Among the productions selected so far are the world premieres of Viktor van der Valk’s neo-noir Nocturne (the Netherlands); Argentinian actress Romina Paula’s directing debut De nuevo otra vez; Ico Costa’s debut feature Alva (from the producers of Djon África, which was in IFFR 2018’s Tiger Competition); and Dreissig by Berlin-based filmmaker Simona Kostova. The international premiere of Fabiana, Brunna Laboissière’s portrait of a transgender truck driver, also screens in the Bright Future Competition.

In addition to feature films, IFFR’s Bright Future section devotes plenty of space to mid-length and short films. Titles confirmed for Bright Future Mid-length include Derrière les volets by Messaline Raverdy and the world premiere of L’inconnu de Collegno by Maïder Fortuné. Stefano Canapa’s The Sound Drifts (world premiere) and Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Walled Unwalled can be seen in Bright Future Short.

The feature film debuts in Bright Future that are world or international premieres compete for the Bright Future Award worth €10,000. The prize money is an incentive for a new film project. The winner will be selected by a professional jury consisting of Christoph Friedel of German production outfit Pandora Films, Sata Cissokho of Memento Films in Paris, and Italian film critic and programmer Beatrice Fiorentino.

The full Bright Future line-up will consist of approximately 50 feature films. The eight films in Tiger Competition, which is also part of the Bright Future section, will be announced early January 2019.

Bright Future Competition

• Alva, Ico Costa, 2019, Portugal/France/Argentina, world premiere
  After his children are taken away by social services, a troubled loner seeks revenge and flees into the inhospitable forest.
• De nuevo otra vez/Again Once Again, Romina Paula, 2019, Argentina, world premiere
  A delicate self-portrait about aging, maternity and sexuality. Romina Paula fictionalises reality and explores being a daughter and new mother.
• Dreissig/Thirty, Simona Kostova, 2019, Germany, world premiere
  Twenty-four hours in the lives of a group of colourful Berliners in their late twenties/early thirties, oscillating between a carefree existence and emptiness. 
• Fabiana, Brunna Laboissière, 2018, Brazil, international premiere
  As she approaches retirement, a transgender truck driver looks back on her life on the road, with a different sweetheart in every town
• Nocturne, Viktor van der Valk, 2019, Netherlands, world premiere
  Lyrical film noir about two producers, an investor, a deadline, a woman, a gun and a hopelessly romantic boy.
• A volta ao mundo quando tinhas 30 anos/Around the World When You Were My Age, Aya Koretzky, 2018, Portugal, international premiere
  Loving, captivating portrait of the director’s father based on the latter’s 1970 round the world journey.

Bright Future 

• Black Mother, Khalik Allah, 2018, Jamaica/USA
  Life’s key elements come together in this visual film symphony and ode to today's colourful Jamaica.
• Core of the World, Natalya Meshchaninova, 2018, Russia/Lithuania
  Compassion and cruelty are not far apart in the work of a shy vet at a Russian stock farm.
• The Day I Lost My Shadow, Soudade Kaadan, 2018, Lebanon
  A young Syrian mother’s search for bottled gas ends in a panic-stricken journey. Awarded Best Debut in Venice.
• Introduzione all'oscuro, Gastón Solnicki, 2018, Argentina/Austria
  A personal, cinematic gesture born of sadness over the death of a friend. It's also a unique guide to Viennese culture. 
• The Load, Ognjen Glavonić, 2018, Serbia/France/Croatia/Iran/Qatar
  During the NATO bombardments of 1999, a truck driver has to take a mysterious load to Belgrade. Subtle narrative bursting with menace.
• Long Day's Journey Into Night, Bi Gan, 2018, China/France
  Past and present intertwine in this visually stunning, partially 3D second film by Chinese talent Bi Gan.
• The Man Who Surprised Everyone, Aleksey Chupov/Natasha Merkulova, 2018, Russia/Estonia/France
  A terminally ill forest ranger wants to live out his final months as a woman. In a remote Siberian community he pays dearly.
• Nona. If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them, Camila José Donoso, 2019, Chile/Brazil/France/South Korea, world premiere
  A hybrid fiction featuring the director’s intriguing grandmother as an anarchist warrior in a Chilean town ravaged by forest fires.
• The Proposal, Jill Magid, 2018, USA
  Strange things happen in the struggle to make the hidden archives of architect Luis Barragán public again.
• The Seven Last Words, Kaveh Nabatian/Ariane Lorrain/Sophie Goyette/Juan Andrés Arango/Sophie Deraspe/Karl Lemieux/Caroline Monnet, 2019, Canada, world premiere
  Challenging and varied omnibus film by seven Canadian filmmakers, inspired by Joseph Haydn's composition around the last words of Jesus.
• Sophia Antipolis, Virgil Vernier, 2018, France
  In southern France, mysterious links appear in the fortunes of five people connected to an elusive young woman called Sophia.
• Tarde para morir joven/Too Late to Die Young, Dominga Sotomayor, 2018, Chile/Brazil/Argentina/Netherlands/Qatar
  Coming-of-age story about three Chilean teenagers reflects the growing pains of Chile’s new democracy in the early 1990s.

Bright Future Mid-length 

• Derrière les volets, Messaline Raverdy, 2018, Belgium
  Poetic research into the Raverdy coffee plant as a record for the next generation. The filmmaker searches for her past and the women in the factory.
• L’inconnu de Collegno, Maïder Fortuné, 2019, France, world premiere
  In an attempt to reveal his past, a man is interrogated in an empty room. Several characters are brought in to solve the mystery. 

Bright Future Short

• Fog, Inger Lise Hansen, 2018, Norway
  The spectacle of fog appearing in Oslo, the Azores, Beijing and Newfoundland, beautifully captured in various film formats.
• The Sound Drifts, Stefano Canapa, 2019, France, world premiere
  Hypnotising audio tracks dance to the soundtrack of Canapa’s previous film about Jérôme Noetinger, Metamkine’s sound artist. Cinema for your ears!
• Van ver staat het stil/Still from afar, Eva van Tongeren, 2018, Belgium, international premiere
  An exchange of letters between the filmmaker and a paedophile evokes powerful emotions. But she wants to understand his motives.
• Walled Unwalled, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2019, Lebanon
  A monologue staged inside a trio of Cold War Era sound effect studios in East Berlin unfolding a narrative derived from legal cases that revolve around evidence heard or experienced through walls. 
• what remains, belit sağ, 2019, Netherlands, world premiere
  Many people in the Kurdish city of Cizre are trapped between life and death. belit sağ conjures up apparitions in her images.