International Competition: Feature Films
The International Competition is the backbone of the festival programme. As every year, we present about twelve brand new productions from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe that stand out for their innovation and capability to touch the audience. No style or genre is favoured. Nor is the fact that it is or isn’t a director’s first film. The only criterion is the quality of the work.
The films are given four screenings. Usually, filmmakers will travel to Fribourg to defend their films in person and compete for the Regard d’or and other awards endowed with prizes for a total amount of CHF 70,000.–.
The Call for entries for FIFF 2026 is now open:
The winners perpetuate the impressive list of personalities who have made up the list of recipients of the FIFF award over the past three decades: Gaston Kaboré, Souleymane Cissé, Shaji N. Karun, Ömer Kavur, Raoul Peck, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Fernando Pérez, Abderrahmane Sissako, Stanley Kwan, Pablo Trapero, Edward Yang, Jia Zhang-ke, Carlos Sorín, Bahman Ghobadi, Ernest Abdyjaparov, Lav Diaz, Eric Khoo, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Lee Chang-dong, Júlia Murat, Wang Bing, Lee Su-jin, Christian Díaz Pardo, Yaelle Kayam, Boo Junfeng, Valentyn Vasyanovych, Alejandra Márquez Abella, Amjad Abu Alala, Philippe Lacote, Maryna Er Gorbach, Chie Hayakawa, Chen Yanqi, and for sure, Guan Hu, winner of the 2025 Grand Prix for Black Dog!
International Competition: Short Films
Designed to support the next big names and offering spectators a new wave of talent, the three short film programmes (fiction, documentary and animation) presented at FIFF are the perfect opportunity to discover new cinematic movements straight out of Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
The Call for entries for FIFF 2026 is now open:
The best short film will be awarded with a prize of CHF 4,000.– and join the ranks of past FIFF winners such as Manuel Abramovich (La Reina, 2014), Tofigh Amani (Ants Apartment, 2015), Juliana Gómez (Iceberg, 2016), Raed Rafei (Salam, 2017), E del Mundo (Man of Pa'aling, 2017), Payal Kapadia (And What is the Summer Saying, 2018), Yang Ming (Monsters never know, FIFF 2021), Nina Kopko (Lunch Break, FIFF 2022), Alireza Kazemipour (Split Ends, FIFF 2023), Marjan Khosravi (Mrs. Iran's Husband, FIFF 2024) and Sahar Sotoodeh (Bitter Chocolate, FIFF 2025) in the FIFF awards.
For the sixth consecutive year, a Jury made up of film students from the CH Cinema Network will be awarding an additional prize of CHF 3,000.– as well.
