Author: persuader

Variations on a Theme and Master take IFFR 2026’s top awards
The winners of the Tiger and Big Screen Awards for IFFR 2026 have been announced! IFFR’s trademark Tiger Competition celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world, while the Big Screen Competition bridges popular, classic, and arthouse cinema and is dedicated to supporting the distribution of nominated films in the Netherlands. The Tiger Special Jury, FIPRESCI, NETPAC, and Youth Jury Awards were also unveiled during the ceremony.
Tiger Competition
At the heart of IFFR, the Tiger Competition showcases emerging voices from across the globe, with 12 world premieres from filmmakers who reshape the familiar from within, adjusting perspectives to reveal what often goes unnoticed. From the titles presented, the jury granted three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each.
WINNER: Variations on a Theme by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar (South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar)
The jury stated: “Possessing a deep poetic language, we found this to be 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 jury were unanimous in our decision and have great affection for this film.”
IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund supported the film’s realisation with a €60,000 HBF+Europe: Post-production Support grant in 2024, in partnership with Creative Europe – MEDIA.
Film still: Variations on a Theme by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar
Special Jury Awards
WINNER: La belle année by Angelica Ruffier (Sweden, Norway)
The jury stated: “This film is an intimate portrait of a woman dealing with grief and at the same time getting in touch with her first feelings of love and desire. The director, through an amazing craft of acting and directing, gives us a perceptive on womanhood too rarely portrayed in cinema. We give this award to a very unique voice who made us travel through generations charged with loneliness with absolute honesty and radical tenderness.”
Film still: La belle année by Angelica Ruffier
WINNER: Supporting Role by Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States)
The jury stated: “Relishing in the detail and texture of the city, the beauty of chance encounter and deeply felt emotion of reconciling the past. The jury were impressed by the way this film deftly uses the craft of acting as a lens through which to explore the complexities of how we move through the world.”
The Tiger Competition Jury consisted of Soheila Golestani, Marcelo Gomes, Ariane Labed, Kristy Matheson and Jurica Pavičić.
Big Screen Competition
The 12 titles in the Big Screen Competition each marked their world premiere at IFFR 2026 and examined how lives are shaped by inherited stories, with many of the films revisiting the past – personal, political or historic – to understand its pull on the present. The winning filmmaker(s) were awarded the Big Screen Award along with €15,000 in prize money. Additionally, IFFR offers €15,000 to the Dutch distributor that acquires the film’s distribution rights, incentivising local distribution.
WINNER: Master by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh)
The jury stated: “This is a universal story about a person striving to hold on to their moral compass, only to be reshaped by the persuasive and destructive forces of power and capitalism. What begins as a seemingly straightforward tale of idealism vs corruption unfolds into something far more complex and layered. With colourful strokes and surrounded by lively, authentic extras, the main character masterfully embodies this moral ambiguity through a superb leading performance, revealing how power ultimately has its way.”
The jury consisted of Jan-Willem van Ewijk, Sara Ishaq, Loes Luca, Chris Oosterom and Mila Schlingemann.
Film still: Master by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit
FIPRESCI Award
A jury of international film journalists from the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique awarded the FIPRESCI Award to their standout Tiger Competition title.
WINNER: Supporting Role by Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States)
The jury stated: “How many times in our lives do we have the chance to shed our skins and emerge as new people? Through a series of poignant, surreal encounters, this meta-film shows how our sense of self is often in discrepancy with the way others perceive us and embraces the possibility of transformation. The film is held up by a multi-layered performance and it is wrapped up in a cinematography that is especially radiant at night.”
The jury consisted of Jenny S. Li, Dina Pokrajac, Joyce Roodnat, Gustavo Herrera Taboada and Jake Wilson.
NETPAC Award
The NETPAC Award is awarded to the feature film from the Asia and Pacific regions by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema. NETPAC’s mission is to highlight new talents, and as such the jury considers directors’ first and second features only, with European, International or World premiere status at IFFR. The film selected for this award must be from one of 71 eligible countries in Asia or the Pacific Nations and Islands to be considered.
WINNER: i grew an inch when my father died by P. R. Monencillo Patindol (Philippines)
The jury stated: “The film moved us all and is filled with hope that language of cinema can still be re-invented, genuinely exciting in its creative expression and its meaningful storytelling potential. In his debut film, the director approached this coming-of-age story with original, striking visual language that suitably expresses intimate life of the characters in their tender age. The film kept surprising us with each further sequence by the director’s distinctive, singular voice.”
Film still: i grew an inch when my father died by P. R. Monencillo Patindol
NETPAC Jury Special Mention
WINNER: The Seoul Guardians by Kim Jong-Woo, Kim Shin-Wan and Cho Chul-Young (South Korea).
The jury stated: “An intense and gripping film, with a tight, masterfully edited narrative focused on an urgent topic relevant on a global scale, solidarity and democracy.”
The jury consisted of Frédéric Ambroisine, Rada Šešić and Miyuki Takamatsu.
Film still: The Seoul Guardians by Kim Jong-Woo, Kim Shin-Wan and Cho Chul-Young
Youth Jury Award
The IFFR Youth Jury Award is selected by a panel of young people for an outstanding festival film of their choice. With the recognition of an aspiring jury of young film critics, the winner goes home with a prestigious award that puts them in the international spotlight.
WINNER: Ah Girl by Ang Geck Geck Priscilla (Singapore)
The jury stated: “On the other side of the world, this film shows how life, and specifically childhood, are really quite the same. The film is crafted with a refined eye and tells the stories of our main character brilliantly. A star performance of the main actresses immediately transports the viewer and the film envelops you like a warm hug from there. Through this film we call upon the world to take our youngest friends more seriously. But, perhaps even more importantly, we point to the universality of human life and that the other side of the world is sometimes really not that different from what they know.”
Film still: Ah Girl by Ang Geck Geck Priscilla
06/02/2026
A Matter of Salone del Mobile: the new Salone communication campaign
From a reflection on humans to matter as meaning: the new Salone communication campaign explores the physical and symbolic origins of design, a visual narration made up of different perspectives, united by a common idea of transformation and genesis
Following the 2025 human-centric campaign Thought for Humans devised by the sensitive, documentarist American photographer Bill Durgin, the Salone del Mobile.Milano is continuing its process of reflection on the meaning of design with A Matter of Salone, the communication campaign for the 2026 edition. While design was explored last year as a language in the service of people, the starting point for this year is even more original: matter. Matter that can be touched, read and interpreted. Matter that preserves memory while also concealing as-yet undiscovered potential.
The campaign is taking shape around an essential question: what meaning can design take on today? The answer, both visual and conceptual, has its roots in matter, understood not only as a physical substance, but as an origin, a memory, a possibility to be activated. It is no longer just a question of form or function: it is a process by which what is tangible is transformed into value. Matter, in fact, is matter, but also what matters, what generates meaning.
This ambivalence is what forms the basis for A Matter of Salone, a collective project by Motel409 involving six contemporary creative figures: the photographers Charles Negre, Eduard Sánchez Ribot and Alecio Ferrari, and the set designers Studio Végété, Laura Doardo and Stilema Studio. The project has generated a stratified system of images, built by several different hands, in which each intervention amplifies the common vision. The approach was deliberately multidisciplinary, in a bid to convey the complexity of the initial idea through a language made up of matter, light, gesture and transformation. The result is imagery that channels both concreteness and abstraction, a visual composition capable of evoking as well as explaining, deeply connected to the culture of design.
Communication Campaign Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 “A Matter of Salone”: Sponge @Charles Negre Studio Végété, Set-designer Concept Motel409
Communication Campaign Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 “A Matter of Salone”: Stone @Eduard Sánchez Ribot Laura Doardo, Set-designer Concept Motel409
Communication Campaign Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 “A Matter of Salone”: Wood @Eduard Sánchez Ribot Laura Doardo, Set-designer Concept Motel409
Communication Campaign Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 “A Matter of Salone”: Petal @Charles Negre Studio Végété, Set-designer Concept Motel409
The campaign revolves around material objects, each of which represents a fundamental design principle. Stone represents origin, a symbol of simplicity devoid of frills; excavated, deconstructed, and covered, it becomes a challenging ground for new perceptions of solidity. The petal embodies the sensuality of matter, enhanced by techniques such as laser cutting and ink dye, which highlight the most cutting edge possibilities of material innovation. Wood, a living material, tells the story of function: it is a sign of continuity between man, nature and construction, revealing its expressive potential through drilling, joints and sculptures. Sponge, with its changing volumentry, speaks for reinvention: a changing material, allowing itself to be folded, compressed, and emerge from the shadows to become a visual icon.
As Federico Grassi, Creative Director of Motel409, says: “We asked ourselves what happens to matter when seen through the lens of design. This question informs A Matter of Salone: a work by several different hands, in which the energy of the materials blends with the vision, the gesture, the image. We didn’t want to illustrate design, but to evoke it. To experience it visually and sensorially, letting the material itself tell the story – and the Salone was, as always, the space in which this transformation could take place.”
The narrative structure of the campaign has been devised as a three-act process. It begins with a close-up exploration of the material, in shots that reveal its skin, its texture, its essence. We then move on to the presentation of the objects in their archetypal, essential form. Finally, the material allows itself to be subjected to the human gesture: to be touched, sculpted and altered, in a visual sequence that culminates in hands, tools and materials that come together and dialogue. The result is a visual and symbolic crescendo, culminating in the revelation of the finished artefact: objects that carry with them not only function and form, but also memory, tension, vision.
A Matter of Salone is a great deal more than just a visual project. It is an act of listening and translation. An invitation to see design not just as a discipline, but as an embodied thought, capable of crisscrossing materials and meanings, of restoring depth to the act of designing. Here matter is no longer just a resource or a surface: it is a voice, a story, a horizon to be imagined together.

19/12/2025
European Sleeper launches new night train to Switzerland and Milan from September 2026
First departure from Brussels and Amsterdam on Thursday , 18 June 2026
A new overnight sleeper train will link Brussels and Amsterdam with Milan via Switzerland from next summer, offering a direct rail connection between Belgium and the Netherlands with northern Italy, rewarding travellers with both scenic and sustainable long-distance routes. The Belgian-Dutch operator European Sleeper has announced that the service is scheduled to begin on 18 June 2026, with departures three times a week from both capitals.
The route will carry passengers south through Germany and Switzerland before reaching Italy, creating an essential north-south rail corridor that European Sleeper said will allow travellers to enjoy “inspiring morning and evening views of alpine valleys and serene lakes along the way.”
Trains from Brussels and Amsterdam will depart in the evening on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, meet in Germany, and continue via key stops, including Cologne, Bern, and Brig in Switzerland, and Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore, finally terminating in Milan the following morning. Return journeys from Milan are planned for Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Switzerland and northern Italy stand out as notable places on the route, attracting travellers interested in mountain adventures, exploring cities, enjoying lakeside activities or taking part in winter sports. The overnight link will follow the historic Simplon route, a classic Alpine corridor that has long been prized for its dramatic scenery and breathtaking landscapes.
The total journey is expected to take about 15 hours, with trains departing Amsterdam around 19:00 local time and arriving in Milan before 10:00 the next morning, although precise arrival times in Italy have yet to be confirmed. European Sleeper has reported plans to attract both leisure and business travellers with competitive pricing, with one-way fares for a berth in a shared coupé expected to start at around €80. The company has yet to finalise exact timetables with national rail network operators, and ticket sales are expected to begin in January or February 2026.
The new service is part of European Sleeper’s broader expansion of cross-border night trains. The company already operates overnight routes from Brussels to cities including Berlin, Dresden and Prague, and runs seasonal connections to the Alps and Venice. It also plans to launch a Paris-Berlin night train in March 2026. However, the company has pushed back its proposed night-train link to Barcelona until 2027 or 2028.
If the project stays on schedule, the new Brussels to Milan night train will provide a significant connection across Western Europe’s rail network, linking major urban centres with scenic Alpine landscapes. The service will further the growth of long-distance rail travel on the continent, as more travellers increasingly look for environmentally friendly alternatives to short-haul flights.
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10/12/2025
Rehabilitated arthouse cinema romanticises the silver screen in the Netherlands
One can argue that going to the cinema to watch a film these days has all the nostalgic charm of receiving snail mail. This is especially true for Visum Mundi, a rehabilitated arthouse cinema in Wageningen, an hour’s drive southeast of Amsterdam.
There is plenty to admire here, not least because the 1935 building was the site for the signing of the peace treaty between Dutch and German forces to mark the end of the last World War. Visum Mundi is the latest project of Dutch businessman Martin Ruiter and builds on an investment portfolio grounded in sustainability.
Step inside Visum Mundi, Wageningen
For the design, rather than start from a tabula rasa, the London-based studio, Fare Inc. worked within conservation codes to infuse the two-storey building – a 119-seater cinema above and bar/lounge below – with a handsome palette of warm colours and nostalgic decorative features that pay respectful homage to the building’s past.
‘As we couldn’t touch much of the historical fabric of the building,’ says Fare Inc’s principal, Annie Harrison, ‘we focused on sustainable upholstery and fabric using a palette of military greens, sky blues and beiges to reflect a war-time past with a peaceful, hopeful ambience.’
The fidelity to this careful balancing between past and present runs through Visum Mundi – the name, incidentally, is Latin for ‘view of the world’ – with Harrison using warm woods and dandelion chandeliers to line the pitched ceiling of the cinema, and fabric inspired by camouflage prints in light blue, alongside a judicious selection of vintage furniture scattered around the horseshoe-shaped bar.
For Harrison, Visum Mundi reflects the preoccupation of her studio of three with creating soft, warm spaces that integrate location with culture. She recently completed the interiors of a Sri Lankan restaurant within a historic East London warehouse, and is now working on a nightclub set in an old South London department store.
Visum Mundi, she adds, was challenging because the design needed ‘to feel like a new, exciting venue for Wageningen, whilst complementing the buildings’s history and architecture, and resonating across multiple generations.’
25/12/2024