International cinema, local roots: what to watch at Borderlines Film Festival 2026

In the Marches each spring, fields, market squares and cathedral towns become a hub for cinema fans as the Borderlines Film Festival returns to Herefordshire, Shropshire, Powys and Worcestershire. There are no red carpets, no Riviera backdrop and no industry market for acquisition deals. Instead, a circuit of historic theatres, arts centres and community venues transforms the region into a vibrant network of venues for local cinephiles.

Borderlines has long thrived on this specific paradox: it is a regional festival with international ambitions. It consistently brings award winners and critical favourites from Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Sundance to a local stage, all while remaining accessible and rooted in its rural community. The 2026 edition carries this tradition forward. High-profile titles, including recent BAFTA winners such as One Battle After Another, I Swear, Palestine 36 and Zootropolis 2, will be screened at cinemas across the region, alongside a compelling mix of international cinema, highlighted by Resurrection, a sci-fi art film from Chinese director Bi Gan, and No Other Choice by South Korean genre master Park Chan-wook.

The festival is organised into various themes, with the rural strand at its heart. Films about rural life have been a constant for Borderlines over the years, with international festival favourites Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling two highlights this year. These films connect directly to the festival’s identity, bringing global stories of the land and its people to an audience that lives in a similar landscape. 

As part of the comedy strand, audiences have the chance to watch Brendan Fraser’s mirthful but melancholic performance in Rental Family and also to explore the story behind the shooting of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave trailblazer Breathless (1960) in Richard Linklater’s new film Nouvelle Vague (Godard’s original film is also screening). The programmers’ picks also highlight a preview screening of Mark Jenkin’s 16mm-shot Rose of Nevada, which tells the story of the mysterious appearance of a vessel lost 30 years ago, as well as Akinola Davies Jr’s semi-autobiographical and politically charged work My Father’s Shadow, set over the course of a single day in Lagos.

As much as it focuses on the current crop of world cinema, Borderlines also emphasises the past. The repertory strand is showing restored versions of celebrated works such as John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974). For a deeper dive into film history, there’s also a screening of the 1925 ethnographic documentary Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life – co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the future masterminds behind King Kong (1933) – which beautifully connects the festival’s historical focus to its rural themes.

The festival also provides a platform for local talent through the Open Screen awards, a competition specifically for filmmakers from the region. A wide range of short films will compete for the approval of a judging panel focusing on creativity and storytelling. Directors in the running for Best Film this year include James Button, Kie Cummings, David England, Rebecca Farkas, Steven Flowers, Lewis Heriz, Ray Jacobs, Dympna Jardine, Finley Middleton, Rosie Redwood, Lewis Sayce, William Thompson and Ivan Wroe.

Borderlines gets underway on 6 March with a batch of high-profile opening screenings including Lucile Hadžihalilović’s dark fairytale The Ice Tower and Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy Bugonia. It draws to a close 15 days later with a final look at the year’s major award winners. All in all, at more than 300 screenings, it’s still the UK countryside’s most packed celebration of all things cinematic.

The Borderlines Film Festival runs from 6 to 21 March 2026.

The festival is supported by the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund.