Focus: the Future Is NOW
Programme IFFR 2026
IFFR is proud to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of NOW (National Organisation for Women), a major moment in the history of the Civil Rights movement as well as Second Wave Feminism. The Future Is NOW will explore women's cinemas from different periods, confronting early hopes with later developments – classics and world premieres will meet, generations talk. We'll stress authors and practices less commonly explored, with a special emphasis on animation. Subjects like education, communities and histories will be as much a part of this dense mix as will sex, religion and cinema itself. A curious and joyful programme for everybody!
Overview of films
-
The Trouble with Cinema
A female vision of cinema, its rewards and discontent, including portraits, summaries and critical reflections! -
-
Women’s Work
A programme of women’s animation that transforms craftwork into art and subverts a harsh world with softness. -
B-Girl Rhapsody
Lillian Hunt, James R. Connell | 77' | USA | No premiere
A recreation of a typical 1950s burlesque show with energetic stripping and formidably corny comedy skits. -
Female Pleasures
These films insist on the fact that women’s pleasure is both a birthright and a political act. -
Life Lessons
From Sesame Street to teenage desires: Let’s enjoy the beauty of cinema as a force in education. -
believe in it
Yonesho Maya | 4' | Japan | No premiere
Buoyant animated images soar across the artist’s notebooks like joyous thoughts in flight. -
Blanca Putica. A Girl in Love
Miñuca Villaverde | 14' | USA | No premiere
Rites and rituals of desire acted out between plants and fairy lights, with a defiant air of camp. -
Button
Teresa Badzian | 7' | Poland | No premiere
Stop-motion brilliance transforms simple buttons, threads and cloth into playful patterns and games. -
Casting Tapes
Ulrike Putzer, Matthias van Baaren | 23' | Austria | No premiere
Actresses audition for the part of an actress. A mix of documentary and fiction about womanhood and acting as social practice. -
Challenge for Change: “… and They Lived Happily Ever After”
Kathleen Shannon, Irene Angelico, Anne Henderson | 13' | Canada | No premiere
A hard look at the realities of motherhood and married life, co-directed by seminal Canadian filmmaker Kathleen Shannon. -
Cinemartyrs
Sari Lluch Dalena | 104' | Philippines | International premiere
An essayistic film about tackling past injustices, from forgotten massacres to overlooked women filmmakers.
