IFF Rotterdam 2026: Four Films in Festival Competition

Yellow Cake (Tiger Competition) follows a group of scientists trying to eradicate the deadly Aedes aegypti mosquito—the vector of dengue fever—through a secret experiment codenamed Yellow Cake. Using uranium extracted from the region, the project aims to sterilise the mosquitoes and contain the spread of the disease. The nuclear physicist Rúbia Ribeiro (Rejane Faria) acts as the link between the Brazilian military command and the project’s controversial leader, Bill Raymond (Spencer Callahan), whose urgency to see results leads him to disregard safety protocols. When the experiment fails, it is up to Rúbia to join forces with local prospectors to reverse the imminent catastrophe.

Butterfly (Big Screen Competition) centres on half-sisters Diana and Lily, who grew up as the only resident children at a all-inclusive resort on Gran Canaria, where their uninhibited mother, Vera, worked as a Star Tour hostess. Twenty-five years later, they have both created distance from the island and from each other: Diana works at a kindergarten in a small town in Norway, while Lily is a retired model and nightlife figure in Hamburg’s art scene. Now they are forced to return to the island to deal with their mother’s sudden death in the Canarian mountains. The reunion sets them on a headlong journey into their past and towards the hidden heart of the tourist island.

Luxembourgish co-production Projecto Global (Big Screen Competition) takes us to 1980s Lisbon, where the Carnation Revolution and the euphoria of freedom belong to the past. The country faces turbulent times: factories close, workers raise barricades, and politics dominates every street corner. Amid cigarette smoke, music, prostitutes, and sailors, people share shattered dreams and uncertain hopes. As social tensions deepen, the far-left armed group FP25 emerges. Its members follow a path of no return, living underground lives built on bank robberies, attacks, friendship, family, and love—all under the perpetual threat of prison or death. As they abandon everything and everyone except each other, they begin to lose their own identities, while an officer fighting against them faces a dilemma of his own.

White Lies (Bright Future Competition) tells the story of its director, Alba Zari, who uses her art to explore a past that does not belong to her. Born into the controversial Children of God sect, she has no memories of her childhood. Driven by a desire for truth, Alba embarks on a painful confrontation with her mother and grandmother to understand the reasons that led them to join the cult and the painful consequences of those choices. A touching and intimate portrait of a search for identity, White Lies is a journey that delves deep into family wounds. The film had its world premiere in Italy at the Festival dei Popoli, where it won four awards.

Source/images: Alibi Communications

International Film Festival Rotterdam (29/1/26–8/2/26)

IFFR 2026 will open with the world premiere of Providence and the Guitar by João Nicolau.  Inspired by a short novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, the film follows Leon and Elvira, two performers trying to keep their stage careers afloat.  Providence and the Guitar also marks the acting debut of Salvador Sobral, one of Portugal's most beloved musicians and the winner of Eurovision 2017.  The festival will close with the world premiere of Rémi Bezançon's crime comedy Bazaar (Murder in the Building), starring Laetitia Casta, Gilles Lellouche and Guillaume Gallienne.  The film follows an enthusiastic Hitchcock scholar who becomes convinced that the neighbour across the courtyard has murdered his wife.

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.  The 12 titles in the Big Screen Competition—which is dedicated to supporting the distribution of nominated films in the Netherlands—examine how lives are shaped by inherited stories, with many of the films revisiting the past to understand its pull on the present.  The winning filmmaker(s) will be awarded €15,000 in prize money; additionally, IFFR offers €15,000 to the Dutch distributor that acquires the winning film's distribution rights, incentivising local distribution.

The Displacement Film Fund was established to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.  An initiative spearheaded by actor, producer and UNHCR Global Goodwill Ambassador, Cate Blanchett, the pilot scheme was announced at the 2025 edition of the festival and the Hubert Bals Fund is the Management Partner.  Five short film production grants of €100,000 each were bestowed to Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine), Mo Harawe (Somalia-Austria), Hasan Kattan (Syria), Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran) and Shahrbanoo Sadat (Afghanistan), who will premiere their completed works at IFFR 2026.

Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, said: "The 2026 edition of IFFR unites new voices and returning artists whose works explore belonging, reinvention, humour, fear, beauty and the persistent human effort to understand our place in a changing world.  We're also delighted the festival will open with João Nicolau's Providence and the Guitar—a generous and witty film which places the present alongside echoes of the past—while Rémi Bezançon's Bazaar (Murder in the Building) will close the festival with style, intelligence and a sense of fun.  Across the programme, we hope every audience member will find a film that speaks to them—or challenges them—in a meaningful way.”

Source: IFFR

Images: THE PR FACTORY / Carole Bethuel

Happy New Year!

All the best for 2026!