IFFR Pro

Two prizes for HBF and IFFR Pro-supported films: Cannes 2026 round-up🌴

The IFFR team is just back from an exciting and rewarding edition at Cannes. Across the Official Selection and Semaine de la Critique, five IFFR-backed films featured in the programme, two took home prizes, and Rotterdam Lab alumni were present throughout.

IFFR-backed films in Cannes:
✧ The Station by Sara Ishaq [Development (2018), HBF+Europe (2022) and NFF+HBF (2022)]
✧ Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul by Bruno Santamaría Razo (HBF+Europe in 2024)
✧ Ben’imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo won the Caméra d’or prize (HBF Development Support in 2022)
✧ Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard (HBF Development Support in 2021 and HBF+Europe Minority Co-production Support in 2023)
✧ Titanic Ocean by Konstantina Kotzamani (CineMart 2019)

The Hubert Bals Fund made two major announcements as HBF+Brazil launched its second edition at a full-house panel at the Marché du Film, and the Displacement Film Fund revealed its second cycle of recipients.

Read more via:

Two prizes for HBF and IFFR Pro-supported films: Cannes 2026 round-up - IFFR EN Five IFFR-backed films featured in the programme, two took home prizes and Rotterdam Lab alumni made their presence felt throughout.

Jury Prize in Cannes for Hubert Bals Fund- and IFFR Pro-supported Elephants in the Fog 🇳🇵🏆

Our congratulations to Nepalese filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah, whose HBF-supported debut feature Elephants in the Fog won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

"A work of shattering visual beauty and q***r political ferocity," wrote Cédric Succivalli for the International Cinephile Society on the film set in Nepal's transgender community.

The film was backed by the Hubert Bals Fund with Development Support (2021) and HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support (2023), as well as through IFFR Pro and the Netherlands Film Festival's BoostNL development programme (2022–3).

Co-producer Tatiana Leite of Bubbles Project (Brazil) – a Rotterdam Lab 2015 alum and familiar face as a CineMart mentor – brings yet another IFFR connection.

IFFR Pro Awards 2026 🏆

​The Pro Awards winners have just been announced, presented to projects across the 2026 CineMart, Darkroom, Lightroom and Safe Harbour lineups!
4DR Studios Awards:

Best Immersive Project in Development:
✧ Chemin des Bâtards by Leon Rogissart (Belgium, Netherlands)
Best Immersive Work-in-Progress:
✧ Cléo by Coco Chen (Taiwan)

ArteKino International Award:
✧ The Poet's Son by Nicolas Graux (.graux) (Belgium, France, Germany)
(with a special shoutout from the jury for Worse Together by Luis De Filippis )

Eurimages New Lab Awards:
Innovation Award:
✧ Daughters of the Sea by Martika Ramirez Escobar (.escobar) (Philippines, Spain)
Outreach Award:
✧ LFD Hope by Joshua Loftin (United Kingdom, Hungary)

Filmmore Awards:
✧ The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs by Èlia Gasull Balada () and Matteo Norzi (Peru, United States, Spain, Chile)
✧ Pale Faces by Chantel Clark () (Netherlands, South Africa)

HBF Empowerment Award:
✧ Marina by Laís Santos Araújo (.santos.araujo) and Pethrus Tibúrcio (.t) (Brazil)

HBF x PUBLIKUM Audience Outreach Award:
✧ Coumba by Mamadou Dia (Senegal, France)
New Impulse Award:
✧ Hidden Journey by Noura Adil () (Sudan)

VIPO Award:
✧ Neon Phantom by Leonardo Martinelli () (Brazil)

Read more via: https://iffr.com/en/blog-iffr-pro-awards-2026

Lightroom immersive market announces nine works 🕯️

Nine projects have been selected for the first edition of Lightroom: IFFR's new industry platform for immersive storytelling, taking place during the IFFR Pro Days at IFFR 2026.

Lightroom brings together all XR, VR and interactive projects previously presented as works-in-progress and works-in-development in CineMart and Darkroom, and, together with a symposium, creates one unified space for immersive work.

The selected projects are:
In-development:
🇧🇪🇳🇱 Chemin des Bâtards, dir. Leon Rogissart
🇱🇺🇫🇷 Les Gens de la Pluie, dir. Nicolas Blies & Stéphane Hueber-Blies (aka Bliesbro)
🇨🇭 Hiatus, dir. Laurent Novac, z1 Studio
🇨🇦 Lueurs Intérieures, dir. Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes & Philippe Lambert
🇳🇱 Mine Land, dir. & prod. Katja Verheul

Works-in-progress:
🇹🇼 Cléo, dir. Coco Chen
🇩🇪🇳🇱 The Demise of the ISS Leonardo, dir. Davide Maria Emanuel Cocchiara
🇮🇹🇯🇵🇳🇱 Jarkov, dir. Maya Watanabe
🇯🇵 NOX, dir. Rio Nakada

Read more about them here: https://iffr.com/en/blog-lightroom-selection-2026

Rotterdam Lab open-call selections 🧪

Our workshop for emerging producers, Rotterdam Lab, has announced the names of five producers who will join the cohort of 70+ producers at IFFR 2026, following an open-call for participation.

The Creative Europe-backed call aims to maximise the plurality of voices, backgrounds and experiences in the Rotterdam Lab cohort, giving particular attention to countries and regions not yet served by existing partner organisations.

The selected producers are:

🇵🇸 May Jabareen (Palestine)
🇱🇧 Hiba Louis (Lebanon)
🇦🇷 Iván Moscovich (Argentina)
🇨🇿 Natália Pavlove (Czech Republic)
🇰🇪 Audrey Restetuta Tanya (Kenya)

Read all about them here: https://iffr.com/en/blog-rotterdam-lab-2026-open-call-selection