22 October – 1 November 2026 | Cambridge Arts Picturehouse and venues across Cambridge | Programme and tickets available from 30 September at www.camfilmfest.com
Cambridge, UK – The Cambridge Film Festival (CFF) will return from 22 October to 1 November 2026 for its 45th edition, bringing 11 days of international cinema, British filmmaking, documentaries, premieres, restored classics and family titles to venues across Cambridge.
The festival forms the centrepiece of CFF’s year-long Sapphire anniversary, marking 45 years since the first Cambridge Film Festival was held in 1977. What began with a small number of screenings at the former Arts Cinema in Market Passage has developed into one of the UK’s longest-running film festivals, with BAFTA and BIFA qualifying status.
CFF45 will feature almost 100 films from more than 25 countries, including scores of UK premieres as well as European and world debuts. More than half of the programme is directed by women and will carry the festival’s signature F-Rating.
The first programme announcement brings together Cannes prize-winners, films from established directors, British productions and titles aimed at younger audiences and families.
Cannes Winners and Major New Films
Among the headline titles is Fjord, the latest film from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2026. Starring Cristian Mungiu, Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, the drama follows a Romanian-Norwegian family who move to a remote fjord community, where disagreements over their approach to parenting create tensions with their new neighbours.
Mungiu, a two-time Palme d’Or winner, explores questions surrounding family, community and differing ideas of care.
Cannes recognition also comes to La bola negra, directed by Spanish filmmakers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who shared the festival’s Best Director prize. The film weaves together three stories set in different periods, connected by themes of sexuality, desire, pain and inheritance. It draws on an unfinished work by Federico García Lorca and stars Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close and musician Guitarricadelafuente, making his acting debut.
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi presents All of a Sudden, starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, who jointly received Cannes’ Best Actress award. Set between France and Japan, the film centres on an unexpected friendship between two theatre and care-home directors as they face serious illness.
Another Cannes prize-winner, The Dreamed Adventure from Valeska Grisebach, received the Jury Prize in the main Competition. Set in the Bulgarian border town of Svilengrad, the film follows archaeologist Veska after an attempt to help an old acquaintance whose car has been stolen leads her into the criminal networks operating beneath the town.
British cinema is represented by I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, directed by Clio Barnard and adapted by Enda Walsh from Keiran Goddard’s novel. The film follows five childhood friends from the same Birmingham estate as they approach 30 and confront the gap between the futures they once imagined and the lives they now lead.
The film won the People’s Choice Award at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and stars Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack and Lola Petticrew.
I Love Boosters, the second feature from Boots Riley, takes a different approach, following a group of professional shoplifters targeting a powerful fashion figure. The ensemble cast includes Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter and Demi Moore. The film opened the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Wild Horse Nine, the latest feature from Martin McDonagh, is set in Chile and Easter Island shortly before the 1973 coup. The film features John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey and has been selected for the Competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where it is due to screen in September.
CFF45 will also present The Debut, the third feature written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. The film stars Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey and Bernadette Peters and follows a shy woman who is unexpectedly cast in a local production of an original musical.
Under the influence of the production’s strong-willed director, she becomes increasingly immersed in the role and the theatre company surrounding it.
The Debut is scheduled to receive its UK premiere as the Closing Night Gala of the 70th BFI London Film Festival on 18 October, before its Cambridge screening.
Cambridge Family Film Festival Brings Together Three Generations
The Cambridge Family Film Festival will return with a programme combining contemporary cinema with established family favourites.
Jon M Chu’s Wicked, adapted from the stage musical, stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey and Michelle Yeoh. The film received 10 Academy Award nominations and won two, for costume design and production design.
It will screen alongside two anniversary titles: Beauty and the Beast, marking 35 years since Disney’s landmark 1991 animated film, and Little Women, Gillian Armstrong’s acclaimed 1994 adaptation starring Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale, Kirsten Dunst and Claire Danes.
Beauty and the Beast was the first fully animated film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Little Women received three Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Ryder.
The three films form a completely free family programme, spanning musical fantasy, animation and literary adaptation.
Rip It Up: Out Loud Focuses on Youth and Resistance
CFF45 will also participate in Rip It Up, the BFI Film Audience Network’s UK-wide 2026 season examining youth rebellion, culture and self-expression in cinema over the past 75 years. The initiative is supported by the BFI through National Lottery funding.
Cambridge’s contribution, Rip It Up: Out Loud, brings together films exploring youth, identity, community and resistance.
The strand includes Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham, the popular 2002 coming-of-age comedy starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley, as well as Sarah Gavron’s Rocks, which follows a teenager attempting to care for herself and her younger brother after their mother disappears.
Also included is 24 Hour Party People, Michael Winterbottom’s film about Manchester’s music scene and the rise of Factory Records.
Together, the films revisit works that have become part of the cultural landscape while examining how cinema has portrayed young people, their communities and their ambitions.
International Cinema Takes Centre Stage
The festival’s international programme will feature filmmakers working across a range of cinematic traditions and regions.
Elephants in the Fog, the feature debut of Nepalese director Abinash Bikram Shah, follows Pirati, the matriarch of a Kinnar community in a forest-surrounded Nepalese village.
When one of her daughters disappears, Pirati is forced to weigh her desire to leave against her responsibilities to the community. The film won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2026.
The documentary American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng, follows three American doctors travelling to Gaza to provide medical care. The film documents their work in hospitals while also examining the wider political pressures surrounding their mission.
American Doctor premiered in the US Documentary Competition at Sundance and subsequently won the Hot Docs Audience Award.
Cambridge Film Festival Marks 45 Years of Film Discovery
CFF45 will continue the festival’s focus on bringing audiences together with films from different countries, genres and generations, alongside filmmaker Q&As, special events and opportunities for emerging talent.
The 45th anniversary celebrations have already included screenings, community activities and events across Cambridge, with the programme culminating in the 11-day festival from 22 October to 1 November.
Owen Baker of the Cambridge Film Festival said:
“Forty-five years is a huge milestone! We wanted to celebrate by doing what Cambridge Film Festival has always done best: bringing extraordinary films, filmmakers and audiences together and giving people something they won’t find anywhere else.
“This year’s programme has real range and ambition. We’ve got Palme d’Or and Cannes prize-winners alongside bold new British films, major international voices, brilliant documentaries and films that have already made an impact around the world. There’s something for people who want to discover their next favourite film, and for those who simply want to come to the cinema and have a great time.
“That feels like the right way to celebrate 45 years. We’re proud of our history, but we’re also interested in where cinema is going next. CFF45 is about taking that journey with our audiences; 11 days, films from around the world, new voices, familiar faces and plenty to discuss afterwards. We can’t wait to open the doors.”