Master
An idealistic politician is seduced by the dark side of power in Rezwan Shahriar Simut’s polished but predictable drama ‘Master’, which took home one of the main prizes in Rotterdam.
Rotterdam 2026
Rotterdam 2026: The Verdict
South African and Bangladeshi films won big at a 55th edition of the Rotterdam International Film Festival embracing global chills and genre thrills.
Rotterdam 2026: The Awards
Highlighting a rich splash of African titles, the South African drama about an elderly goat herder, ‘Variations on a Theme’, topped the awards list at the 2026 International Film Festival of Rotterdam.
The Horror, the Horror Descends on Rotterdam
This year’s Rotterdam took a free-wheeling approach to genre pieces, particularly global horror.
Home Bitter Home
Artistic frustrations are the throughline in the Lebanese omnibus film ‘Home Bitter Home’, set in present day Beirut.
Bowels of Hell
Social satire meets (literal) toilet humor in the gruesomely entertaining Brazilian horror comedy ‘Bowels of Hell’.
Supporting Role
Georgian director Ana Urushadze’s Supporting Role is a wildly eccentric take on fleeting windows for creative ambition, in a worldweary, twilight Tbilisi.
Talking to a Stranger
A demon feeds on a mother’s grief in ‘Talking to a Stranger’, a powerful and unsettling piece of Mexican horror.
The Apple Doesn’t Fall…
China’s one-child policy provides the inspiration for Dean Wei and Shiyu Liu’s The Apple Doesn’t Fall…, a meticulous and theatrical apartment-bound family drama told through expressive dance.
My Daughter Is a Zombie
A parent-child bond is tested in a supernatural manner in the highly entertaining South Korean film ‘My Daughter Is a Zombie’.
La belle année
Documentary and fiction are interwoven in ‘La belle année’, a contemplative self-portrait that connects contemporary grief and teenage romantic obsession to tantalising effect.
Second Skin
The collaboration between three filmmakers to re-enact sexual assaults suffered by Russian women, Second Skin, is a staggering and imperative act of bearing witness.
Yellow Cake
Tiago Melo brings satirical bite to genre thrills in ‘Yellow Cake’, his delirious sci-fi mix of geopolitics and apocalyptic fears in Brazil’s Northeast.
Projecto Global
Bloated but compelling, writer-director Ivo M. Ferreira’s stylish fact-based retro-thriller about a real 1980s terrorist group feels like a Portuguese cousin of ‘One Battle After Another’.
The Kidnapping of a President
Political upheaval is the backdrop for a fact-based dark comedy in the shape of Samuli Valkama’s ‘The Kidnapping of a President’.
First Light
A corruption scandal throws a nun into crisis in Australian-Filipino director James J. Robinson’s debut ‘First Light’, an intriguing, introspective slow-burner.
The Gymnast
Writer-director Charlotte Glynn balances hard-nosed grit and tenderness in her quietly devastating portrait of an injured teen gymnast in working-class Pittsburgh.
Accept Our Sincere Apologies
A luxury Venice hotel is a site of strange death dealings and cryptic dream logic in Juja Dobrachkous’s mesmeric, eccentric sophomore feature.
Chronovisor
Kevin Walker and Jack Auen’s eerie, stylish techno-horror debut draws us through a library wormhole into a ‘70s scandal around a Benedictine monk’s memory-recording machine.
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford
A small-town Scottish tour guide declares war on a blockbuster TV fantasy show in ‘The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford’, writer-director Seán Dunn’s enjoyably off-beat comedy about grief, depression and obsessive fandom.
Elements Of(f) Balance
Like a delicately composed ecosystem, Othmar Schmiderer’s documentary ‘Elements Of(f) Balance’ is a patchwork of finely tuned vignettes that together form a thoughtful meditation on our relationship with the planet.
Rotterdam 2026: An Interview with Vanja Kaludjercic and Clare Stewart
TFV inaugurates its Rotterdam 2026 coverage with our customary chat with the festival directors, Vanja Kaludjercic and Clare Stewart.
Dead Souls
Cult indie director Alex Cox gives Nikolai Gogol’s classic satirical novel ‘Dead Souls’ a surreal Wild West makeover in this uneven but enjoyably bizarre love letter to the spaghetti western genre.