Looking back at Leiden Essay Film Festival 2026

The festival opened at Museum De Lakenhal on Saturday 19 September with Kevin B. Lee's lecture Seeing Without Seeing: The Essay Film in the Age of the Invisual. Drawing on the invisual, a concept developed by media theorist Jussi Parikka, Lee examined the increasingly significant role of technologies in the production, processing, circulation and perception of images. He considered what this means for the essay film and whether established methods of visual analysis are still adequate to investigate a world increasingly shaped by processes beyond what images can show. The lecture was accompanied by screenings of recent film essays by Fırat Yücel and Ariane Papillon.

At Cinema Kijkhuis, the programme continued the following three days with 44 films organised around a range of themes. Highlights included three recent works by the festival's main guest, Sara Rajaei; a selection of essay films examining Beirut across different periods of its turbulent history; a screening of the silent film Häxan with live musical accompaniment; and the collective anti-war film Far from Vietnam (1967), which proved no less affecting for a new generation of viewers. The festival concluded with a performance lecture by Rabih Mroué. The New Perspectives programme, featuring work by emerging filmmakers, drew the largest audiences.

Welcoming some 1,350 visitors, this year's edition of leff placed particular emphasis on the exchanges surrounding the screenings. Conversations between filmmakers, researchers, critics and audiences brought questions of artistic method, political engagement and the possibilities of moving-image practice into the cinema itself. The presence of many of the participating artists and filmmakers allowed for discussions that extended well beyond the films themselves.