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NFF 2026: Film & Music Nominations, Plus Our Top 5 Songs

Best Sound Design to Best Video Clip, this is what you can listen to during the Utrecht’s NFF 2026

The film nominations took place in the municipal theater through the Academy System of the Dutch Academy for Film.

You can find the nominees here: https://www.filmfestival.nl/nieuws/nominaties-gouden-kalveren-2026-bekend

Digital Culture production nominations will be coming later on Monday.
The award winners will be announced on the 2nd of October.

At the end of the day, we headed to Kinepolis on the other side of the city for the NFF Music Video Clip Awards, where video clips played on the big screen alongside panel talks with directors and artists.

Organized by 10/10 and going through the curated selection of 80 send ins, here are our ratings for our top 5:

Weval, KILIMANJARO – ‘OPEN UP THAT DOOR’ was one of the best ones we saw, it incorporates a comedic take with known Dutch actors for a DJ music clip. The DJ told us that it’s based on the fear that he had, as he would lock himself up in the bathroom at 8 years old when he saw people dancing. This for sure set a bar, we rated it 11 out of 10.

Parker Fans – I’m Your Dog, Baby was one of our favorites, in the best way possible it’s the weirdest video clip you will see, but it it’s so much fun to watch. We rated this a 10 out of 10.

ZEP – DON’T BREAK, you can’t go wrong with ZEP, super artistic video clips always and such a good song in general. We rated this a big 10 out of 10!

MAYA MARIA – Way Back gets emotional, the introduction tells you about their life story giving you a much more deeper connection with the song that really fits the song. The quality of the production is very high, I just don’t understand the resolution choice for this one, either way; we rated this a 9 out of 10!

YIN YIN – In Search Of Yang shows a very well thought out music video for their instrumental, where you follow an odd story. We rated it 9 out of 10. And this was the winner for Best Videoclip!

There were 7 other clips of course, by artists such as above Fit, Froukje, Bartfoso, Jeangu Macrooy, Irene Wiersma and Amani that did not make our top 5, however they were still really well made, but some felt bland or weren’t fully related to 1 song, but rather album promotions.

Fit, who won the Best New Talent was based on the video clip being fully produced with a ton of passion for building the video clip that is an animated version with little creatures.

You can listen to all the songs in the sidebar in our Spotify List.

Winners of the NFF Music Video Awards

“The story of In Search of Yang may be mysterious, but this clip grabbed our attention as a jury from the very first shot. You can clearly feel that there’s a director with a unique vision behind it, a style that’s also interesting internationally and makes you want to see more as a viewer. The jury appreciates the layering of the clip and how the lives of these strange characters are sometimes funny without losing their sense of tragedy. Sometimes, the imagery is in stark contrast with the music and lyrics, which actually strengthens the theme. We see this clip as a great example of how you can first strongly introduce a character and then let the viewer figure out what it might mean.”
“The jury praises the huge amount of time and love put into Miracles Might Happen, especially now that AI is being used more and more in other music videos. The clip tells a clear story that answers the questions raised by Fit's song, but also leaves enough open for you to fill in yourself. From the very beginning, the creators chose one recognizable style by working with stop-motion, and they didn’t let budget constraints or typical stop-motion camera angles influence them. As a jury, we were immediately curious about what this team would create on a larger scale, and during the discussion, someone even asked if there was merchandise available for this clip.”

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