Work in Progress - New FFDD26 motif

A warm welcome to the new year 2026 – and to the 38th edition of our festival.

Another challenging year is on the horizon: spaces for art and culture are increasingly under threat, funding continues to be cut, and creators are working under conditions that are often barely sustainable. After last year’s broad focus on “Let's stick together!”, it is now time to put the dominant reality of work in the spotlight.

With the festival theme for 2026, “Work in Progress”, we focus on work as an open condition. Not as a fixed model, but as something constantly shifting—economically, socially, aesthetically. Film acts as a seismograph—for changes, for frictions, for those aspects that have not yet found a language.

At the center are workplaces in transition. Stories of precarious conditions, adaptation and resistance, routines and ruptures. But also of possibilities: new images, alternative perspectives, and attempts to rethink systems. The festival serves as a space where these processes become visible—without easy answers, but with attention to nuance.

The festival is visually accompanied by a new artwork from Keiko Hoshino. Like a blueprint for a possible alternative order, the piece points to a world of work in the making—open, fragile, and changeable.

Mark your calendars: 14 to 19 April 2026!
During the festival week, you can experience films, discussions and impulses that explore current realities of work and open new perspectives.

In the coming weeks, we will gradually reveal more details about the programme. We look forward to seeing you in April and continuing this Work in Progress together.