«The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) and the University of Fribourg are pleased
to announce the launch of the Fribourg Cinema Award, which they will jointly confer on a
figure who has made an outstanding contribution to the world of film. The inaugural winner is Kaouther Ben Hania, director of the heartrending Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab . As part of this award, the Tunisian filmmaker will screen a selection of her favourite films at the 40th edition of FIFF (20th–29th March 2026) and, in a first for the festival world, will receive an honorary degree. The full programme will be available on 4th March at fiff.ch.

Year on year, the relationship between FIFF and the University of Fribourg grows stronger. For the 40th edition of the Festival, the two institutions have launched an ambitious project that brings together culture, knowledge, art, research, emotions and critical thinking. The result is the Fribourg Cinema Award, which recognises the outstanding contribution of a figure from the world of cinema to the international arts scene and acknowledges the role of cinema as an instrument for fostering intercultural dialogue and championing human rights. According to Katharina Fromm, Rector of the University of Fribourg, it is a partnership that makes sense, der Alumni-Vereinigung IUS Frilex und der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Freiburg unterstützt. «Science and art have several things in common: creativity, experimentation and groundwork, whether in the laboratory or studio, followed by the presentation of the results to the general public and their exposure to external critical analysis. FIFF and the University of Fribourg are therefore natural partners. We felt that creating a joint award that recognises outstanding artistic achievement would be a wonderful way to bring attention to our shared process.» The Fribourg Cinema Award is different from the lifetime achievement awards conferred by other international festivals in that the winner also receives an honorary degree in recognition of their outstanding artistic contribution. The first recipient of this unique award is Kaouther Ben Hania. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a singular ability to tell stories of human struggle and tragedy with an incredible mastery of the language of cinema while never wavering in her commitment to tolerance, social cohesion, human rights and the collective memory.

Unanimous decision 
The Tunisian director was chosen unanimously by a cross-disciplinary jury comprising the FIFF artistic team, Katharina Fromm, and representatives from a number of University of Fribourg faculties: Gregor Emmenegger (Faculty of Theology), Mark Drenhaus (Human Centred Interaction Science and Technology), and Emmanuel Alloa and Muriel Surdez (Faculty of Arts and Humanities).
«It was important to us that this award recognises a person whose career is still flourishing rather than nearing or at its end, Thierry Jobin, artistic director of FIFF explains. Kaouther Ben Hania is one of the most inspired and inspiring figures in contemporary Tunisian and international cinema.» Her latest work The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) is nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars, the third time the director has been in the running for an Academy Award. The film, which will be screened as part of this year's FIFF favourites section, is a continuation of Ben Hania's quest to address divisive issues and subjects through a hybrid approach which blends documentary and fiction and pushes the boundaries that are usually applied to conceptions of ethics and conscience. 

Carte blanche for Kaouther Ben Hania
FIFF and Kaouther Ben Hania have a long history. In 2018, the filmmaker was a member of the International Jury while her films have regularly appeared in the Festival's Official Selection over the last decade. At the 40th edition of FIFF, she will present five of her favourite films as part of the Fribourg Cinema Award section. Like her own filmmaking practice, Ben Hania's choices are notable for their organic shift between the fictionalised and the factual. A particularly good example is Close-Up (1990) by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, which has become one of the most important films in the canon of contemporary cinema. It centres on the reenactment of a real trial in which the accused plays himself.

At midday on Friday 27th March, a conversation with Kaouther Ben Hania will be held at the University of Fribourg. The Fribourg Cinema Award winner will receive her honorary degree at the FIFF closing ceremony, which will take place on Saturday 28th March at the Théâtre Équilibre.

This award, which will raise the international visibility of Fribourg, is supported by the Citizens' Commune of the City of Fribourg (La Bourgeoisie de la Ville de Fribourg), the IUS Frilex Alumni Association and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Fribourg, the IUS Frilex Alumni Association and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Fribourg.