Jakarta World Cinema Plans to Bring Back Its First Feature Competition

Jakarta World Cinema will revive its First Feature Competition next year, and this time filmmakers from anywhere in the world can enter. The festival told Variety that the section will be judged by an international jury.

The competition, which is for first-time directors, did not take submissions this year. It was put on hold because the festival had trouble putting together an international jury. Festival director Shandy Gasella told Variety that until now the jury had been made up only of Indonesian judges.

Next year the festival wants to invite jury members with strong filmographies, meaning long lists of films they have made or worked on. Last year's prizes went to Cole Webley's "Omaha," which won best film, and to Pauline Loquès, who won best director for "Nino," according to Variety's coverage of the 2025 winners.

The main lineup leans on films that have already made a name on the festival circuit. Executive director Frederica said 80-90% of the films are award winners from Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Sundance. She also directs KlikFilm, the company that handles acquisitions, meaning the buying of films for release. The festival's 2026 programme includes 207 titles from 69 countries, and 102 of them are theatrical films, the most in the festival's history. Palme d'Or winner Fjord opened the edition, according to Variety's September report.

Programming director Daniel Irawan said the goal for next year is to grow the lineup. The festival also plans to keep working with its main venue, CGV Grand Indonesia, to seat more people.

The Jakarta edition closes on 7 November. The same programme then travels to Bandung World Cinema and Malang World Cinema, which run from 14 to 21 November. It is the festival's first expansion beyond Jakarta. The event sits between Jakarta Film Week in October and the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival at the end of November.

The short film competition ran in June and drew more than 300 entries from professionals, amateurs and students. All 30 competition titles will screen, along with 20 shortlisted films outside the competition. On closing day the festival will name its best short film and audience choice winners. The best short film winner will receive full funding from KlikFilm to make and distribute a debut feature.

Funding comes partly from Dana Indonesiaraya, a matching fund shared by the government and the film industry, according to Indonesian Culture Minister Fadli Zon.

For a first-time director, a festival prize can be the first step toward a second film. Here, the short film winner gets a route straight into feature production, and the feature competition's return will give new directors a chance to be judged by people from outside Indonesia.