International Film Festival Rotterdam Unveils Full CineMart 2026 Lineup With 21 New Features and 10 Darkroom Projects

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has announced the complete selection for its 43rd edition of CineMart, running February 1–4, along with 10 new titles for its Darkroom work-in-progress platform. IFFR highlighted that this year’s lineup reflects a strong sense of urgency with projects addressing war, displacement, identity, queerness, climate change, and boundary-pushing genre filmmaking.

Among the 21 CineMart projects is the U.S. comedy The Dispute, directed by debut filmmakers Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker, and acquired for development by Felix Culpa (backed by Riley Keough) and Gilga (backed by Donald Glover). Ellsworth and Walker also wrote the script, star in the film, and are joined by DP Gemma Doll-Grossman.

The film follows two best friends from South Central Los Angeles who seize an unexpected opportunity to escape their stagnant lives, only to face escalating chaos during their supposedly lucrative adventure and confront the consequences of their choices. Ellsworth is known for starring as Deja in The Vince Staples Show on Netflix (Netflix), while Walker’s short film Hoop Dreams premiered at Tribeca Festival after winning the Soho Script Lab.

CineMart also features Worse Together, a deep look into trans friendship by Canadian filmmaker Luis De Filippis, whose previous work Something You Said Last Night won the IFFR Youth Jury Award in 2023. Japanese filmmaker Tanaka Toshihiko, who screened Rei at IFFR 2024, returns with Shumari, set in Japan’s remote northern frontier.

Asian selections include Hearing by Vietnamese filmmaker Lê Bảo, following his Berlinale Encounters Special Jury Award win for Taste (2021), and Kingdom of the Insomniacs, a horror-fantasy project set in the forests of northeastern China by Kang Bo. Filipino filmmaker Whammy Alcazaren brings the sci-fi queer rom-com Noodles, Our Love Was Instant and Forever, based on his award-winning short Bold Eagle.

Other highlights include Spanish filmmaker Lois Patiño’s fifth feature Adarna, set in the Philippines, and the Indian comedy Portuguese Man O’ War by Ridham Janve, known for The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain. South African filmmaker Chantel Clark presents Pale Faces, a colonial-era story, while Lebanese artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige return with Beirut Baby, following acclaimed works like Perfect Day and Memory Box.

Additional projects include Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa’s Animals, Nicolas Graux’s The Son of the Poet set in wartime Russia, Lux by Danish filmmaker Thomas Elley, When the Goats Came by New Zealand director Arthur Elias Gay, and After the Night, the Night, the feature debut of Swiss-Dutch artist Naomi Pacifique.

Six titles were also chosen for the inaugural CineMart x Hubert Bals Fund lineup, including Daughters of the Sea by Martika Ramirez Escobar, Brazilian projects Golden Balls by Lillah Hallah and Neon Phantom by Leonardo Martinelli, Senegalese filmmaker Mamadou Dia’s Coumba, Indian filmmaker Lipika Singh Darai’s Birdwoman, and Vika by Tamar Shavgulidze.

The Darkroom section presents nearly completed films seeking final financing or sales support, including the Brazilian coming-of-age drama Marina, the hybrid documentary The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs, and Costa Rican filmmaker Neto Villalobos’ tropical dystopia Amor Es El Monstruo.

Other Darkroom highlights include the Sardinian road movie Làstima by Mario Piredda, sci-fi title The Outside by Víctor Moreno, Dutch projects Get Up Stand Up by Mari Sanders and Sugar by Amira Duynhouwer, the docu-fiction LFD Hope by Joshua Loftin, Sea, Star, Woman by Jeunghae Yim, and Uchronia: Parallel Histories of Queer Revolt by Fil Ieropoulos.

The IFFR Pro Awards for CineMart and Darkroom projects will be handed out on February 4, and the festival confirmed that future immersive media works will be showcased under its new umbrella platform Lightroom, with the full selection arriving next month on the official IFFR website (IFFR).