- Selection of avant-garde short films sees awards distributed for the first live edition of the Indy Film Library Experimental Showcase
- Andreas van Riet takes Best Director for Onheilster, while otherworldly Western A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof scoops Best Cinematography
- Thought-provoking temporal documentary Home picks up Best Editing and Best Film
On September 12th 2026, Indy Film Library’s sixth Experimental Showcase has invited audiences to come to Amsterdam‘s Supermercator, to discover a world of independent art on their own doorstep. With screenings of films across the cinematic spectrum, and Q&As with the artists behind them, the event offered viewers an introduction to a series of diverse and innovative films, showing them in a whole new light.
At the end of the event, the winners of the selection were announced, crowning IFL’s best experimental films of 2026.
The list of accolades distributed saw Andreas van Riet claim Best Director for his existential narrative Onheilster. The film follows a sailor stranded on a desert island, as he quests to reclaim his memories at any cost.
One IFL judge summarised, “The voice-over and sound effects drive the narrative beautifully, complemented by the striking imagery.”
Best Editing handed to Home – which used artificially generated imagery to return to the setting of family archive footage, only to find a desolate and empty house. And the movie also scooped Best Film.
Comments from one of IFL’s judges noted, “The sequence of images in this film kept surprising me… From cinematic images in saturated colours to shots with the quality of the digital cameras of a few decades ago. Interesting rhythms also emerge from images that recur occasionally throughout the film.”
A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof meanwhile also picked up double. As well as Best Cinematography going to Zachary Peel-McGreggor, the movie – which one jurist described as a “wordless Western on wanted posters with a bounty hunter glitch”, saw Best Actor picked up by Curtis Nelson,
Closing the event, IFL Chief Editor Jack Benjamin commented, “I would like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s Experimental Showcase on their victories – and to thank all the artists and viewers for their participation. It’s a privilege to present these films to our readers, with such a determination to give our audience spaces to escape from the noise around us, and think about life’s great questions.”
-ENDS-
Indy Film Library
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