances and education programmes correlates to a small reduction (3%) in overall attendance in an otherwise buzzy and impactful 55th edition with many unforgettable moments.” 

IFFR Talks

Across Big Talks and Tiger Talks strands, IFFR hosted discussions from a spectrum of creatives, filmmakers and artists including Kleber Mendonça Filho and Carla Simón, Marwan Hamed and Yousry Nasrallah, Valeria Golino and Hiam Abbass, Nicolas Becker and Simon Fisher Turner, Robby Müller Award winner Yorick Le Saux, Tetsuya Maruyama, the cast of Jimpa (IFFR 2026) including John Lithgow alongside Hans Kesting, Romana Vrede and Zoë Love Smith, and more. 

Art Directions

Immersive hub Katoenhuis was home to IFFR’s Art Directions for the second year, with visits increasing for the 2026 edition, reaching over 5,800 at Katoenhuis. The Art Directions programme featured 22 works in total, including nine installations, six performances and six immersive experiences across venues throughout the city. Art Directions also celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, IFFR Pro launched Lightroom – a new industry programme for immersive works hosted at Katoenhuis, featuring a market with nine projects and the Reality Check: Lightroom symposium on 31 January. 

IFFR Pro

In an edition marked by fresh initiatives that continued to offer new and vital ways of supporting filmmakers and creators, this edition’s IFFR Pro also saw the expansion of its renowned emerging producers’ workshop Rotterdam Lab with an innovative new Creators Lab for writers and directors. Additionally, across the 30 projects in selection across both Darkroom and CineMart, IFFR Pro facilitated over 1,200 meetings between projects and industry representatives.

In total IFFR hosted 2,494 industry attendees as well as 270 press from across the globe. The Pro Hub again delivered comprehensive support for professionals and filmmakers in selection, presenting its Meet the Experts strand which hosted 8 sessions next to 13 Pro Dialogues panels, as well as providing over 250 mentor meetings. Attendance was up across the IFFR Pro programme, which also included Pulling Focus: NL – a day dedicated to the Dutch film industry. 

Alongside the Displacement Film Fund activity, the Hubert Bals Fund marked another successful IFFR and hosted its inaugural HBF Reunion Day on 2 February, bringing together filmmakers whose careers have been shaped by the HBF across its 35-year history. The HBF also unveiled the 10 projects selected for the pilot edition of HBF+Brazil: Co-development Support, a unique new collaboration between HBF and leading organisations for the promotion of cinema in Brazil: Spcine, RioFilme, Projeto Paradiso and Embratur, the Brazilian Tourism Board, which HBF has newly welcomed as a partner to the initiative. A successful edition for the HBF was capped off by the HBF+Europe supported Variations on a Theme winning the Tiger Award – and now looks forward to Shahrbanoo Sadat’s HBF and CineMart-backed No Good Men opening the Berlinale later this week.

Six of the CineMart titles were also selected for the inaugural CineMart x HBF lineup – a curated strand of projects previously awarded Development Support by HBF. Overall there were eight completed HBF supported titles in selection for this edition including the five Displacement Film Fund works, alongside a further six CineMart and one Darkroom work-in-progress titles. 

Education

In the Education strand, IFFR continued to prioritise impact and accessibility over scale. Across schools, families and first-time festival visitors, education activities reached audiences who do not always find their way to the cinema independently. Pupils from special and practical education programmes saw their own short films screened on the big screen during IFFR, while inclusive, open workshops welcomed participants of all ages and backgrounds. The Family & Kids programme sold out across multiple screenings, with Kids Only events in Groningen and online extending the festival’s reach beyond Rotterdam. New workshop locations at Roodkapje, Muziekwerf and Fenix, alongside an expanded Baby Filmclub and a growing public education programme, further underlined IFFR’s commitment to meaningful engagement, long-term impact and reaching wider, more diverse audiences through film.

RTM

IFFR 2026 also hosted a successful RTM Day, focussed on spotlighting filmmakers local to the port city. How to Lie, Femme, and Pass by Cyan Bae was the winner of the 2027 RTM Pitch prize and tells how the queer and feminist perspectives and insights can offer a reimagination of our relationship to algorithmic technologies. This winning project is supported by the Gemeente Rotterdam for €25,000 and will have its world premiere at IFFR 2027. Attendance was up for RTM Day, totalling over 3,300 visits. This edition also marked the official launch of Scope, Talenthub Zuid-Holland, unveiled through its new name and visual identity during Pulling Focus: NL as a regional platform strengthening connections between filmmakers, organisations and audiences across the South Holland, supported by the municipalities of Rotterdam and The Hague, led by IFFR and Filmhuis Den Haag as driving forces, with the close involvement of programme partners. 

IFFR 2026 In Numbers 

In Competition

IFFR Pro 

Audiences

Education

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