Awards of Final Cut in Venice 2026

For the tenth year, La Biennale di Venezia gives La Biennale di Venezia Prize (€ 10,000) to support the Best Film in post-production.

The jury, composed of Tareq Al-Ibrahim (MBC), Mariette Rissenbeek, and Tamara Tatishvili (IFFR – Hubert Bals Fund) has awarded the film in post-production:

MADI MAKAMBU by Machérie Ekwa Bahango (Congo Dr, France, Belgium)

“The award goes to a project that invites us to follow a genuine and electrifying young female protagonist trying to navigate violence and social injustice that is her unchosen reality. By a strong and ambitious choice of mixing genres, this film offers unexpected twist and empowers voices of others. This project is a promising proposal and we feel that this award will further support finding missing finance & strengthen artistic voices emerging from Africa”.

The supporters’ jury of the 14th edition of Final Cut in Venice has decided to give their awards to the following films in post-production:

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS (AL IHTILAL WA AL HAL) by Bassel Ghandour (Jordan, Qatar, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Palestine) has been supported by:

- Studio A Fabrica (Ajaccio) is offering € 15,000 for the sound mixing of a feature length film (up to 12 days of work, sound mixer not included).

- Sub-Ti Ltd (London) is offering up to € 7,500 for the creation of the DCP master with Italian or English subtitles.

- Sub-Ti Access Srl (Turin) is offering up to € 7,500 for the accessible contents of the film for audiences with sensory disabilities: subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired and audio description for the blind and visually impaired, including audio subtitles in voiceover, in Italian or English (the subtitles and the audio-described soundtrack for the DCP will be provided).

- Rai Cinema is offering € 5,000 for a first negotiation right for the acquisition of Free TV exploitation rights in the Italian territory and obligation to mention “in collaboration with Rai Cinema S.p.a.” in the credits of the work.

- M74 srl (Rome) is offering up to € 10,000 for digital visual effects “2D Comp”.

MADI MAKAMBU by Machérie Ekwa Bahango (Congo Dr, France, Belgium) has been supported by:

- Oticons is offering tailored film music services to one of the films, in the form of either music consulting, and/or music supervision and/or the production of an original score by one of our represented film composers. These services, valued at up to €10,000, will encompass all relevant processes, such as spotting sessions, composition, mock-ups and final production (for original score), or expert support in music licensing and supervision (if applicable).

- MAD Solutions is offering for a feature-length fiction film, a MG of minimum $10,000, or for a feature-length documentary film, a MG of minimum $3,000 in marketing, advertising, and distribution worldwide, for an Arabic project (with the exception of projects already under MAD Solutions’ responsibility).

- Mnemonica is providing full access to its secure cloud-based platform to manage, preserve, share and distributing the digital assets of the winning film, to a value of € 10,000.

- Red Sea Fund (Red Sea Film Foundation) is offering € 5,000.

PLAGUE (BALAA) by Youssef Chebbi (Tunisia, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia) has been supported by:

- Laser Film (Rome) is offering € 15,000 for the colour correction of a feature-length film for up to 50 hours of work (technician included).

- The Festival International du Film d’Amiens is offering its participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500).

A QUARTER TO THURSDAY (JEUDI MOINS LE QUART) by Sofia Djama (France, Belgium, Algeria) has been supported by:

- Titra Film (Paris) is offering up to € 5,000 for colour-grading; up to € 3,000 for the production of a DCP master, or the creation of i-Tunes, Google or Netflix files; up to € 2,000 for French or English subtitles (translation not included).

- El Gouna Film Festival is awarding $ 5,000 to an Arab project offered and an invitation to participate in the industry platform CineGouna.

MEHAL SEFARI by Abraham Gezahagne (Ethiopia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia) has been supported by:

- Cinémathèque Afrique of the Institut français (Paris) awards the “Coup de cœur de la Cinémathèque Afrique” Prize. The prize consists in the acquisition of the non-commercial and non-exclusive broadcasting rights for 5 years for a value of € 4,000 – € 6,000 depending on the genre and length of the film and the number of available territories.

- The Festival International du Film de Fribourg is offering its participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500).

ELDORADO, THE TASTE OF THE SOUTH (ELDORADO, LE GOÛT DU SUD) by Alaa Eddine Aljem (Morocco, France, Italy, Norway) has been supported by:

- Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) is offering € 5,000 as a refund for post-production services – delivered by companies based in one of the countries eligible to the OIF Supporting Fund (Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, and Tunisia) – of a feature-length film directed by a filmmaker from one of the OIF Supporting Fund countries and produced or co-produced by a company based in one of the OIF Supporting Fund countries.