– European victors also included Angelica Ruffier’s La Belle Année and Ana Urushadze’s Supporting Role, both scooping Tiger Special Jury Awards
The winners of IFFR 2026
It’s a wrap for the 2026 edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which ran from 29 January-8 February and unveiled its award winners at the weekend. As well as handing out the festival’s two flagship prizes, a range of juries also dished out distinctions across the Tiger Competition and the wider programme.
At the heart of IFFR, the Tiger Competition once again spotlighted emerging voices from around the world, presenting 12 world premieres characterised by formal boldness and a reworking of familiar narratives. The international jury – comprising Soheila Golestani, Marcelo Gomes, Ariane Labed, Kristy Matheson and Jurica Pavičić – handed the €40,000 Tiger Award to Variations on a Theme [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar (South Africa/Netherlands/Qatar). In their statement, the jurors praised the film’s “deep poetic language”, and described it as a “thoughtful and moving portrait of a community living under the spectre of colonial legacies and familial bonds in this world and the next”. The film previously received €60,000 in HBF+Europe post-production support from IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, in partnership with Creative Europe – MEDIA.
Two €10,000 Tiger Special Jury Awards were also given out. One went to La Belle Année [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelica Ruffier
film profile] by Angelica Ruffier (Sweden/Norway), which the jury lauded for its intimate depiction of grief and first love, and for offering a vision of womanhood “too rarely portrayed in cinema”, delivered with “radical tenderness”. The second Special Jury Award was bestowed upon Supporting Role [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ana Urushadze
film profile] by Ana Urushadze (Georgia/Estonia/Turkey/Switzerland/USA), recognised for the attention it pays to the texture of urban life and for using performance as a lens through which to explore how individuals move through the world.
The Big Screen Competition, dedicated to bridging arthouse and popular cinema while supporting theatrical distribution in the Netherlands, also unveiled its winner. From a line-up of 12 world premieres, the jury – Jan-Willem van Ewijk, Sara Ishaq, Loes Luca, Chris Oosterom and Mila Schlingemann – gave the Big Screen Award and €15,000 to Master by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh). The jurors highlighted the film’s layered portrayal of a man struggling to preserve his moral compass amid the corrosive forces of power and capitalism, anchored by a “superb leading performance”. As per tradition, an additional €15,000 will be made available to the Dutch distributor that acquires the movie.
Among the parallel prizes, the FIPRESCI Award, presented by an international jury of film critics, also went to Supporting Role. The jury commended the movie’s surreal, meta-cinematic approach to identity and transformation, underpinned by a multi-layered central performance and striking nocturnal cinematography.
The NETPAC Award, honouring first and second features from Asia and the Pacific region, was granted to I Grew an Inch When My Father Died by PR Monencillo Patindol (Philippines). The NETPAC jury – Frédéric Ambroisine, Rada Šešić and Miyuki Takamatsu – praised the debut for its inventive visual language and its hopeful assertion that cinematic expression can still be reinvented. A NETPAC Jury Special Mention went to The Seoul Guardians by Kim Jong-woo, Kim Shin-wan and Cho Chul-young (South Korea), recognised for its gripping, tightly edited narrative centred on themes of solidarity and democracy.
Finally, the IFFR Youth Jury Award, decided on by a panel of young critics, was bestowed upon Ah Girl by Ang Geck Geck Priscilla (Singapore). The jury highlighted its sensitive portrayal of childhood and its universal emotional reach, singling out the lead performance for its ability to draw audiences into the story “like a warm hug”.
Here is the full list of this year’s winners:
Tiger Award
Variations on a Theme [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa/Netherlands/Qatar)
Tiger Special Jury Awards (ex aequo)
La Belle Année [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelica Ruffier
film profile] – Angelica Ruffier (Sweden/Norway)
Supporting Role [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ana Urushadze
film profile] – Ana Urushadze (Georgia/Estonia/Turkey/Switzerland/USA)
Big Screen Award
Master – Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh)
FIPRESCI Award
Supporting Role – Ana Urushadze
NETPAC Award
I Grew an Inch When My Father Died – PR Monencillo Patindol (Philippines)
NETPAC Jury Special Mention
The Seoul Guardians – Kim Jong-woo, Kim Shin-wan, Cho Chul-young (South Korea)
Youth Jury Award
Ah Girl – Ang Geck Geck Priscilla (Singapore)
Tiger Short Competition
Short Competition winners
The Second Skin – Mariia Lapidus (USA/Mexico)
The Apple Doesn’t Fall… – Dean Wei (China)
Ndjimu (Deep Cobalt) – Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Democratic Republic of the Congo/USA)
European Short Film Award Nomination
CUL-DE-SAC ! – Clyde Gates, Gabriel Sanson (Belgium/France)
KNF AwardThe Apple Doesn’t Fall… – Dean Wei
