International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled its selection of 21 feature projects for the 43rd edition of CineMart, its co-production market, running Feb. 1 to 4, as well as 10 projects for its work-in-progress platform Darkroom.
Commenting on the CineMart lineup, Marten Rabarts, head of IFFR Pro, said: “The urgency is palpable: from stories grappling with war and displacement to narratives exploring climate change, queerness and the struggle to define and preserve identities in turbulent times, all amongst bold cinematic creativity and forays into genres including sci-fi, horror and musical.”
The CineMart selection includes the comedy “The Dispute” by debut U.S. directors Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker, which has been acquired by Riley Keough’s Felix Culpa and Donald Glover’s Gilga for feature development. As well as directing the film, Ellsworth and Walker wrote the script, and will also co-star. Gemma Doll-Grossman is the DP.
The film follows two best friends from South Central, down on their luck and desperate for more, who take a chance encounter as an invitation to trade their dead-end lives in Los Angeles for something new. When chaos ensues during their seemingly lucrative adventure, they realize the true cost of their actions.
Ellsworth is an actress and filmmaker, who stars as Deja in “The Vince Staples Show” on Netflix. Walker is a writer-director-actress, whose directorial debut, short film “Hoop Dreams,” premiered at Tribeca Festival after winning the Soho Script Lab.
The project was selected for this year’s Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab.
Also selected for CineMart is “Worse Together,” an exploration of trans friendship by Canadian filmmaker Luis De Filippis (“Something You Said Last Night,” IFFR Youth Jury Award, 2023).
Japanese filmmaker Tanaka Toshihiko (“Rei,” IFFR, 2024) is also a returning IFFR award-winner, with his next film “Shumari,” which is set in Japan’s remote northern frontier.
Further selections from Asia include filmmaker Lê Bảo with the poetic, touching portrait “Hearing,” following his Berlinale Encounters Special Jury Award-winning “Taste” (2021); alongside Kang Bo’s horrific, fantastical vision of the forests of north eastern China in “Kingdom of the Insomniacs,” and the sci-fi queer rom-com “Noodles, Our Love Was Instant and Forever” by debut Filipino filmmaker Whammy Alcazaren (“Bold Eagle,” best international short at the Fantasia Film Festival, 2023).
Additional selections include the fifth feature from Spanish filmmaker Lois Patiño (“Ariel,” IFFR, 2025) titled “Adarna” and set in the Philippines, and the comedic “Portuguese Man O’ War” by Ridham Janve (“The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain,” IFFR, 2018). A further colonial period piece comes from South Africa in “Pale Faces,” by debut filmmaker Chantel Clark.
Lebanese filmmakers and artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige present “Beirut Baby,” with their previous works including “Perfect Day” (Locarno, 2005, Fipresci Prize), “Je Veux Voir” (Cannes, 2008), and “Memory Box” (CineMart, 2016, Berlinale, 2021). Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa (“Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” Un Certain Regard, Cannes, 2025) presents his second feature “Animals,” meanwhile set in Russia at war, Nicolas Graux will showcase “The Son of the Poet” (Porcupine, IFFR, 2023 co-dir. Trương Minh Quý).
Several filmmakers in the selection explore the complexities of relationships and belonging through intimate personal journeys, including “Lux,” the debut from Danish filmmaker Thomas Elley (“Europa Endlos,” CPH:DOX, 2025); “When the Goats Came” from New Zealand filmmaker Arthur Elias Gay; and “After the Night, the Night,” the feature debut by Swiss-Dutch artist and filmmaker Naomi Pacifique (“Looking She Said I Forget,” Locarno, 2024).
New for 2026, six of the CineMart titles have been selected for the inaugural CineMart x HBF lineup – a curated strand of projects previously awarded development support by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund.
The six projects include Martika Ramirez Escobar’s “Daughters of the Sea,” which intertwines three stories; two Brazilian projects – Lillah Hallah’s surrealist satire “Golden Balls” and “Neon Phantom” by Leonardo Martinelli, a follow-up to the award-winning short of the same name; alongside Senegalese filmmaker Mamadou Dia’s latest project “Coumba,” following his HBF-backed debut, “Nafi’s Father” (IFFR, 2020), winning the Pardo d’Oro in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente section in 2019. The love story “Birdwoman” by Indian feature debut filmmaker Lipika Singh Darail; and “Vika,” which resonates with ongoing conflicts around the world, by Tamar Shavgulidze, complete the lineup.
Darkroom presents recently or nearly completed films to the international industry seeking gap or completion funding, sales agents and festivals with the support of expert consultancy. Each project has either an attached Rotterdam Lab graduate producer or received previous support from CineMart or the Hubert Bals Fund.
Selections include Brazilian filmmakers Laís Santos Araújo and Pethrus Tibúrcio (“Tell Her What Happened to Me,” IFFR, 2025), who co-direct the Hubert Bals Fund-supported and CineMart-presented coming-of-age drama “Marina”; Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi present the hybrid documentary “The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs,” and Costa Rican filmmaker Neto Villalobos will bring the tropical dystopia “Amor Es El Monstruo.”
Further Darkroom projects include Mario Piredda returning with Sardinian road movie “Làstima,” alongside Víctor Moreno’s sci-fi “The Outside,” first presented at CineMart 2022. Two Dutch projects feature in the lineup: Mari Sanders returns to themes of disability and belonging with “Get Up Stand Up,” while Kenya-born Dutch filmmaker Amira Duynhouwer presents “Sugar.”
Rounding out the selected works are BAFTA New Talent award-nominee Joshua Loftin’s docu-fiction “LFD Hope”; Paris-based Korean artist and filmmaker Jeunghae Yim presenting “Sea, Star, Woman,” and Fil Ieropoulos’s (Avant-Drag!, IFFR 2024) experimental docu-essay “Uchronia: Parallel Histories of Queer Revolt.”
The IFFR Pro Awards will recognize projects from the CineMart and Darkroom selections and will be presented on the evening of Feb. 4.
Additionally, the festival has announced that next year’s immersive media projects will be presented under Lightroom, IFFR’s new industry platform for immersive storytelling. Lightroom brings together all XR, VR and interactive projects previously presented across CineMart and Darkroom, creating one unified space for immersive work.
Ellen Kuo, formerly of NewImages Festival and manager and curator at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, joins IFFR Pro as a consultant for Lightroom, working with IFFR’s Eva Langerak, who oversees both Art Directions and Lightroom. The selection of Lightroom projects will be announced next month.
Full selection details below:
CINEMART
Adarna, dir. Lois Patiño, Spain
Produced by: Elástica Films, Matriuska Producciones
After the Night, the Night, dir. Naomi Pacifique, Netherlands, Switzerland
Produced by: Grom Productions, Lemming Film, GoldenEgg production
Animals, dir. Morad Mostafa, Egypt, France
Produced by: Bonanza Films, Wrong Films
Beirut Baby, dir. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lebanon, France
Produced by: Abbout Productions, Haut et Court
Hearing, dir. Lê Bảo, Singapore, Vietnam
Produced by: E&W Films, Sensory Ocean Films
Kingdom of the Insomniacs, dir. Kang Bo, China
Produced by: Rediance
Lux, dir. Thomas Elley, Denmark
Produced by: Frau Film
Neon Phantom, dir. Leonardo Martinelli, Brazil
Produced by: Duas Mariola Filmes
Noodles, Our Love Was Instant and Forever, dir. Whammy Alcazaren, Philippines
Produced by: Daluyong Studios, Two Fold
Pale Faces, dir. Chantel Clark, Netherlands, South Africa
Produced by: Baldr Film, Cadence
Portuguese Man O’ War, dir. Ridham Janve, India
Produced by: Bombay Berlin Film Productions, The Film Cafe
Shumari, dir. Toshihiko Tanaka, Japan
Produced by: ColorBird, No Saint. & Bloom
The Dispute, dir. Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker, United Kingdom, United States of America
Produced by: Felix Culpa, Watermark Media, Gilga
The Poet’s Son, dir. Nicolas Graux, Belgium, France, Germany
Produced by: Tarantula, Petit à Petit Production, Yellow Blackbird, Clin d’Œil
When the Goats Came, dir. Arthur Gay, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Greece
Produced by: In Two Minds Productions, Exa Films, Ossian International
Worse Together, dir. Luis De Filippis, Canada, Switzerland
Produced by: JA Productions Inc., Cloud Fog Haze Pictures
CINEMART X HBF SELECTION
Birdwoman, dir. Lipika Singh Darai, India, France
Produced by: Salt For Sugar Films
Coumba, dir. Mamadou Dia, Senegal, France
Produced by: Maayo, Les Films du Bilboquet
Daughters of the Sea, dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar, Philippines, Spain
Produced by: This Side Up, Arkeofilms, Alba Sotorra Cinema Productions
Golden Balls, dir. Lillah Halla, Brazil, Uruguay
Produced by: Manjericão Filmes, Cimarrón Cine, Arissas
Neon Phantom, dir. Leonardo Martinelli, Brazil
Produced by: Duas Mariola Filmes
Vika, dir. Tamar Shavgulidze, Georgia, Netherlands
Produced by: Nushi Film GEO, GoGoFilm
DARKROOM
Amor es el monstruo, dir. Neto Villalobos Brenes, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Chile
Produced by: La Sucia Centroamericana, Cine Infinito, Expansiva Cine, Clara Films
Get Up Stand Up, dir. Mari Sanders, Netherlands, Greece
Produced by: The Film Kitchen, Neda Film
Làstima, dir. Mario Piredda, Italy, Switzerland
Produced by: Articolture and DOK MOBILE
LFD Hope, dir. Joshua Loftin, United Kingdom, Hungary
Produced by: Sea Fox Films, Lorenz Films, Gallivant Film, Good Kids Productions
Marina, dir. Laís Santos Araújo and Pethrus Tibúrcio, Brazil
Produced by: Aguda Cinema, Carnaval Filmes
Sea, Star, Woman, dir. Jeunghae Yim, France, Korea
Produced by: 5à7 Films, Seesaw Pictures
Sugar, dir. Amira Duynhouwer, Netherlands, Belgium
Produced by: Studio Ruba, Mirage Film
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs, dir. Èlia Gasull Balada, Matteo Norzi, Peru, United States, Spain, Chile
Produced by: Shipibo Conibo Center, Desfase Films, Funicular Films, Pista B
The Outside, dir. Víctor Moreno, Spain, Belgium
Produced by: KV Films, Womack Studios, Transit Transat
Uchronia: Parallel Histories of Queer Revolt, dir. Fil Ieropoulos, Greece, Netherlands
Produced by: FYTA Films, GROM Productions