Amsterdam’s Paff festival will close its tenth edition with Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid. The film is part of an international programme bringing together auteur films from the new cultural season.
Club Kid is scheduled as Paff 2026’s closing film. The festival names Jordan Firstman as its writer, director and lead actor. The film previously had its world premiere in Cannes, where it was included in the Un Certain Regard section and nominated for the Caméra d’Or and the Queer Palm.
Paff opens with Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, the winner of the Palme d’Or. The programme thus places two very different films at the beginning and end of the festival. Between those films are productions by, among others, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Pedro Almodóvar, Lukas Dhont, Pawel Pawlikowski and Rudolf van den Berg.
The festival focuses on auteur films: productions in which the director’s hand is clearly recognisable. The programme includes both new international films and an anniversary screening of Amélie. Screenings will take place at multiple venues in Amsterdam, including Het Ketelhuis, Cinecenter, FC Hyena, FilmHallen, Kriterion and Rialto de Pijp.
The tenth edition begins in October and closes on Sunday evening with Club Kid. Paff has already opened ticket sales through its own website and the participating cinemas. The festival presents the closing film as part of the regular programme, not as a separate premiere.
For the Dutch film sector, the festival is primarily a public platform for international arthouse films that do not all receive the same visibility in the commercial cinema offering. The programme combines new releases with films that have already attracted international attention through festivals.
This report describes the programme and makes no statement about the artistic quality of the films. That assessment belongs in reviews and falls outside the remit of a factual news report.