Rotterdam Unveils First 10 Films for Its 2027 Festival
The International Film Festival Rotterdam, known as IFFR, has announced the first ten feature films for its 56th edition, Deadline reported on 29 October 2026. Each one will have its world premiere in the Dutch port city. The festival runs from 28 January to 7 February 2027.
A world premiere is the first public screening of a film anywhere. Festivals like Rotterdam are where many films first meet the buyers and distributors who decide whether they reach cinemas or streaming services later on.
The films sit in two of the festival's sidebars, which are themed sections within the main programme. The Bright Future strand focuses on debut films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Its first titles include Kids Go Free, Portrait of a Young Criminal, The Muglur, In the Name of Galeela and Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire.
Kids Go Free is being brought to Rotterdam by Ben Hicks, and it was made over 15 years across three countries. Portrait of a Young Criminal is Parbat Chapagai's take on Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. The Muglur is a Mexico-Argentina production directed by Lucila Las Heras. It is described as a claustrophobic fairy tale about a woman named Aurora who makes a deal with a dark figure, the Muglur.
In the Name of Galeela is an Egyptian film from director Mohamed El Zayat. In it, a community persuades a blind grandmother that she is still going on her pilgrimage to Mecca after money is stolen. Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire is Ali Bakhtiari's debut feature documentary.
Several titles are by filmmakers who have shown work at Rotterdam before. Angolan director Kiluanji Kia Henda returns with Karl Marx, Luanda, in the Harbour sidebar. He first presented work at IFFR in a Short Profile in 2020, and he commissioned a performance in 2021. Cypriot filmmaker Kyros Papavassiliou returns with Yiannis. His earlier film Impressions of a Drowned Man screened in the Tiger Competition in 2015.
Hong Kong director Rita Hui Nga Shu brings The Lapse to the Harbour sidebar. Her earlier feature Decameron premiered at the festival in 2021. Harbour also includes Ali and Ben's Spicy Meats, a comedic cannibal horror film by brothers Iskander and Feisal Azizuddin, and Waiting Room, an intimate documentary portrait by Omer Shamir.
What makes this first batch useful for planners is the timing. The full lineup for the 56th edition will be unveiled on 16 December 2026, so more titles will follow in about seven weeks. The festival has also unveiled its 2027 campaign, designed with Rotterdam design studio 75B. Vanja Kaludjercic is the festival director.
For anyone who wants to see these films, the wait is long. The festival opens in late January, and the complete programme arrives in December.
