With its reputation for being quirky and offbeat. Rotterdam focuses on independent and experimental films. Vanja Kaludjercic, the festival’s director, unveiled this year’s 55th edition, running from 29 January – 8 February 2026.
Opening with Portuguese director João Nicolau’s Providence and the Guitar – Kaludjercic describes it as a “generous and witty film which places the present alongside echoes of the past,” Best known for his clever animations such as Zarafa (2014), Rémi Bezançon’s Bazaar (Murder in the Building) starring Gilles Lelouche and Laetitia Casta will close the festival with ‘style, intelligence and a sense of fun’.
Tiger Competition 2026
At the heart of IFFR, the Tiger Competition showcases emerging voices from across the globe, with 12 world premieres from filmmakers who reshape the familiar from within, adjusting perspectives to reveal what often goes unnoticed.
La belle année dir. Angelica Ruffier (Sweden, Norway)
A Fading Man dir. Welf Reinhart (Germany)
The Gymnast dir. Charlotte Glynn (United States)
A Messy Tribute to Motherly Love dir. Dan Geesin (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium)
My Semba dir. Hugo Salvaterra (Angola)
Nangong Cheng dir. Shao Pan (China)
O profeta dir. Ique Langa (Mozambique, South Africa, Qatar)
Roid dir. Mejbaur Rahman Sumon (Bangladesh)
Supporting Role dir Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States)
Unerasable! dir. Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos (Belgium, Thailand, Sweden)
Variations on a Theme dir. Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar)
Yellow Cake dir. Tiago Melo (Brazil)
Big Screen Competition
A multifaceted competition that bridges popular, classic, and arthouse cinema, the Big Screen Competition is dedicated to supporting the distribution of nominated films in the Netherlands.
The 12 titles examine how lives are shaped by inherited stories, with many of the films revisiting the past – personal, political or historic – to understand its pull on the present.
2m² dir. Volkan Üce (Belgium, Germany, Turkey)
The Arab dir. Malek Bensmail (Algeria, France, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Belgium)
Butterfly dir. Itonje Søimer Guttormsen (Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany)
Cyclone dir. Philip Yung (Hong Kong)
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford dir. Sean Dunn (United Kingdom)
Home dir. Marijana Janković (Denmark, Serbia)
Master dir. Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh)
Moonglow dir. Isabel Sandoval (Philippines, Taiwan, Japan)
Now I Met Her dir Xiao Luxi (China)
Projecto Global dir. Ivo M. Ferreira (Portugal, Luxembourg)
Talking to a Stranger dir. Adrián García Bogliano (Mexico)
Tell Me What You Feel dir. Łukasz Ronduda (Poland)
ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026 | 29 January – 8 February