CineMart FAQ

Launched in 1984, CineMart was the first platform of its kind to offer filmmakers the opportunity to launch their ideas to the international film industry and to find the right connections to get their projects financed.

Each year, CineMart presents 20 to 25 new projects to co-producers, funds, sales agents, distributors and other potential financiers.

Read more about the full profile of CineMart here.

The next CineMart edition will take place from Sunday 31 January to Wednesday 3 February during the 56th International Film Festival Rotterdam (Thursday 28 January to Sunday 7 February 2027).

In case you are interested in presenting your project at CineMart, you can read more about the submission deadline and regulations here.

In case you are interested in attending to meet with the selected projects, please note that CineMart is a by-invitation only market. We carefully review the guestlist each year in order to ensure that the attending industry representatives can contribute and possibly commit to the projects in the selection. CineMart delegates are co-producers, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and potential financiers. If you would like to be considered for inclusion on the CineMart invitation list please contact cinemart@IFFR.com.

CineMart presents 20 to 25 projects each edition. You can read more about the projects selected in 2026 here, and previous years’ selections can be found here.

CineMart gives you the opportunity to launch a project to the international film industry and to find the right connections to get your projects financed. CineMart is not a fund, and does not provide financing itself. Selected projects get the opportunity to present themselves via pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings and many facilitated informal networking events, to potential co-producers, sales agents and financiers. In addition, IFFR Pro awards are handed out to projects from the CineMart selection.

CineMart applications should be submitted by the producer of a project. An application submitted by the director of the project will be accepted as long as there is a second person involved as the producer of the project. Please make sure to check the rules and regulations first.

You can submit your project via our CineMart project entry page during the open call for projects (deadline 1 September 2026). Applications can only be processed if all necessary information has been submitted online via your personal account and the payment of the submission fee has been completed.

Before submitting, please ensure your project meets all CineMart 2026 eligibility criteria. Projects that do not meet the requirements will not be considered, and the submission fee is non-refundable.

No. The vision and the talent of a director are essential when presenting a project for finance to the industry.

No. If you have no producer yet, most likely it is too early for you to apply to CineMart.

Projects submitted must be new to the market. Our industry delegates expect CineMart to deliver a highly curated selection of film projects fresh to the International market. CineMart therefore prioritizes works that will have their first market showcase in Rotterdam.

Projects that have been previously selected for one national or regional market may still be eligible for CineMart consideration, but world premiere market status is preferred. 

Please make sure your project meets all eligibility criteria before submitting and completing the payment process. Projects that do not meet the requirements will not be considered and the submission fee will not be refunded.

Projects that have been presented at more than one co-production market will be considered ineligible.

Projects that have been previously selected for one national or regional market may still be eligible for CineMart consideration, if the market serves a specific geographic focus.

For example:

• Asian Contents & Film Market
• CineLink Industry Days
• Durban FilmMart (DFM)
• Film Bazaar
• Gotham Week Project Market
• JAFF Market
• KVIFF Eastern Promises
• MIFF 37ºSouth Market
• NL Wave 25
• Nordic Co-Production Market
• Qumra

In case of doubt, please email us at cinemart@IFFR.com to discuss the possibilities before submitting your project.

Projects previously presented in the official selection of co-production markets and pitching forums with similar profiles and industry reach as CineMart are not eligible. Participation in the following Western European (Schengen region) events makes your project not eligible:

• Les Arcs Industry Village
• The Baltic Event Co-Production Market (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival)
• Berlinale Co-Production Market
• Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum (San Sebastian)
• MIA Market
• Nouveau Marché
• TorinoFilmLab | Feature Lab
• When East Meets West

If you’re in doubt, please email us at cinemart@IFFR.com to discuss the possibilities before submitting your project.

If you are informed that your project has been selected for another international co-production market after submitting it for consideration for CineMart 2026, please contact the CineMart team at cinemart@IFFR.com as soon as possible to discuss how this may affect its eligibility.

The selection process for CineMart takes place in two phases over three months:

Phase 1

Submit your project through our CineMart project submission page. Applications can only be processed if all necessary information has been submitted online via your personal account. The CineMart application entry form allows you to submit detailed information about your project. A summary of what you need to fill in:

1. Project information: Title, production country/ies, type of film, production status, goals at CineMart, logline (max. 350 characters), synopsis (max. 8,500 characters), director’s statement (max. 8,500 characters), recent festival selections or awards for director and producer.
2. Film credits: name and contact details for director, producer and if applicable: writer, co-producer, financier, sales agent
3. Technical info: Running time, shooting format, colour/b&w, languages.
4. Financial info: Total budget (in euro), Financing already secured (in euros) – amount as well as explanatory overview.

By early-October, the CineMart selection committee will decide which projects will proceed to the next phase of consideration. The contact person will receive the decision by email.

Phase 2

If your project advances to the next phase of consideration, you are given one week to submit a full dossier (PDF) by email that includes links to previous work. It is not possible to extend this one week period. Read more about what materials will be required in the dossier here.

The CineMart 2027 lineup will be announced by early December 2026.

Application materials (and subtitles) should be in English.

The synopsis should not be presented in the form of a premise, but as a narrative summary of the entire project. It serves as a complete outline of the story from start to finish, which also includes the ending so that the committee can understand the project in its entirety.

Presenting a project at CineMart means launching it for international financing and distribution. If you arrive without an advanced draft of the script or some financing already in place, the industry delegates you meet at CineMart will not be in a position to come on board.

At the same time, if you are already shooting – or shooting is planned to start immediately afterwards – potential co-producers will have little opportunity to join your project. CineMart is not a gap-financing market.

The project should have at least national (development) funding or third-party financing secured and approximately 25% of the budget in place.

The application form requires you to include information about previous accomplishments of the director (or creator) and the producer. It is important for us to know more about your previous work. In these fields you can summarise three important awards, selections or premieres of your work.

Artistic quality: The selection committee looks specifically at the coherence between personal motivation and artistic principles, and the way these are aimed to be expressed in the final work. What is the cinematic vision? What drives the filmmaker? Through previous work the overall style and mastery of storytelling through audio visual elements is assessed. Originality and imagination are important elements.

Relevance: The selection committee takes social cultural and/or political urgency of the project into account.

Potential: The selection committee assesses if the project fits the editorial line-up of International Film Festival Rotterdam, has market potential and if the project is at the right stage and in the right shape to be presented to potential (financial) partners.

The full CineMart selection should form a balance of distinct voices where each project can uniquely shine, featuring different subjects and cinematic styles, with debut features to established filmmakers and a balance of gender and representation (of everyone in the project involved).

The main focus of CineMart is the support of fiction features. Shorts, documentaries and films made for television will not be taken into consideration. In some cases, the CineMart selects creative documentaries that have a strong cinematic approach and play with fiction or have a more experimental approach. Please keep in mind that the professionals attending CineMart mainly focus on fiction features.

No. We advise you to carefully think about choosing a project which has the highest priority and market readiness.

Due to the number of applications that CineMart receives, it is not possible to submit the same dossier twice. Applications can only be submitted more than once when the project has made substantial progress and has been invited to re-apply.

Early October, the CineMart Selection committee will reach a decision on all submitted application forms. A number of projects will move on to the next phase of consideration. The contact person of each of those projects as indicated in the submission form will receive a notification to submit their full dossier.

If you have received our notification, you have one week to submit your full dossier. It is not possible to extend this one week period, therefore we recommend that you make sure in advance that you have the following materials ready for immediate submission:

• Synopsis (max. 3 pages)
• Treatment (max. 12 pages)
• Script excerpt (8–10 pages)
• Director’s statement (max. 2 pages)
• Producer’s biography and filmography
• Director’s biography and filmography
• Producer’s statement
• Budget topsheet
• Financial plan and secured financing
• Written explanation on the finance strategy (max. 1 page)
• Written audience engagement plan (max. 1 page)
• Production schedule
• Previous work of the director: available online streaming platform (such as Vimeo)

Compile all items above into a single PDF and submit this within one week of the notification email you received. Only complete dossiers will be taken into further selection consideration.

No. Due to the amount of applications we receive, our selection committee is not in a position to read scripts. A treatment is therefore essential.

However, we do request a script excerpt (6-8 pages) as part of the dossier to understand more about the writer’s style and vision.

A treatment is generally longer and more detailed than a synopsis and it may include details of directorial style. A treatment reads like a story: it is the full story of the film in its simplest form. The average number of pages is between 7–12 pages. Please note that we are unable to consider treatments longer than 12 pages.

An estimated top-sheet will suffice. In other words, we are interested in knowing the general budget of the film.

The financial plan should explain first of all which financiers you have on board and for which amount. Also indicate any pending fund applications. Finally we would like to read your goals at CineMart. How would you like to cover the remaining financing?

We don’t need a full shooting schedule. We would like a simple timeline or calendar of the estimated period that you are developing the film, financing, when you ideally will go into production, in post production and what is your estimated date of finalising the film. We are aware that these plannings are subject to change.

The environment in which independent films (and XR projects) are distributed is constantly changing. That makes the distribution of your film or project difficult to predict. At the same time there is an even bigger need to think about appropriate and realistic distribution methods. We would like to read about your strategies for creating awareness about your film or XR project. How do you intend to find and to attract your audience?

Previous work is an essential element in considering the project dossier. This is the previous work of the director. This can be a short film, a documentary and/or a feature film. Please provide the committee with the work you think is most relevant in assessing the project at hand. Please do not send showreels.