Grand Jury Fiction

Eight fiction films will be selected from the festival’s full film programme. These are films where cinematography and content go hand in hand. An international jury will declare the winner of €5,000.

Winner 2026: Aisha Can’t Fly Away

Jury report: ”The film we chose surpassed our expectations on all levels of craft and storytelling execution. This directorial debut reveals a world rarely seen or explored through a unique vision that draws one into from beginning to end. We were completely taken by the film’s protagonist, whose acting debut gave us insights into strength and resilience through hardship and suffering, often with silence that speak louder than words. This film combines multiple layers of meaning that address an under-represented aspect of the female condition, faith, justice, morality, ethics and a pure will to survive that affects millions.”

A special mention was awarded to Lost Land by Akio Fujimoto, the first feature film ever shot in the Rohingya language.

Jolein Laarman

Jolein Laarman worked as a producer and production designer before turning to screenwriting. She has since written numerous scripts for film and television. The films she has worked on have been selected for international film festivals and have received many international awards. Alongside her writing, Laarman works as a script coach at the Netherlands Film Academy, participates in national and international script labs, and works as a script consultant. Credits include Tussenstand (Stages), Broos (Brittle), Brozer (Frailer), Katia’s Sister, Among Us, Yulia and Juliet, Kauwboy (Little Bird), Disappearance, Drama Girl, Along the Way, and Do Not Hesitate. She is currently developing several projects, including a costume drama exploring the restrictive corset of social expectations imposed on women, and a feature film about the takeover and fall of Kabul in 2021.

Khalid Shamis

Khalid Shamis is a documentary director, producer and editor with a film-making practice over 20 years. Khalid’s practice is strongly dedicated to the pedagogy of independent filmmaking and story construction in Africa, teaching and consulting in and outside film institutions and organised frameworks. Khalid is on the executive board of the South African Guild of Editors, a doctoral fellow at the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape and is founder and director of Rough Cut Lab Africa RCLA, a support programme for independent African films at the rough cut stage.

Mandy Chang

Mandy Chang is a successful filmmaker, Producer, Curator & Story Consultant. She won awards for her own films like The Mona Lisa Curse, (Emmy, Grierson, Rose D’Or & Banff Grand Jury Prize). As head of global documentary strand BBC Storyville, Mandy commissioned and co-produced over a hundred acclaimed documentary features and series, the last being One in a Million, which premiered at Sundance2026. She was Global Head of Documentaries at Fremantle, founding a label that delivered films like Devo, It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley and Two Strangers: Trying not to Kill Eachother. Her work has premiered at Sundance for the past 8 years. Mandy works independently and runs Undeniable Productions, creating a diverse slate of feature docs. She sits on many juries and boards and is a seasoned speaker on documentary issues.