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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Lucrecia Martel’s latest among IFFR-backed Venice premieres

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Argentinian auteur Lucrecia Martel (La mujer sin cabeza, La ciénaga, Zama) marks her non-fiction feature debut with the creative documentary Nuestra Tierra, set to premiere out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival (27 Aug – 6 Sep). Backed by the Hubert Bals Fund in each stage of production, it’s one of several supported films screening on the Lido this edition, including two CineMart-presented works in the Venice Immersive Competition. 

Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel (formerly Chocobar) (HBF Development 2019, NFF+HBF 2020, Dutch Post-production Award 2021) – Out of Competition

Lucrecia Martel’s feature documentary debut explores the long history of colonialism and land dispossession in Latin America, chronicling the 2009 murder of Javier Chocobar, an Indigenous community leader in the north of Argentina, by killers claiming ownership of the land. Through conversations and archive, the film traces the community’s journey from the 17th century to today. “Cinema can be useful here, that’s my deepest wish”, says Martel’s director’s statement.

Martel is one of Latin America’s most renowned filmmakers and has been screened and supported by IFFR throughout her career: La ciénaga (IFFR 2002) La niña santa (HBF Development 2001, IFFR 2005) & Zama (CineMart 2013, IFFR 2018). 

Her latest was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund in each stage of its production: through HBF Development in 2019, through the NFF+HBF: Co-production Support scheme in 2020 (via Dutch co-producer Lemming Film) and in post-production through the Dutch Post-production Award in 2021. 

Film still: Hiedra by Ana Cristina Barragan

Hiedra by Ana Cristina Barragan (CineMart 2021, Darkroom 2025) – Orizzonti competition

Winner: Best Screenplay

Ecuadorian filmmaker Ana Cristina Barragan premieres her latest film in the Orizzonti competition, dedicated to “the latest aesthetic and expressive trends”. 

At once tender and unsettling, the film follows Azucena, a 30-year-old woman, and Julio, a 17-year-old boy on their “Oedipal journey towards the rocks of a volcano.” Despite the distance in their social worlds, they are comforted by their shared wounds, laughter and the discovery of one another.

“I explore, without fear, tenderness towards the Other: a baby, a grandfather, a mother, a child, a sister”, says the filmmaker whose HBF-backed debut Alba premiered at IFFR 2016 in the Tiger Competition where it received the Lions Film Award. Her follow up, La piel pulpo, twice received HBF support and was presented at CineMart.

Hiedra was presented at CineMart in 2021 and screened in the Darkroom work-in-progress platform at IFFR 2025. 

Film still: Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani

Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani (HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023) Settimana Internazionale della Critica – Competition 

Set in a cotton-farming village in Sudan, Suzannah Mirghani’s debut tells the story of teenager Nafisa who becomes the center of a power play when a young entrepreneur from abroad arrives with a vision for progress. Nafisa sets out to save the cotton fields – and herself. 

The film screens in competition in Venice Critics’ Week, having been funded by the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA. Mirghani is known for her short Al-Sit, which won the Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand and is currently streaming on Netflix Middle East.

Film still: Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes

Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes by Gabriel Azorín (Darkroom 2025, co-produced by Rotterdam Lab graduate Carlos Pardo Ros) – Giornate degli Autori

Set in the vicinity of an ancient Roman bath in the Spanish countryside, Gabriel Azorín’s feature debut is a beautiful, mysterious and cosmic exploration of male intimacy. In the baths, several young men confess their fears under the darkening night sky, as time folds in on itself and the past reverberates.

The film was presented at Darkroom 2025, and is co-produced by Rotterdam Lab graduate Carlos Pardo Ros.

“With a distinct directorial hand and the bravery to let scenes breathe and develop their own rhythm, this film is as close to a masterpiece as one can get”, writes Marc van de Klashorst in his five-star review for the International Cinephile Society.

VR still: The Great Escape by Joren Vandenbroucke

The Great Escape by Joren Vandenbroucke (CineMart 2024) – Venice Immersive 

In Venice’s renowned Immersive Competition comes the story of a pair of geranium houseplants longing for a “great escape” from their dull daily routine. The viewer arrives as a third plant as a masterplan is hatched to free themselves of the monotony of life on Patrick’s windowsill. 

Belgian animator and VR specialist Joren Vandenbroucke seeks to comment on ennui and escapist dreams in this experience, presented in CineMart Immersive in 2024. 

Film still: The Great Orator by Daniel Ernst

The Great Orator by Daniel Ernst (CineMart 2020, Darkroom 2025) – Venice Immersive

“Experience The Great Orator to see where we’re headed” says Dutch creator Daniel Ernst, who reflects on misinformation and the normalisation of falsehoods in his nonlinear experience. Once a famous TV preacher, the Great Orator’s consciousness now lives on as AI, where her influence grows without limit and her followers join her in a shared consciousness where truths and fabulations are mixed. The experience feeds on the visitor’s interaction, mixed with random internet input and live news feeds. 

In 2019, Ernst was awarded a Gouden Kalf at the Netherlands Film Festival for his VR opera Die Fernweh Oper, which was also presented at IFFR 2019. The Great Orator was presented both at CineMart Immersive in 2020, and in the Darkroom work-in-progress platform in 2025.

Concept still: The Station

Final Cut in Venice

The Station by Sara Ishaq (HBF Development 2018, CineMart 2020, NFF+HBF 2022, HBF+Europe 2023, NL co-producer Keplerfilm)

Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker Sara Ishaq’s debut feature The Station won the €5,000 prize for best film in post-production at the Venice Production Bridge. The film follows the story of Layal, who runs a women-only fuel station in a segregated war-torn Yemeni town.

The Station was presented at CineMart in 2020 and has been awarded HBF support on three occasions: Development, NFF+HBF through NL co-producer Keplerfilm, and HBF+Europe.

Concept still: Corte Culebra by Ana Elena Tejera

Venice Gap-Financing Market

Three IFFR-backed projects in the final stages of development are presented at Venice Gap-Financing Market. 

Corte Culebra by Ana Elena Tejera (HBF Development 2023, CineMart 2025) – Venice Gap Financing Market

Ana Elena Tejera’s (Panquiaco, IFFR 2020) HBF-backed and CineMart-presented Corte Culebra tells an anti-colonial story of displacement in the Panama Canal Zone, imagining a reconnection with the ancestral lands and communities after its return from American occupation.

Four Seasons In Java by Kamila Andini (HBF Development 2024, NFF+HBF 2025, CineMart 2025) – Venice Gap Financing Market

Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen, TIFF 2018) brings the HBF- and CineMart-backed Four Seasons in Java, on a woman’s journey in finding peace after being unjustly convicted of murdering a young man in self defence.

The Outside by Víctor Moreno (CineMart 2022) – Venice Gap Financing Market

As three astronauts crash-land in a desert on their return to Earth, Spanish filmmaker Víctor Moreno presents an adventure that links cosmic mysteries with primal darkness. The project was presented at CineMart 2022.

Contact the team

A team from IFFR is attending the festival in Venice. Get in touch via the details below to say hello or schedule a meeting.

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