Meet the 2026 Media Outreach & Inclusion Scheme journalists

IFFR’s Media Outreach & Inclusion Scheme ran for the fourth time in 2026. By welcoming new and diverse voices to report on the festival, the scheme aims to remove barriers to journalists and media makers from communities that are currently underrepresented in the festival’s press community.

Our five participants, who work across online magazines, newspapers and social media, received complimentary press accreditation as well as special access to events, talks and workshops. Meet this year’s cohort and read the coverage they created at the festival.

Liza

Liza Kolomiiets is a Ukrainian film researcher and critic based in the Netherlands. Her work examines themes of displacement and exile, alongside a broader interest in diverse visual and artistic forms. She holds a master’s degree in film and audiovisual media from the University of Groningen and has experience in filmmaking, programming and media art curation. For two years in a row, Liza was selected as a Youth Panelist for the Noordelijk Film Festival (2024 and 2025). Currently, she coordinates events and curates programmes for Cinema Politica and writes a regular column for Ukrant, exploring socio-political issues through the lens of youth culture.

Stefanie

Stefanie Gordin is a freelance journalist and communications professional based in the Netherlands. Her work explores the intersections of migration, grief and belonging, particularly in relation to film and visual culture. Moving between personal narrative and critical reflection, her essays examine how social and cultural systems shape the stories we tell. She is co-founder of Rephrase Magazine, a progressive, critical and intersectional platform based in the Netherlands and Belgium. Through Rephrase, she collaborates with emerging writers and creates space for diverse perspectives that challenge dominant narratives in contemporary culture.

Tino

Tino Manenti is a researcher, programmer and producer from Southern Italy, based in Utrecht. With a background in film studies, Tino has worked in film programming and festival coordination, including coordinating the youth jury at Leiden Film Festival and interning at WORM in Rotterdam. Selected for Cineuropa’s GoCritics workshop, Tino works across written criticism, podcasts, video essays and archival research, with a focus on queer cinema, feminist filmmaking and filmmakers from outside Western Europe. At IFFR 2026, Tino spoke with film scholar Jennifer Lynde Barker about Female Pleasures, the Future Is Now programme she curated with Olaf Möller.

Alex

Alex Petrescu is a film critic, archivist and curator based in Romania. He writes for international publications including Talking Shorts, Fantômas, Films in Frame and Eye For Film, and has collaborated with FIPRESCI. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Audiovisual Archives: Preservation and Programming at the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale” in Bucharest. His writing brings an archival and documentary perspective to film culture, and at IFFR 2026 he paid particular attention to the festival’s Cinema Regained programme.

Claire

Claire Vaessen is an emerging film journalist based in Nijmegen and an editor at VERS, a volunteer-run platform for new makers in film, television and XR. Coming to film writing from psychology, Claire is drawn to how audiences respond to films, to feminist perspectives in cinema, and to small films that take on big themes. Claire’s festival writing combines interviews with observation, including conversations with visitors and the people working behind the scenes. At IFFR 2026, Claire interviewed filmmakers and Hubert Bals Fund head Tamara Tatishvili for VERS, and picked ten festival highlights from fifteen countries.