17-25 April 2026
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION SECTION

Glocal Images

Aisha Can’t Fly Away

Glocal Images

Morad Mostafa

120' 
• 2025
  • Egypt • France • Germany • Tunisia • Saudi Arabia • Qatar • Sudan

Aisha is a 26-year-old Sudanese caregiver living in a neighbourhood in the heart of Cairo where she witnesses the tension between her fellow African migrants and local gangs. 

Stuck between an undefined relationship with a young Egyptian cook, a gangster who blackmails her into an unethical deal in exchange for safety, and a new house she’s assigned to work in, Aisha struggles to cope with her fears and lost battles, causing her dreams to cross with reality and leading her to an impasse.

Awards:

  • FIPRESCI Award, Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, Armenia, 2025.
  • Best Film Award, Festival Villa del Cine, Colombia, 2025.
  • Golden Palm Grand Jury Award, Mostra de València, Spain, 2025.
  • Special Jury Award, Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, Belgium, 2025.

Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day

Glocal Images

Ivona Juka

137' 
• 2024
  • Croatia • Canada • Poland • Cyprus • Bosnia Herzegovina

Four close friends, Lovro (21), Nenad (20), Stevan (22), and Ivan (20), fought against the Ustashas and Nazis by joining the Partisans during the Second World War. Sixteen years later, they have become renowned filmmakers. In 1957, in communist Yugoslavia, their sexual orientation arouses suspicion, and a Communist Party loyalist named Emir (52) is assigned to sabotage their careers and lives. The pursuit of freedom becomes a fight for survival for the artists, while Emir's beliefs are challenged.

Awards:

  • Audience Award – Best Narrative Feature, Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, USA, 2025.
  • Best Narrative Feature, Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival, Norway, 2025.
  • Best Director, Best Narrative Feature, Best Ensemble Out On Film: Atlanta's LGBTQ Film Festival, USA, 2025.
  • Best International Film Award, Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Israel, 2025.
  • Best Fiction Feature, Cambridge Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2025.
  • Best Narrative Feature Film, OUTShine Film Festival, USA, 2025.
  • Audience Award, Best Feature Film, Outstanding Individual Performance Award, FilmFestival Cottbus, Germany, 2025.
  • Special Jury Award, Kolkata International Film Festival, India, 2025.
  • Best Screenplay, image+nation LGBTQ+ Film Festival Montréal, Canada, 2025.
  • Best Feature, Queer Florence Film Festival, Italy, 2025.

Diversion

Glocal Images, National Competition

MARINOS KARTIKKIS

96' 
• 2025
  • Cyprus

Kostas is a policeman who is struggling financially, so he often steals jewellery from the dead he carries to the morgue. One day, he steals a cross from a deceased elderly woman who happens to be the grandmother of his girlfriend, Elena. Kostas hides the cross along with other stolen jewellery in a box located in a kitchen cupboard. One night, when Elena spends the night at his apartment, she discovers the box, and things start to get complicated.

Awards:

  • Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor Awards, 7th Boden International Film Festival, Sweden, 2026.

Forastera

Glocal Images

Lucia Aleñar Iglesias

97' 
• 2025
  • Spain • Italy • Sweden

Cata will see her summer vacation disrupted by the absurd and sudden death of her grandmother, which only she witnesses. Her grief shifts when she casually turns to play pretend, transforming into the deceased. What begins with a game of dress-up will blur the lines of reality and family roles.

Awards:

  • FIPRESCI Award, Discovery Section, Toronto International Film Festival, Canada, 2025.
  • Best First Feature Award, Seminci Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain, 2025.

Hold Onto Me

Glocal Images, National Competition

Myrsini Aristidou

102' 
• 2025
  • Cyprus • Denmark • Greece • United States

It’s summer, and 11-year-old Iris is running wild through the streets with her older friend Danae when she learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he has been keeping to himself. What begins as a stubborn attempt to reconnect slowly unfolds into a fragile bond, imperfect yet poignant.

Awards

  • Audience Award – World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Sundance Film Festival, USA, 2026.

Hysteria

Glocal Images

Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay

102' 
• 2025
  • Germany

When a burned Quran is found on a film set, the shoot takes a dark turn and the crew is thrown into turmoil. Caught in the crossfire of accusations, 24-year-old intern Elif is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets and lies, finding herself at the heart of an all-absorbing conspiracy.

Awards:

  • Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film, Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival, Germany, 2025.
  • FIPRESCI Award, Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 2025.
  • Special Jury Prize for Screenwriting, Hamptons International Film Festival, USA, 2025.
  • NRW Film Award, Cologne Film Festival, Germany, 2025.
  • Hessischer Film- und Kinopreis, Hessian Film and Cinema Awards, Germany, 2025.

Life in a Beat

Glocal Images

Amerissa Basta

93' 
• 2025
  • Greece • Cyprus • Bulgaria • North Macedonia • Montenegro • France

Lena is a 20-year-old woman who lives in Athens, works at a local supermarket and lives with her family. As their home is poor, always messy and full of tension, she wants to move out and start a life of her own. Everything changes for Lena when she gets fired from her job, and at the same time, she finds out that she is pregnant.

Awards:

Audience Award – Meet the Neighbours Competition, Audience Award – Greek Programme Competition & Crew United Award, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece, 2025.

Lust

Glocal Images

RALITZA PETROVA

77' 
• 2026
  • Bulgaria • Denmark • Sweden

A prison parole officer keeps others at arm’s length — and herself even further. When she inherits her absent father’s burial and debts, she slips back into patterns she thought she had left behind. Drawn to a Shibari rigger, she tests the limits of control and surrender as the knots of her past unravel. Can she find her way back to a body she has long since abandoned?

Awards:

  • Best Director Award, Sofia International Film Festival, Bulgaria, 2026.

Maricel

Glocal Images, National Competition

ELIAS DEMETRIOU

120' 
• 2025
  • Cyprus • Greece

A Filipino domestic worker is called to take care of an elderly couple in a Cypriot mountain village. What begins as a simple caregiving task gradually exposes a web of silent resentment, emotional dependency and unspoken histories, forcing her into the delicate, unsettling space between obligation and intimacy.

Awards:

  • Best Director, Best Feature, Best Producer, Best Cinematographer Awards, South East Asia International Film Festival, 2026.

Motherwitch

Glocal Images, National Competition

Minos Papas

104' 
• 2026
  • Cyprus • North Macedonia • United States

Eleni, a scorned painter in Cyprus in 1882, attempts to resurrect her dead children, but instead awakens the Kalikantzari creatures of Cypriot folklore. Now she must find a way to overcome her grief and anger and dispel the curse that has befallen her village.

Nino

Glocal Images

Pauline Loquès

97' 
• 2025
  • France

In three days, Nino will face a major challenge. But first, his doctors have assigned him two vital tasks. Two missions that will lead the young man on a journey through Paris, compelling him to reconnect with the world – and himself.

Selected Awards:

  • Best First Film & Best Male Revelation (Théodore Pellerin), César Awards, France, 2026.
  • Rising Star Award & Valbonne Audience Award, Cannes Film Festival – Critics’ Week, France, 2025.
  • Best First French Film - Ornano-Valenti Prize, Deauville American Film Festival, France, 2025.
  • Best Director – First Feature Competition, Jakarta World Cinema Festival, Indonesia, 2025.
  • Bayard for Best Screenplay & Best First Feature, Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur (FIFF), Belgium, 2025.
  • Grand Prix & Young FIPRESCI Award, Warsaw International Film Festival, Poland, 2025.
  • Jury Grand Prize – Progressive Cinema Competition, Rome Film Fest, Italy, 2025.
  • Best Film, Piccolo Grande Cinema Festival, Italy, 2025.
  • CANAL+ Prize – Distribution of Best Film, Cinemania Festival, Canada, 2025.
  • Golden Coconut Award – Best Actor, Hainan Island International Film Festival, China, 2025.

Sink

Glocal Images

Zain Duraie

87' 
• 2025
  • Jordan • Saudi Arabia • Qatar • France

When her teenage son is suspended from school after a troubling outburst during his senior year, Nadia is determined to help him, convincing herself he just needs guidance. But as Basil’s mental state slowly unravels, she ignores the warning signs, sinking deeper into denial as disaster approaches.

Awards:

  • Ecumenical Jury Prize & Bronze Tanit for Best Feature Film, Carthage Film Festival (Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage – JCC), Tunisia, 2024.
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