EFM 2026: The buzz titles from Europe

1949

Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Pawlikowski’s first feature since 2018’s Oscar-nominated Cold War returns to that same period. Set at the height of the US-Soviet conflict, the story centres on the relationship between writer Thomas Mann and his actress, journalist and rally driver daughter Erika, on a road trip across a Germany in ruins. Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller lead the cast. A strong slate of producers includes Mubi, Our Films’ Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli, Extreme Emotions’ Ewa Puszczynska and Nine Hours’ Edward Berger. Mubi will distribute in key territories under its agreement with Our Films.
Contact: The Match Factory

Balandrau: Where The Fierce Wind Blew

Dir. Fernando Trullols
Filmax is giving a market premiere to this Spanish survival drama, billed as a story about friendship, love and endurance against overwhelming natural forces. It is based on a true story from December 2000, when a group of friends set out under clear skies to climb Mount Balandrau in the Pyrenees, before being caught in the most violent storm ever recorded in the region. The feature is produced by Lastor Media and Vilaüt Films, two of the outfits behind 2022 Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, along with Goroka. The cast includes Alvaro Cervantes, Bruna Cusi and Marc Martinez.
Contact: Filmax International

Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me

Dir. Asmae El Moudir
Moroccan filmmaker El Moudir won the directing prize in Cannes 2023’s Un Certain Regard for her feature documentary The Mother Of All Lies, notable for its use of handcrafted models and puppets to recreate the director’s childhood. Vienna-based doc specialists Autlook is selling her next feature, Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me, which will be part of the rough-cut selection at CPH:DOX and is expected to be ready for a summer festival. Produced through France’s Haut et Court Doc and Ström Pictures, it is a poetic documentary about a community living with a rare disorder that makes it dangerous for them to be exposed to the sun.
Contact: Autlook Filmsales

Escape Net

Dir. Dzintars Dreibergs
Latvian filmmaker Dreibergs’ second feature has been a big hit in his home country, where it has surpassed 130,000 admissions. The story traces the rise of TTT Riga, the legendary women’s basketball club that became the most dominant team in Europe during the Soviet era. Set in Stalinist Latvia, the film follows a young woman who sees basketball as her only path to freedom and reuniting with her refugee brother, until the chance to escape forces her to make a far more painful choice. Produced by Dreibergs’ Riga-based Kultfilma, the film stars Agnese Budovska, Arturs Skrastins and Artur Smolyaninov.
Contact: Begin Again Films

Fish

Dir. Carlo Hintermann
Italian sales agent Minerva Pictures is showing a teaser for this genre-­bending drama set in a dreamlike Venice. Tim Roth stars as a brilliant but reclusive art historian who is undergoing a mysterious transformation: he is turning slowly into a fish. As the professor’s secret unravels, his students (including Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer) begin to perceive their own identities through new lenses. Italy’s Indiana Production and Citrullo International produce, in co-production with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Amour Fou Luxembourg. Italian Swiss director Hintermann’s debut feature The Book Of Vision opened Venice Critics’ Week in 2020.
Contact: Minerva Pictures

Frost Without Snow And Ice

Dir. Asgeir Helgestad
Norwegian archipelago Svalbard is the fastest-warming place on Earth and the setting for this documentary about Frost, a polar bear struggling to raise her cubs in the rapidly changing environment. It was filmed over 10 years by director Helgestad, and follows previous nature films A Call From The Wild and Queen Without Land. Producer Ageliki Lefkaditou of Artic Light also works as a curator at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo.
Contact: DR Sales  

Guardian Rabbits: Secret Of The Golden Eggs

Dir. Ute von Münchow-Pohl
Berlin-based Akkord Film, set up by Dirk Beinhold in 2001, has had ample success with its rabbit projects, including 2017’s Rabbit School — Guardians Of The Golden Egg, adapted from the classic 1924 children’s book by Fritz Koch-Gotha and Albert Sixtus, and the Rabbit Academy series. The company is burrowing back into similar territory with Guardian Rabbits, and Leonine Studios plans a major Easter 2027 release in Germany. The story follows Emmy, recently chosen as the new guardian of the Golden Egg — the magical source of Easter. Troubles mount when badgers take the sacred egg, hoping it will save their ancient tree from dying.
Contact: Sola Media

Keep Her Quiet

Dirs. Franz Böhm, Suli Kurban
Holy Spider star Zar Amir leads a strong international cast alongside Jonathan Pryce and Amir El-Masry in this political thriller about a Washington DC journalist’s investigation into disappearances in China. The film is inspired by real reports and survivor accounts of the Xinjiang ‘re-education’ programme. It also holds personal relevance for co-director Kurban, who fled political persecution in Xinjiang with her family in 1999. UK-based German film­maker Böhm won the 2025 Bafta for best British short for Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Contact: Beta Cinema

Killer Cut

Dir. Stiff Sullivan
This Spanish thriller follows seven young friends on a road trip that spirals into terror as one of the group, an online influencer, records everything for his followers. What starts as throwaway content turns into chilling evidence in a murder trial. The cast is led by Pedro Casablanc, Eva Llorach and Miguel Iriarte, and director Sullivan is a social media figure dubbed the ‘king of horror’ on TikTok. The film is produced by Bowfinger International Pictures and Esto Tambien Pasara — which were both behind 2024 Spanish box-office hit Undercover — and Studio 33.
Contact: Film Factory Entertainment 

Last Call

Dir. Sherif Francis
Real-time hostage thriller Last Call was first presented in Thessaloniki’s Agora works-in-progress section last autumn, where it was picked up by Picture Tree International — and the German sales agent will screen the film for the first time here at EFM. Produced by Dionyssis Samiotis for Tanweer Productions, Last Call is set in Athens on New Year’s Eve 1999 where, as the minutes tick down to the new millennium, a desperate fugitive takes a family hostage and demands to appear on live TV. The ensemble cast is led by Orfeas Avgoustidis, Maria Nafpliotou, Yorgos Benos and Dimitris Lalos. Tanweer is releasing the film in Greece and Cyprus next month.
Contact: Picture Tree International 

Let Love In

Dir. Felix van Groeningen
For his follow-up to Cannes 2022 jury prize winner The Eight Mountains, van Groeningen stays close to home with the story of a couple going through a crisis but trying to stay together. It is inspired by the director’s real-life relationship with actress Charlotte Vandermeersch, who stars alongside The Eight Mountains co-lead Luca Marinelli. Hans Everaert’s Belgian outfit Menuetto produces with Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli’s Our Films and van Groeningen’s Rufus.
Contact: The Match Factory

Mariinka

Dir. Pieter-Jan De Pue
Most films depicting the Russia-Ukraine war have been told by Ukrainians, but now Belgian filmmaker De Pue brings an outsider’s perspective. He has been exploring the conflict since long before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 and, in Mariinka, he follows several young Ukrainians whose lives have been shaped by more than a decade of war in the Donbas region. Filmed in 16mm, the documentary will have its world premiere opening CPH:DOX in Denmark next month.
Contact: Films Boutique

My Fairytale Life

Dir. Nikolaj Arcel
After telling the story of Danish explorer Ludvig Kahlen in the country’s 2024 Oscar entry The Promised Land, Arcel takes on an even more famous son of Denmark: author Hans Christian Andersen. The film will show the writer as a socially awkward nobody who moves to Copenhagen with dreams of joining the city’s cultural elite and becoming a famous artist — but not a writer of children’s fairy tales. Arcel reteams on the script with The Promised Land co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen, with casting underway and production pencilled in for late 2026. Louise Vesth and Tine Mikkelsen produce for Zentropa.
Contact: TrustNordisk 

Nothing Between Us

Dir. Juan Taratuto
Set between Mexico City and Buenos Aires, this drama stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Natalia Oreiro as married strangers whose chance encounter on a business trip spirals into a passionate affair, forcing them to reassess their lives and relationships. Argentinian director Taratuto — who is known for blending humour with emotional realism — is fresh off the success of Netflix’s hit Mexican crime comedy Non Negotiable, which entered the streamer’s top 10 movie chart in 2024. Cimarron, Concreto Films and Particular Crowd produce.
Contact: Latido Films

Skip

Dir. Toby Genkel
Leading Germany-born animator Genkel, whose credits include hit Terry Pratchett adaptation The Amazing Maurice, is in development on Skip, an animated heist adventure about fast-talking bunny Skip and his best pal, Fred the cockroach. They work for Waltzer, an exploitative white rat, but fight back against his bullying. The film is produced by Ulysses Filmproduktion’s Sonja Matthes and Emely Christians, and the animation is handled by Germany’s Studio Rakete. The project is being introduced by Epsilon to buyers here at the market.
Contact: Epsilon Film  

Queen Of The Falls

Dirs. Rania Attieh, Daniel A Garcia
Pamela Anderson and Guy Pearce star as a roadkill cleaner and a fugitive on the run together, speeding towards Niagara Falls in this music-driven road-movie romance. Production is scheduled for Q4 this year. Attieh and Garcia’s 2014 feature H. played Venice, Sundance and Berlin, and they reunite here with producer Shruti Ganguly, joined by Nomadland producer Mollye Asher and co-producers including Agustin Almodovar of El Deseo.
Contact: Global Constellation

The Unicorn That Said No

Dir. Marc-Uwe Kling
German producer X Filme Creative Pool, whose credits include classics Good Bye Lenin! and Run Lola Run, is behind this animated feature based on the director’s own bestselling children’s book. X Filme is working with Studio Soi on the project, in co-production with Warner Bros. The story is set in the saccharine Land of Dreams, where even the clouds are made of candy floss. One unicorn is fed up with the perfect, sickly-sweet life that everybody leads, and rebels against the forced happiness. Warner Bros is expected to release the film, currently in production, towards the end of the year. The Playmaker Munich begins sales in earnest here at EFM.
Contact: The Playmaker Munich  

• EFM 2026: 20 buzz titles from the UK