News
Updates from the underground
Announcements, milestones and honest notes as the Founding Edition takes shape.
19 October 2026
The Nominees of the Founding Edition
The jury has chosen its nominees: forty films from twenty-four countries, chosen from the seventy-five films of the Official Selection.
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17 October 2026
The Nominees Are Announced on Monday 19 October
The jury of the Founding Edition is still in session. Rather than close the list tonight, we are giving the jury the weekend. The nominees are announced here on Monday 19 October.
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6 October 2026
75 Films from 31 Countries, Watched in 43
The online screening of the BIUFF Founding Edition ended on Monday 5 October. The award nominees are announced on 17 October, and the winners are presented at the awards gala.
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29 September 2026
Encore Week: Seven More Nights
The online screening of the Founding Edition continues until Monday 5 October: the same seventy-five films, the same prices, and the Audience Award vote open until the last night.
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25 September 2026
Day Five: Underground Cinema in 39 Countries
Five days in, films made without permission, without budget and without a filter are being watched in thirty-nine countries on five continents.
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21 September 2026
The Founding Edition Is Open
Seventy-five films from thirty-one countries are streaming now. A year ago this festival was an idea; today it has a screen of its own.
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20 September 2026
Opens Tomorrow: 75 Films, From Anywhere
At midnight Berlin time the Founding Edition goes online — seventy-five films from thirty-one countries, on any device, at any hour.
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14 September 2026
One Ticket, One Vote: How the Audience Awards Work
Six Audience Awards, decided only by the people who watch. Every ticket carries one vote — and you can move it until the screening closes.
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8 September 2026
Tickets Are Open: 75 Films, Eight Nights, Anywhere
The Founding Edition streams worldwide from 21 to 28 September. One film for €4.99, a strand from €15, or the whole programme for €39 — and every ticket comes with an Audience Award vote.
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8 September 2026
Every Film Now Has Its Own Page
The programme is open to browse: a page for each of the seventy-five films with synopsis, stills, trailer, the filmmaker's portrait and statement — and a ticket button.
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8 September 2026
Two Sets of Awards That Never Touch
How the Founding Edition is judged: six Audience Awards counted from tickets, and the jury honours — including the 4U Grand Trophy and a new LGBTQ+ Award — decided by the jury alone.
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10 August 2026
Official Selection Is Here
75 films, selected from more than 600 submissions across dozens of countries — the Official Selection for BIUFF's Founding Edition is now live.
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20 July 2026
The Shape of the Berlin Experience
600+ films, dozens of countries — the final First Edition list is announced August 10.
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4 June 2026
A New Chapter, A New Channel
FilmFreeway is behind us. What comes next runs through BIUFF itself.
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27 May 2026
The Selection Continues
To every filmmaker who sent us a film and heard nothing back — you were not forgotten.
Read →20 May 2026
Building What Comes Next
The inaugural edition of BIUFF is being rebuilt from the ground up. Here is where we stand — and where we're going.
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