UK director Joshua Loftin has won the €30,000 Eurimages outreach award for his docu-fiction feature LFD Hope, in the Darkroom strand of the industry programme of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
LFD Hope is described as a poetic, magical realist project about characters living on the margins in London. Produced by UK-Hungarian company Gallivant Films, the project is close to picture lock. Further production partners are the UK’s Sea Fox Films and Lorenz Film, with a second UK-Hungarian company, Good Kids Productions.
The prize was among the most lucrative of the many IFFR 2026 Pro Awards given out on Wednesday evening as the IFFR Pro Industry Days came to an end.
The winners were selected from the 21 projects for the 43rd edition of CineMart, alongside 10 projects for the work-in-progress platform Darkroom, nine immersive media projects under IFFR’s new industry platform for immersive storytelling Lightroom, and the four projects from Safe Harbour.
Filipino director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Daughters Of The Sea was awarded the €20,000 Eurimages innovation award for CineMart & Lightroom projects in development. Produced by Monster Jimenez of Manila-based Arkeofilms with local producer Rajiv Idnani, the film features three interlinked stories, all connected by water.
Senegalese director Mamadou Dia’s Coumba, produced by Eugenie Michel Villette of Senegal’s Maayo Films with France’s Les Films Du Bilboquet,
won the HBF x PUBLIKUM audience outreach award for a Hubert Bals Fund-supported film project in development that demonstrates strong potential to engage a clearly defined or underserved audience. The mystery drama is about an inspector returning to his hometown to investigate a murder without a body.
Among many other prizes, the €6,000 ArteKinoaward for the producer of a standout project to support its development was picked up by Belgium’s Tarantula outfit, which is producing The Poet’s Son by first-time fiction director Nicolas Graux from Belgium. The drama is about a young Russian man who narrowly avoids conscription and who has a difficult relationship with his father, a poet worn down by regret.
Marten Rabarts, head of IFFR Pro, was in an upbeat mood as the Industry Days reached its finish, hailing “another powerful edition…that has sparked connections, unlocked new partnerships and propelled projects closer to a life on the screen and beyond”.
“The breadth and evolution of this year’s programme was a true reflection of our commitment to meeting filmmakers’ shifting needs,” Rabarts added.
IFFR Pro winners
Chemin Des Bâtards by Leon Rogissart (Belgium-Netherlands)
DR Studios award for best immersive project in development:
Cléo by Coco Chen (Taiwan)
4DR Studios award for best immersive work-in-progress project in Lightroom
The Poet’s Son by Nicolas Graux (Belgium-France- Germany)
ArteKino International Award:
Daughters Of The Sea by Martika Ramirez Escobar (Philippines, Spain)
Eurimages New Lab Awards: Innovation Award:
LFD Hope by Joshua Loftin (UK, Hungary)
Outreach Award
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs by Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi (Peru-US-Spain-Chile)
Filmmore Work-in-progress Post-production award
Pale Faces by Chantel Clark (Netherlands-South Africa)
Filmmore Post-Production award
Marina by Laís Santos Araújo and Pethrus Tibúrcio (Brazil)
HBF Empowerment award
Coumba by Mamadou Dia (Senegal-France)
HBF x PUBLIKUM audience outreach award
Hidden Journey by Noura Adil (Sudan)
New Impulse award
Neon Phantom by Leonardo Martinelli (Brazil)
VIPO award
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