International Film Festival Rotterdam

Watch: The Plight of Contemporary Immigrants Is Brought to Staggering Light in 'Bodkin Ras' Trailer

Riyad Mamedyarov — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 17:41:21 GMT

There's no question that the modern day immigrant leads an exceedingly hard life. Fleeing your home is already difficult as it is, but when your new destination is just as unaccepting and cruel as the place that you escaped, it can make you question whether it was worth it at all. As some of America's own political candidates extol a societal necessity for xenophobic mentalities and actions, the people that suffer are the immigrants. The people who have left their homes, their families and their friends behind to have some semblance of a better life and yet they are often shunned, vilified and looked down upon.

Kaweh Modiri's "Bodkin Ras" tells the contemporaneous story of a mysterious pariah who runs away from his troubled past and attempts to settle in a gritty and remote Scottish Highlands town. As the insular community deals with the outsider in their midst, they reveal small yet significantly sordid façades to their parochial outlook on foreigners.

READ MORE: Project of the Day: 'Bodkin Ras'

Speaking of his film, writer and director Kaweh Modiri said, "Real life people and events inspire my work, which is mainly character based. This story is what happens when those characters collide. Between 2007 and 2011 I spent time in the town of Forres, Scotland, and got to know the townsfolk who went on to star in 'Bodkin Ras.'"

"Hidden between the Highlands and the Sea, this town got me thinking about the idea of introducing a fictional intruder into that context; a fugitive trying to lay low but meanwhile shaking things up within a community," added Modiri.

The film was screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2016, where it won the prestigious International Critics prize. The award-winning film is set to have its North American premiere at SXSW on March 12 in the Alamo Ritz II. Check out Indiewire's exclusive trailer above.

Springboard: Vlado Škafar, Director Of 'Mother,' Finds Freedom in Films and Film Festivals Not Troubling Themselves With Labels

Tina Poglajen — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:15:50 GMT

READ MORE: The 2015 Indiewire Springboard Bible

The International Film Festival in Rotterdam has always been a place for new ways of approaching cinema to emerge and a haven for films that seem to transcend labels between film forms and genres, and sometimes between different art forms as well. This year, though with slight changes in programming, it stayed true to its calling — and one of the gems, world-premiering in the Bright Future section, is "Mother" by the Slovenian director Vlado Škafar, who is not a newcomer to the South Holland festival: His "Letters to a Child" premiered there in 2009, while his "Dad," the second part of the (very loose) trilogy, premiered in Venice Critics' Week of 2010.

"Mother" is a fiercely visual film that seems determined to tell its story almost exclusively through images: Those of nature, of old towns and of a mother and her daughter. The amazing thing about the film is how much of the psychological nuances of their relationship it reveals to its audience without actually telling them anything, but by utilizing visual motifs of people, buildings and especially nature (with gorgeous cinematography by Marko Brdar) instead — though the symbolism of the film never really feels artificial or calculated.

Škafar doesn't really mind the labels of documentary or fiction: The story of the mother and the daughter, driving to a secluded country house to help the daughter overcome her self-destructive behavior, is combined effortlessly with shots of an Italian real-life commune for overcoming addiction. Interviews with the young people staying there, talking about their problems and their relationships with their parents, shed an additional light onto the two principal characters and their struggles with themselves and each other. Transcending the roles of mothers and daughters to be human beings first, the characters of "Mother" find love for each other through finding independence and freedom from each other, and last week in Rotterdam, Indiewire sat down with the director to talk about freedom in filmmaking, too.

I'm not interested in plots, I don't find them important for filmmaking. Film language can function all by itself; I think the real place to look for a story in film is the image. For me, the starting point is the human face — you can instantly feel a story behind it. For example, how did it came to wear the expression that it does right now? How will it change? I'm more interested in stories that happen inside people than outside them — and I want these stories to be contained on the inside, I don't want to explain them, to make them audible or apparent.

In the beginning, the only thing I had was the title of the film. After a while, the opening image of the film started to take shape — the mother and the daughter driving in the car, the daughter not sitting in the front seat because she would really want to. The feeling grew into a film. After a while, I realized it was not a film anymore; it was transcending its medium into painting and poetry, which are very close to me, too. Now, all of my previous films — not just "Dad" and "Letters to a Child," but all of the rest, too, are like tiny streams, all flowing together into "Mother." It feels good, though I hadn't planned it that way.

For me, art is just dialogue, but in its purest form. It is always a conversation, and it is most efficient when it's not plain. Telling something straight up can never have the same effect as reading a poem. I think this film is a lesson in making an indirect conversation. Not only between the characters, but with the viewers, too. As a spectator, you're always projecting. Many of the great directors — from Kieslowski to Kiarostami — have said that the only film that truly exists is the one in the spectator's mind.

Cinema has no truth of its own. It can't have it. It only exists in the mind of the person watching it. Even if as a director, I don't see my film again, in a way, it doesn't exist for me anymore. I have to see it in order to have a conversation with it, to make it real. Films live in us in our own ways, and it's the only way that's real — but it doesn't mean we can't talk about them with each other.

When you make this kind of a film, you feel sorry for your producer. You know they will have trouble selling it; it doesn't fit into certain categories. Perhaps they won't even understand it fully or love it the way they do the other films they produce. But I was lucky enough to be surrounded with people that were willing to put their love and understanding into the project I believed in, and finally making it happen.

Even though a film is always well thought-out from the beginning, no member of my crew ever sees the script. Marko [Brdar, the DoP], is a philosophy graduate and has only later in life decided to study photography. He and I discussed the film in detail beforehand, not trying to rationalize what we were doing, but to get closer to what was inside us. Apart from him, I I never talked to anyone about the plot of the film. The cast and the crew only vaguely knew what it was about. I try to set up an environment as I envision it, try to get the people in the right mood and just believe that at a certain point, it will all fall into place in an interesting way.

I usually don't work with professional actors. Nataša [Tič Ralijan, the actress playing the mother] is a professional actress, but I never treated her that way in my film. I took the time to explain that before taking on the role in this film, she has to take off her actress costume. Shooting my previous film, "A Girl and a Tree," this was a serious problem for one of the cast — and it appeared it was not going to work out at all. In her long career as a film actress, she had never worked that way — without reading a script beforehand, without precise instructions.

I would be horribly bored by instructing people on what to do. It would only result in something I am already familiar with. There are some great films that have been made by the director insisting on giving precise instructions, like Douglas Sirk's or Yasujirō Ozu's, but it's just not my way.

On a previous film, I worked with people without any background in art. I tried to see if anyone, someone you run into the street, could become an artist, a poet. Instead of inquiring about their stories and intimate details, I wanted to see if I can get them to a point where they start to lyricize, create themselves in a way they've never had the chance to.

When I was introduced to people in the commune, we got on immediately. However, when we set up the camera, and when they had to sign the release forms, some of them pulled out. Still, we started shooting, just the environment of the commune at first, to get them used to the film crew hanging around. When they saw us interviewing other people, they changed their minds and volunteered to be interviewed as well. So in the end, everyone in there participated. I think they saw it as an opportunity to have their own moment, to be listened to without demands or expectations.

The distinction between documentary and fiction has been muddy since the dawn of cinema, since the films of Georges Méliès and the Lumière brothers. The effect of certain Méliès' science fiction films on the viewer is much more documentary than with the Lumières sprinkling their sprinkler, etc., with the exception of "Arrival of a Train at a Station." Perhaps it seemed documentary at the time; compared to theater, it must have seemed more like real life, though there was nothing real about it. But I'm not sure that trying to keep the two separated at any cost is doing the cinema any favors now. Directors of films like mine are worse off for being unable to apply their films to documentary festivals; the festivals in turn are unhappy for not being able to show them just because they don't conform to the labels. However, some festivals have long ago decided not to trouble themselves with these things, and Rotterdam is one of them.

I've always felt closer to the literary forms of drama, epic and lyric. Expecting "Mother" to be either fiction or a documentary is sure to disappoint, but if you say it's a lyrical film, that is closer to the truth. I was always attracted to films that opt for a third way, don't play by the rules, and don't worry about labels, just being free instead. I always liked seeing them because I felt free as well.

READ MORE: Legendary Finnish Filmmaker Jörn Donner Looks to His Past and Film's Future in 'Armi Alive'

LatinoBuzz: Winners of 33rd Edition CineMart Include Academy Award-Nominee Ciro Guerra's New Project

Sydney Levine — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 01:10:19 GMT

The CineMart 2016 awards have been announced marking the close of the 33^rd edition of the co-production market. German production "Berlin Alexanderplatz" was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer. Colombian production "Birds of Passage" was awarded the €6,000 ARTE International Prize and the Wouter Barendrecht Award went to Christopher Radcliff’s new project "The Strange Ones." The prize of €5,000 is given by the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation. The jury for the ARTE and Eurimages awards is comprised of the Netherlands Film Fund’s Dorien van de Pas, producer Annamaria Lodato and Fabien Westerhoff, head of international licensing, production and finance company FFWD (formerly with Hanway and WestEnd). The Wouter Barendrecht Award is decided on by representatives of the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation, Nelleke and Ellis Driessen.

CineMart selected 25 international projects to participate in the four day event which has been one of the most successful in recent years. Multiple conferences and panels covering topics ranging from “Making the most of a film festival” to “The Micro-Budget Talent Programmes” were held in front of packed audiences who were invited to be involved in the debates and receive advice. Mike S. Ryan (Greyshack Films), Michael Weber (The Match Factory), Winnie Lau (Jettone Films Ltd) and Bero Beyer (Director IFFR) discussing ‘The Creative Thunder of Cinema’ proved one of the highlights of IFFR 2016.

On making the announcement, Head of Industry and CineMart, Marit van den Elshout commented: “This year’s line-up was exceptional and inspiring. I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say that we could not be more proud – we have seen so many great projects, and so many talented teams behind them, the winners really exemplify this. I am also pleased to say that we hosted multiple extremely well attended panels and conversations, discussing the current state and possible future of the cinema that we love and cherish in Rotterdam.”

This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, "Berlin Alexanderplatz" by Burhan Qurbani (Germany) is a Sommerhaus Filmproduktion production. On the jury’s decision, Dorien van de Pas commented: “The project gives us a new and relevant view on a classic piece. The talented director has already made several films about urgent and relevant topics, that currently affect all our countries. Here he will combine elements of genre film with more political and emotional layers, which makes it accessible for a younger audience. The project leads to an ideal co-production scenario and the money of this award will be well employed for casting and further development.”

The ARTE International Prize winner is "Birds of Passage" (Colombia) by Ciro Guerra, who is currently nominated for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award for "Embrace of the Serpent," produced by Ciudad Lunar Producciones and Blond Indian Films. On presenting the award, Annemaria Lodato commented: “We decided to give the ARTE International Prize to a young South American filmmaker who has already produced a strong and convincing body of work. The project takes us into the heart of an indigenous community, a time and place never explored on screen.”

The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner is "The Strange Ones" (USA), directed by Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein, produced by Sébastien Aubert. "Mysterious events surround the travels of two brothers as they make their way across a remote American landscape. On the surface all seems normal, but what appears to be a simple vacation soon gives way to something more complex, dark, and potentially deadly." On presenting the award Managing Director of Fortissimo Films, Nelleke Driessen commented: “The short film on which this film project is based, convinced the jury of the potential for the feature. We trust that the makers will succeed to translate this apparent simple story into an intriguing, multi layered psychological thriller.”

HBF+Europe Distribution Support for International Co-productions

Next to these awards, IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund is proud to announce the first selection of its brand-new distribution scheme: HBF+Europe Distribution Support for International Co-productions. The scheme is designed to boost the distribution of internationally co-produced films from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe.

The HBF is pleased to announce that the first HBF+Europe Distribution grant of 20.000 Euro has been awarded to Heretic Outreach from Greece to support the distribution of "Babai" by Visar Morina (Kosovo, Germany, Macedonia and France) in Greece, Bulgaria and Egypt.

Full selection list for CineMart 2016:

"The Announcement" - Mahmut Fazil Coskun - Turkey/Bulgaria - Filmotto Production/The Chouchkov Brothers
"Berlin Alexanderplatz" - Burhan Qurbani - Germany - Sommerhaus Filmproduktion GmbH
"Birds of Passage" - Ciro Guerra - Colombia - Ciudad Lunar/Blond Indian Films
"Bloody Marie" - Guido van Driel - the Netherlands/Germany - Family Affair Films/Schiwago Film GmbH
"Bootlegger" - Caroline Monnet - Canada - Microclimat Films
"Dark Room" - Itamar Alcalay - Israel/Germany - Lama Films/Komplizen Film
"The Devil Outside" - Andrew Hulme - UK - Ipso Facto Productions
"Is this What You Were Born For?" - Radu Jude - Romania - Hi Film Productions
"Jessica" - Ninja Thyberg - Sweden - Plattform Produktion
"The Last Harem" - Maryam Keshavarz - France/Portugal - Neon Productions/ Ítaca Films/MaraKesh Films
(Art:Film) "The Notebooks" - Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige - Lebanon/France - Abbout Productions
"Over the City" - Emir Baigazin - Kazakhstan/Germany - Emir Baigazin Production/Augenschein Filmproduktion
"Pompei" - John Shank, Anna Falguères - Belgium/Italy - Tarantula/Solaria Film
"Rafaël" - Ben Sombogaart - the Netherlands/Italy/Belgium/Tunisia - Rinkel Film/Verdeoro/Entre Chien et Loup/Nomadis Images/Cinetelefilms
"Sick, Sick, Sick" - Alice Furtado - Brazil - Estúdio Giz/Oceano
"Slam" - Partho Sen-Gupta - Australia - Invisible Republic
"Sleep." - Jan-Willem van Ewijk - the Netherlands - Waterland Film/Propellor Film
"The Strange Ones" - Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein - France/USA - Adastra Films
"Teenage Jesus" - Marie Grahtø - Denmark - Beofilm
"Under the Sun" - Qiu Yang - France/China - House on Fire/Colorful Age Culture & Media
"Der Unschuldige" - Simon Jaquemet - Switzerland - 8Horses
"Ursa Major"- Benjamin Crotty - USA/France - AgX/Les Films du Bal
"Vikings" - Daniel Hoesl - Austria - Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion GmbH
"Wild Princess" - Ester Martin Bergsmark - Sweden - Garagefilm International
(Art:Film) "What if Women Ruled the World?" - Yael Bartana - UK - Jacqui Davies Limited

Exclusive: Alfonso Cuarón & Alejandro G. Iñárritu Endorse Emiliano Rocha Minter's 'We Are The Flesh'

Sydney Levine — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 14:00:00 GMT

The next generation of Mexican filmmakers, Julio Chavezmontes of Piano Films, and Moises Cosio of Detalle Films, executive producer of Atom Egoyan’s “Remember," Jodorowsky’s “The Dance of Reality,” and Apichatpong Weersethaku’s “Cemetery of Splendor,” are premiering "We Are The Flesh” ("Tenemos la carne") in IFF Rotterdam’s Bright Future Section.

The directorial debut by 25-year-old Emiliano Rocha Minter has the support of Academy Award-winning directors Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Amores Perros”) and Alfonso Cuarón (“Gravity), with Cannes-winning director Carlos Reygadas ("Silent Light", "Post Tenebras Lux”) involved as a co-producer. This makes "Tenemos la carne"/ "We are the Flesh" the first Mexican film, let alone a feature debut, to receive the endorsement of three of the most important directors working today. That is a film to see! It will also be on offer at the Berlinale’s EFM by its international sales agent, Reel Suspects.

In addition to Reygadas, Mexican director Sebastian Hofmann, of the Sundance New Frontier film "Halley," Yann Gonzalez, French director director of Cannes Critics’ Week Special Screening “You and the Night,” and Splendor Omnia’s Natalia Lopez, are co-producers of the film. Mexican associate producers are Simplemente’s Rune Hansen, Monica Reina and Celia Iturraga. "We Are The Flesh" was supported by the Mexican Film Institute's (IMCINE) Foprocine fund.

"We Are the Flesh" takes place in a post-apocalyptic Mexico in which a brother and sister find their way into one of the last remaining buildings after years of wandering. Inside, they find a man who makes them a dangerous offer to survive in the outside world. You can view the trailer below:

Visit Films Picks Up Coming-of-Middle-Age Drama 'Suntan'

Zack Sharf — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:02:43 GMT

Visit Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Greek filmmaker Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ "Suntan," which will have its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival and compete the prestigious VPRO Big Screen Awards.

The movie will mark the director's return to Rotterdam after his 2011 drama, "Wasted Youth," opened the 40th edition. "Suntan" is produced by Oxymoron Films and Phaedra Vokali of Greek independent production company Marni Films. The deal excludes sales rights in Greece and Cyprus.

READ MORE: Cannes '15: Visit Films Licenses “Just Jim” and “The Nymphets”

The drama stars "Chevalier" actor Makis Papadimitriou as Kostis, a lonely middle-aged doctor of a tiny holiday island. When he meets and falls for a beautiful tourist named Anna, he begins spending nearly all of his time partying with her and her group of wild friends. But what starts as a rediscovery of his long-lost youth slowly turns into an obsession as Kostis becomes willing to do whatever it takes to keep Anna. Elli Tringou, Milou Van Groessen and Dimi Hart co-star.

"When we saw the mix of raw youth driven sexuality and focused, super observant filmmaking, we knew this film was something special," said Ryan Kampe of Visit Films. "The film is like a trip to paradise that ends in the emergency room."

Visit Films is a New York-based sales company for American and international independent films. The company is looking for distributors out of Rotterdam.

Rotterdam Exclusive: Clip From Nathan Silver And Mike Ott's 'Actor Martinez' Casts A Girlfriend

Katie Walsh — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 21:17:32 GMT

Nathan Silver and Mike Ott are two of the most prolific indie filmmakers working today — and these guys are the real deal. They each have about five features each under their belts, and continue to make boundary-pushing cinema that exemplifies the independent spirit. We’re fans of each director’s work, particularly Ott's “Lake Los Angeles,” and Silver's “Uncertain Terms.” So it makes perfect sense that the two would eventually cross paths, and now, they’ve started collaborating too. The result is “Actor Martinez,” which looks to be a delightfully meta film, about Arthur Martinez, a Denver-based actor who hires two independent filmmakers to make a film starring him.

READ MORE: The 25 Biggest Directors To Break Out Of Sundance

We’ve had quite a week of mainstream indie fare bowing at Sundance, but today, the Rotterdam Film Festival starts up, where “Actor Martinez” is due to unveil tomorrow, preceded by one of Silver's short films, "Riot." Today we’ve got an exclusive clip from the film, and a look at the poster, designed by Ott. The film looks to be a blend of doc and fiction, or at least a lightly fictionalized universe, with Ott and Silver playing the indie filmmakers. In the clip below you’ll see a scene in which the two “cast” a girlfriend for Arthur.

Check out the clip and poster below, and here’s the official synopsis.

Being in show business is tough, but being an actor in Denver is tougher, so when performer and full-time computer repairman, Arthur Martinez, hires two indie filmmakers to make a feature film with him as the lead, he realizes he’s in over his head. “You guys have ruined my life,” Arthur says one moment immediately following with, “This is the best film I’ll ever be in.” The filmmakers scrap the genre film Arthur had intended them to make — instead quickly designing an entirely new project based around his real-life persona, which becomes more and more elusive as the production steams ahead. Once Arthur realizes what the filmmakers are up to, his protective measure is to hide behind a mask, keeping the filmmakers questioning: are any of Arthur’s moments on camera truthful or is it all just a performance in the end?

"Actor Martinez" premieres January 28th at 6:45 PM in the Pathé Theater as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival.

Watch: Embark on a Hypnotic Spiritual Adventure in Exclusive 'Mother' Trailer

Mike Lown — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:04:37 GMT

READ MORE: Rotterdam Innovates for its 45th Film Festival

In 2010, filmmaker Vlado Škafar made "Dad," a contemplative drama about a father reconnecting with his son that played at the Venice Film Festival. Years later, Škafar has returned to complex family relationships, this time examining the bond between mother and daughter with "Mother." Škafar's companion piece will be premiering at the the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in February. Indiewire has an exclusive look at the film's hypnotic, ethereal trailer above.

The film deals with a concerned mother who tries to save her self-destructive daughter by taking her to a deserted village in a foreign country and locking her in a house in the middle of nowhere. This desperate act soon turns into an increasingly miraculous spiritual adventure, restoring the deep feelings of life within both of them.

Check out the trailer above.

READ MORE: Why A Visionary Work Over a Decade In the Making Has Dominated the Rotterdam Film Festival

Brady Corbet's 'The Childhood of a Leader' to Close IFFR 2016

Sydney Levine — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 01:27:52 GMT

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) closes its 45th edition on Saturday February 6th with a screening of "The Childhood of a Leader." It promises to be a spectacular musical finale: the film music by American singer-songwriter Scott Walker will be played live during the screening of the film in de Doelen by Codarts Symphony Orchestra, led by Mark Warman. The orchestra will also have a special line-up just for this event, featuring a number of guest musicians from England who performed on the original soundtrack. Like last year, following the screening of the film, the festival will close in style with the Closing Party by Warsteiner.

In "The Childhood of a Leader," an American family relocate to the French countryside at the end of World War I, where the father is involved in drawing up the Treaty of Versailles. His wife, a pious Christian, is struggling with the eruptions of rage from their rebellious young son, whose deliberate outbursts are starting to hint at a monster in the making. The cast of this debut film by actor Brady Corbet features Robert Pattinson ("Maps to the Stars"), Stacy Martin ("Nymphomaniac"), Bérénice Bejo ("The Artist" ) and Liam Cunningham ("Game of Thrones" ).

IFFR festival director Bero Beyer: “'The Childhood of a Leader' is an ambitious feature film debut from actor Brady Corbet. Supported by a stellar cast, he has created a fascinating historical psychodrama about a young boy, representing the whole of Europe after World War I. The film is embellished by a magnificent orchestral soundtrack from Scott Walker, who has adapted the music specially for this screening. The unique combination of a complete symphony orchestra with a poignant feature film on our European history as a closing event at IFFR is truly exceptional. We are extremely grateful and happy to be able to participate in this incredible co-creation by offering this event a large podium, and by welcoming the international cast and crew to Rotterdam.”

Neil Wallace, program director de Doelen: “De Doelen has previously undertaken several live to screen projects with an orchestra, but this spectacular, overwhelming score for Scott Walker’s amplified symphony orchestra under Mark Warman will ensure this event is a real happening. All of my colleagues in de Doelen are looking forward immensely to this very special cooperation.”

Wilma Franchimon, chair of the board of Codarts: “Codarts’s vision, ‘Talents become artists!’, was never more applicable than to this project. This is a great opportunity for Codarts students to work together and to learn from a fantastic project in which film, theatre and music are brought together. We are very proud that the students are being given this opportunity by IFFR.”

The closing night of IFFR 2016 is being realized in cooperation with Protagonist Pictures, de Doelen and Codarts Symphony Orchestra, and is made possible thanks to the Municipality of Rotterdam and Rotterdam Festivals.

For four decades, IFFR has proudly developed and presented auteur cinema by helping filmmakers reach the broadest possible audiences. The festival is known around the world for its individual, innovative programming, with particular attention to talented new filmmakers. Quality films from all over the world are presented in Rotterdam to a large, international audience with the aim of inspiring and broadening horizons.

Hubert Bals Fund Announces Fall 2015 and Second round NFF+ HBF Selections

Sydney Levine — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 02:31:22 GMT

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected fourteen film projects from countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to receive grants in the categories HBF Script & Project Development and HBF Postproduction, totalling € 175,000. The selected films include the latest project by acclaimed Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof

Two film projects from Argentina, produced by Viking Film and Topkapi Films, have been selected for the second round of the Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund (NFF+HBF) Coproduction Scheme 2015.

HBF Script & Project Development selection

In its Fall 2015 selection round, the HBF supported eight projects with a Script and Project Development grant, selected from 259 applications. The selection includes four first or second projects by filmmakers Sorayos Prapapan, Gym Lumbera, Shahram Mokri and Liu Shu, and new projects by four award-winning filmmakers.

"Arnold Is a Model Student," Sorayos Prapapan, Thailand
"Kékszakállú," Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
"Lotus Position," Liu Shu, China
"The Mysteries of Taal: A Philippine Volcano and Lake, Her Sea Life and Lost Towns," Gym Lumbera, Philippines
"Over the City," Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan
"Wine Sediment," Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
"Yellow Apples," Shahram Mokri, Iran
"Antigone," Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico

HBF Postproduction selection

The Hubert Bals Fund supported six films with a Postproduction grant, selected from 65 applications. Three filmmakers’ first fiction feature films were selected: "Hedi" by Mohamed Ben Attia, "Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim and Alba by Ana Cristina Barragan. Also awarded with a HBF Postproduction grant are: "La flor" by Mariano Llinás, "Era o Hotel Cambridge" by Eliane Caffé and "Burning Birds" by former IFFR Tiger Awards nominee Sanjeewa Pushkumara.

"Alba," Ana Cristina Barragan, Ecuador
"Burning Birds," Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, Sri Lanka
"Era o Hotel Cambridge," Eliane Caffé, Brazil
"Hedi," Mohamed Ben Attia, Tunisia
"La flor," Mariano Llinás, Argentina
"Suspension," Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia

NFF+HBF Coproduction Scheme 2015 selection

The Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund have selected two Argentinian film projects in the Fall 2015 round of its joint NFF+HBF Coproduction Scheme: "Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat, coproduced by Dutch producer Viking Film and "La cama" by Mónica Lairana, coproduced by Dutch producer Topkapi Films. These two projects will receive a production contribution of €50,000 from the Netherlands Film Fund.

Viking Film will coproduce "Rojo," Benjamin Naishtat’s third feature film. Earlier films of this filmmaker include " Historia del miedo" (Competition Berlinale, 2014) and "El movimiento" (Competition Locarno, Filmmakers of the Present, 2015). "Rojo" is set in Argentina in the 1970s, a country suffering from an unprecedented wave of political violence. In these dark times, an ordinary man sees his chances to hide a very bad deed. The film will be produced by Pucará Cine (Argentina) and coproduced by Ecce Films (France), Sutor Kolonko Filmproduktion (Germany) , Desvia (Brazil) and Viking Film (The Netherlands).

Topkapi Films will coproduce Mónica Lairana’s first feature film "La cama." Laraina’s previous short films include "María" (2012), "Rosa" (2010), which both screened at IFFR. La cama tells the story of Jorge (58) and Mabel (56) in the final day of their relationship. We see them eat, make love, cry and laugh, while deconstructing their family home after 30 years of marriage. The film will be produced by Rio Abajo Producciones (Argentina) and coproduced by Gema Films (Argentina), Adriana Yurkovich (Argentina) , Mónica Lairana (Argentina) and Topkapi Films (The Netherlands).

Rotterdam Innovates for its 45th Film Festival

Sydney Levine — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 13:00:00 GMT

During Toronto International Film Festival, Bero Beyer announced his plans for the 45^th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). One innovation is that eight films will compete in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition for a single Hivos Tiger Award worth €40,000, to be shared by director and producer. In addition, a special jury award worth €10,000 will be presented to an exceptional artistic achievement within the competition. Previously, approximately 15 films competed for three equal awards of € 15,000.

'We aim to focus as much attention and as well as we can on the best, the most innovative, original and challenging works by filmmakers’, said Bero Beyer, who will be taking up the role of festival director at IFFR 2016. ‘This is why we have not only increased the prize money, but also chosen a structure in which we will put a new “Tiger” in the spotlight every day. At IFFR, we strive to celebrate and honor exceptional films and makers, and give them the maximum possible attention.’

The film "History's Future" by filmmaker and artist Fiona Tan is the first of eight films to be selected for the Hivos Tigers Award Competition. Beyer: ‘I am particularly happy that, with Fiona Tan’s "History's Future," we will be able to present the world premiere of such a cinematographically strong film. The maker’s unique way of working and distinct voice as an auteur make this a marvellous, engaging and intriguing film. The kind of envelope-pushing experience Rotterdam has always promoted.’ Tan’s screenplay, written with renowned film critic Jonathan Romney, attracted top acting talent including Mark O'Halloran ("Calvary"), Denis Lavant ("Holy Motors," "Beau Travail") and Johanna ter Steege ("Spoorloos," "Tirza"). Part fiction, documentary and an essay probing the world of today, "History's Future" is about a man’s odyssey through the turbulence of Europe – and his own spirit. The project had been selected by IFFR’s CineMart in 2013.

IFFR is proud that Hivos will once again be the main sponsor of the festival for the coming years. Through support for the Hubert Bals Fund and the Hivos Tiger Award, the organization contributes to the development of artistic film productions as a means of expressing social criticism. The Hivos Tiger Awards Competition was set up in 1995 with the aim of discovering, raising the profile of and recognising emerging international film talent. The awards are presented by an expert jury.

The streamlined Hivos Tiger Awards Competition will be part of a more contextualized program, in which films are selected and presented for their character and spirit. All of the films that will screen at IFFR 2016 will be included in one of four program sections.The first of these will present new film talent through innovative, daring and original films, some of which will be included in the competition. The second section will contain inspirational films by established makers. Often these films already have a distributor and will screen in arthouse cinemas after the festival and are aimed at a broad audience. Beyer: ‘IFFR has always played an important role in launching exceptional films and supporting distribution. In addition, we will be looking for ways to optimize this role, for example through the IFFR Live project, initiated in 2014, in which five titles were simultaneously screened in forty cinemas throughout Europe.’

The third program section will use master classes, retrospectives and special programs to go deeper into the world of cinema and provide more context.
And in the fourth section, filmmakers and critics will explore the landscape of film from various angles and the overlaps between film, television and other media will be investigated. The names of these sections and more film titles will be announced in the near future

IFFR¹s Trainee Project for Young Film Critics 2016 is Accepting Applications!

Sydney Levine — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:01:00 GMT

International Film Festival Rotterdam is looking for participants for its 18th IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics, taking place during its 45th edition (January 27 - February 7, 2016). If you are a talented young film critic interested in joining this project and you meet the criteria listed below, you should submit an application before Friday November 6, 2015.

The festival supports film making, film producing and journalistic talent on several levels: the main festival section 'Bright Future' (including competitions for both features and shorts) presents recent works by first and second time filmmakers; Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund contributes to film projects in developing countries and co-production market CineMart hosts a talent development lab for young film producers (Rotterdam Lab) in close collaboration with its partner organizations. Recognizing the important role of film criticism to the perception of independent cinema, IFFR organizes a trainee project for young film critics.

Project description

The IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics is a talent development program that offers up to three motivated and talented professional film critics under the age of 30 from outside The Netherlands a chance to travel abroad to cover a major international film festival, to get acquainted with the Rotterdam film festival in particular and its broad range of independent cinema. The project was created in 1998 to open up opportunities for young and upcoming film critics to explore and sharpen their knowledge and views on independent and experimental cinema - and the festivals, like International Film Festival Rotterdam, that present it.

Trainee program

The program of the Trainee Project includes contributing to the festival’s (online) publications by exploring assigned films or festival industry events; taking part in expert meetings with experienced film critics; participating in the Rotterdam FIPRESCI jury and reporting about the festival for your own affiliation(s).

What to expect:

- Complimentary IFFR 2016 press accreditation.

- Budget hotel accommodation in Rotterdam from January 28 – February 6, 2016.

- Partial refund of travel costs when traveling from outside Europe.

- A full schedule. IFFR wants its trainee film critics to really participate in the festival and interact with other industry professionals. The trainees will form a team, hosted by the IFFR Press Office and the festival editorial staff. You get to explore all aspects of the festival (screenings, exhibitions, Q&A sessions, industry panels and debates) as part of the programme and to cover for your own media.

- If your participation is successful and you have published reports that meet IFFR standards (in both quality and quantity) you get the opportunity to visit the next edition of the festival as an accredited journalist.

Criteria for application

- Age under 30 years.

- Fluent command of the English language (written and spoken).

- Demonstrable experience in film criticism (print or online media).

- Not yet established enough to profit from facilities as attending international film festivals outside your country.

- Have agreement(s) with relevant print and/or online media to publish reports on the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016.

Application Process

Your application should include digital versions (Word, jpg or pdf) of the following documents and information:

- A motivation letter to support your application: explain why this project and the Rotterdam festival appeals to you and what you have to offer.

- Your resume (CV) including your contact details and date of birth.

- Up to three proofs of recent work you published on (independent) film or film festivals. If not in English, provide the original articles with English translations to demonstrate your command of this language.

- Information about your affiliation(s): title, name of chief editor, postal address, phone number, email account, periodicity, circulation, web address, estimated unique page views per month.

- A recommendation letter (on company letterhead) of your principal affiliation’s chief editor assigning you to cover IFFR 2016 and confirming that your report will be published.

- Please send in your application by e-mail to press{AT]iffr.com before Friday November 6, 2015. Selected applicants will receive a notification no later than Friday December 4.

Hubert Bals Fund Announces Spring 2015 and NFF+HBF Selections

Sydney Levine — Fri, 15 May 2015 16:00:00 GMT

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of the Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) has selected eight film projects from seven countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to receive script and project development grants totaling €80,000.

Two film projects from Turkey and Nepal, produced by Topkapi Films and Waterland Film have been selected for the first round of The Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund Coproduction Scheme 2015.

Hubert Bals Fund Spring 2015 selection

In its Spring 2015 selection round, the HBF supports eight outstanding film projects with a contribution towards their script and project development, among which four projects from first-time feature filmmakers (Alice Furtado, Maya Da-Rin, Hugo Gimenez and Kaouther Ben Hania) and four projects directed by women: "Sick Sick Sick," "The Fever," "Beauty and the Dogs" and "Barzagh."

Other highlights include a new project by Santiago Loza: "Brief Story from the Green Planet."Loza’s debut film "Extraño" (2003) was supported by HBF and won a Tiger Award at IFFR 2003. In 2006 he returned to IFFR with "4 Mujeres Descalzas," which was also supported by HBF and presented at CineMart in 2004.

"Three Missing Policemen" is the new film by Chinese director Ju Anqi, whose film "Poet on a Business Trip" had its world premiere at IFFR 2015, winning the NETPAC Award. Following the events in the lives of three policemen, the film shows the rapid changes in Chinese society within the last three decades.

Alice Furtado’s short "Duel Before Nightfall" was shown at IFFR in 2012. Now the HBF supports her first feature "Sick Sick Sick," a physical and heartbreaking genre defying love story between two teenagers.

Two international co-productions supported by HBF+NFF

Two film projects, coproduced by Topkapi Films and Waterland Film, have been selected for the first round of the NFF+HBF Coproduction Scheme 2015. The projects will receive production grants of € 50.000, provided by the Netherlands Film Fund. Topkapi Films coproduces "Something Useful" by Pelin Esmer (Turkey), Waterland Film coproduces "White Sun" by Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal).

"Something Useful is Pelin Esmer’s third feature film. The project received HBF Script & Project Development support in 2014. Her previous films "10 to 11" and "Watchtower" both screened at IFFR.

"Something Useful" is produced by Mars Prodüksiyon (Turkey) and coproduced by SinefilM (Turkey), Les Films de L'Après-Midi (France) and Topkapi Films (The Netherlands).

"White Sun," Nepali director Deepak Rauniyar’s second feature film, was supported by HBF for Script & Project Development in 2013 and was subsequently selected for the Boost! coaching trajectory, a joint initiative of IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, CineMart, the Binger Filmlab and the National Film Development Corporation of India.

"White Sun" is produced by Aadi Production (Nepal), Louverture Films (USA) and is coproduced by Waterland Film (The Netherlands).

HBF Script & Project Development Spring 2015 Selection

"Barzagh" – Saodat Ismailova, Uzbekistan

"Beauty and the Dogs" – Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia

"Brief Story from the Green Planet" – Santiago Loza, Argentina

"The Fever" – Maya Da-Rin, Brazil

"Killing the Dead" – Hugo Gimenez, Paraguay

"Sick Sick Sick" – Alice Furtado, Brazil

"Tehran: City of Love" – Ali Jaberansari, Iran

"The Three Missing Policemen" - Ju Anqi, China

A script and project development grant can be used for the further development of the script or presentation of the project to financiers or other potential partners at (international) co-production meetings or film festivals.

Projects selected for The Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund Coproduction Scheme:

"White Sun" - Deepak Rauniyar, Nepal

"Something Useful" - Pelin Esmer, Turkey

Rotterdam Film Festival Names Indie Producer Bero Beyer Artistic Director

Ryan Lattanzio — Wed, 06 May 2015 16:34:11 GMT

Bero Beyer, who won a 2005 European Film Award for Best Screenplay for Palestine's foreign Oscar nominee "Paradise Now," will replace Rutger Wolfson, who's stepping down after eight years at the festival.

Beyer will be attending Cannes in his current capacity as Film Consultant for the Netherlands Film Fund. "As the future of film production and the cinematic experience continues to evolve, it is vital that we continue to celebrate and support quality, artistic cinema and the creative talents behind it. A commitment to this support lies at the very heart of IFFR, providing much more than a platform for these films to be discovered by both the audience and the film industry," Beyer said.

IFFR Managing Director Janneke Staarink will work with Beyer to bolster IFFR's role in presenting indie films to broader audiences. Most recently Beyer produced 2014 TIFF premiere "Atlantic," directed by Jan-Willem van Ewijk.

The 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam runs January 27 to February 6, 2016.

READ MORE: Things I Learned at the Rotterdam Film Festival

Garrett Bradley on Millennials, Making Films as a Woman of Color, and New Orleans-Set Debut 'Below Dreams'

Matt Brennan — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:00:05 GMT

Filmmaker Garrett Bradley refuses to be just one thing.

The daughter of a white mother and a black father, a New Yorker transplanted to New Orleans, self-taught and UCLA-trained, Bradley is, she says, "neither this nor that," though the more accurate description might be "both, and."

"If you're somebody who grows up as an African American, just speaking from my own experience, I think you're born into a heightened sense of imagination," she explains, sipping Maker's Mark in a smoky French Quarter dive called Cosimo's, as jukebox Motown strains to be heard over the hum of conversation. "Because you have to become a shape shifter in order to succeed."

This skill for metamorphosis is on display in Bradley's superb debut feature, "Below Dreams," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014 and is now available on VOD. The film's poetic realism, as I wrote in my review out of last year's New Orleans Film Festival, emerges from a deft blend of the dreamlike and the down-to-earth: the camera might chase through the bowels of New York's Port Authority in the vein of cinema vérité, only to pause for three minutes to paint a dusky still life of a roadside bus stop. It's an aesthetic that resists simplistic distinctions between documentary and narrative filmmaking, one that Bradley's been honing since high school.

"I made my first film when I was 16, and when I say I made my first film, my stepdad gave me a camcorder," says Bradley, whose parents split up when she was two years old. "My dad was always on tour, he was never around really when I was younger—they had a bad divorce—so I was starting to get to know my dad, spend time with him alone, around that same time. I think it was probably the only way I could deal with him, to bring my camera around... I always had a handheld camera and I was just observing, the camera being my eye."

With a teacher's encouragement, Bradley submitted the film to a festival, where it won an award from a panel of jurors that included famed critic Stanley Crouch.

"A light bulb went off in my head," she remembers. "'I can keep doing this.'"

After majoring in religion at Smith College, Bradley earned an MFA in Directing at UCLA, and it was during summers off from school, on the 37-hour Greyhound route between New York and New Orleans, that she began recording the conversations that inspired "Below Dreams." Set in New Orleans, the film's impressionistic narrative follows three twentysomething protagonists—Elliott (Elliott Ehlers), in search of a woman he met in New York; Leann (Leann Miller), a single mother of four yearning to work as a model and actress; and Jamaine (Jamaine Johnson), fresh off a stint in prison and struggling to land a job—who, like the young people Bradley met on her journeys, defy the "millennial" stereotype promulgated in the media.

"I was so pissed off reading that, and I think that artists have the ability to stand up and to reveal things that popular culture or the government isn't dealing with," Bradley says, referring to a 2010 report in the New York Times Magazine, "What Is It About 20-Somethings?" that might be considered the Urtext of the unsatisfying "millennial" construct. "We are the interpreters of culture, I think. And when something affects you, or speaks to you, I felt a responsibility to act on it. And I think that what got me through making the film, honestly, was the prospect of responding to what I didn't think was just."

In order to ensure the film's verisimilitude, Bradley worked with the cast for six months—for a micro-budget 16-day shoot—to develop a script that reflected the rhythms of their own language and the truth of their own experiences. Her patience paid off, for "Below Dreams" features three rich, unvarnished lead performances; particularly impressive are Miller and Johnson, who came to the project (via Craigslist ad) with no formal training or professional experience.

"I would just ask a question, 'What does that line mean to you? What is the first thing that comes to mind?'" Bradley says of rehearsing with Miller, comparing the process to a kind of therapy. "It's that combination of really knowing it like the back of your hand so you can stop knowing it. Then everybody is just in the moment. And that moment is what makes the work become real. Because it's not trying to perfect what we've practiced. What we've practiced is just now part of our DNA, part of our anatomy."

Bradley's commitment to naturalism plays out in "Below Dreams" as a portrait of New Orleans neighborhoods, residents, and subcultures rarely seen in film and television. The camera follows alongside Jamaine and an old friend as they ride a scooter down the rapidly changing St. Claude Avenue, and captures the cracked asphalt and shotgun homes of wards tourists never visit; even the neon marquees of Bourbon Street watering holes seem new when viewed through local eyes. For Bradley, such choices reflect a desire to depict textures of race and class that the dominant narrative of the millennial generation often elides.

"A lot of it came from really understanding where the natural geography is of the subjects in the film," she explains. "This is a black majority city, and the visual perspective that we usually see of New Orleans is a white perspective of New Orleans... In order to feel connected to the characters, or even connected to the trueness of the city, we have to see beyond the tourist perspective, we have to go to spaces that these characters go."

Yet for all the remarkable specificity of "Below Dreams," Bradley adds that her participation in IFP's Independent Filmmaker Lab proved to her that the film examines issues of relevance beyond the Crescent City, and indeed beyond the South—that for all Americans, not only people of color, the region's past and present demand a reckoning.

"I wasn't from here, but I am a woman, I am a black woman, and I am a college graduate, and so I could connect with these characters, and I didn't have to be from New Orleans in order to connect with the experiences that existed here," she says. "To a certain extent, we all belong here. We all started off here. The South is the Jerusalem of America, in a lot of ways."

In a city where the first question posed to a new acquaintance is often "Where'd you go to high school?" Bradley's status as an outsider, combined with her personal experience, has produced one of the more empathic depictions of New Orleans' rumpled fabric to come out of the recent boom in local film production. She is, much like New Orleans itself, neither this nor that.

"Growing up in New York with a white mom and a black dad and feeling, from the day I was born, the cultural tension... I'm very much a part of two worlds just inherently, in my own DNA," she says. "And my introduction to film was exactly the same way. So it seems only obvious that it would be reflected in the work that I do."

Bradley's been busy: her second feature, the New Orleans-set "Cover Me" (trailer below), played Rotterdam in January, and her next project, an ambitious series of 12 silent, 35mm films produced in association with Catherine Gund's Aubin Pictures and supported by the Art Matters Foundation, begins shooting in Louisiana's plantation district next month. It is, she says, shortly before we order another round of Maker's and swipe a couple slices of pizza from a friend in the bar, of a piece with "Below Dreams," committed to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, fusing "this" and "that" to create "both, and."

"Connecting the dots," she says, "is something that I don't anticipate stopping."

"Below Dreams" is now available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, and VUDU.

Feminism at the Rotterdam Film Fest: Sex Tourists, Mad Scientists, Psychopath Kidnappers

Tina Poglajen — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 19:00:00 GMT

The last week of January saw one of the biggest international festivals, the Rotterdam Film Festival, dedicate the entirety of one of its program sections to feminism. An array of directors from all over the world presented their films, exploring the possible definitions and interpretations of the women's movement today.

Although the festival itself is over, we have reflected on some of the films and ideas the "What the F?!" program offered. They highlight issues that often come into play when we talk about gender and sexuality in film; in a way, each of them answers the question of what feminism in cinema actually is in its own way.

Feminism is alternative femininities interacting on screen.

“Sand Dollars,” directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas, 2014

After Ulrich Seidl's “Paradise: Love” three years ago, it seems like sex tourism in third-world countries is becoming a rich source of inspiration for stories previously untold. “Sand Dollars” makes it even less conventional, though, by making the central romantic plot revolve around two women. One is an older, white, and affluent lesbian (played by Geraldine Chaplin) and the other is a twenty-something Dominican (Yanet Mojica), trying to make her everyday life a little bit better by getting involved romantically and intimately with European tourists, expecting financial favors in return. It is heartbreaking to watch the masterful Geraldine Chaplin as Anne interpret a love unrequited. But at the same time, our heart can’t help but go out to Noéli, being underprivileged to the point of actually having to consider living a lie and sidetracking her real feelings. Moreover, the complex portrayal of their relationship does not shy away from revealing Anne’s selfishness and exploitative behavior, as well as Noéli's recklessness. But what is most striking about “Sand Dollars” is the way it films the bodies of an older woman and a Dominican woman in a way that is—at least in mainstream cinema—usually reserved for young, white, conventional, heteronormative female bodies. Much has been said about how a surprising number of films don’t pass the Bechdel test due to their never showing two women talking to each other of things other then men—but ask about ethnic femininities or women past the age of 35, and the number quickly shrinks even further.

Feminism is saying no to idealised representations of women in cinema.

“I Stay With You,” directed by Artemio Narro, 2015

Perhaps one of the most divisive and controversial films of the festival, “I Stay With You” has four psychopaths kidnapping, torturing, and raping their victim in what will prove to be one of the most uncomfortable watches you’ve ever experienced. The kick? The four psychopaths are all female -- and their victim is male. This brings up one of the most important but frequently overlooked issues regarding representations of women in film: idealizing them is just the other side of the same (sexist) coin. Much has been written about “strong” female characters who are beautiful and brilliant at the same time. But if you think about it, why should women characters have to try so hard to be better than men? Why is it not simply acceptable for them to sometimes just generally be lousy people, like so many of the beloved film and TV male characters are? In the case of “I Stay With You”, the film brilliantly deconstructs the notion that women as a gender are somehow “gentler” and “less violent,” a preconception that has much to do with keeping women in check. (Violence, after all, is empowering.) And if that means that some women can be sick, despicable people who should spend the rest of their lives in jail, well, we're not seeing enough of it.

Feminism is delving into bizarre, absurdist humor and genres usually reserved for “gender-neutral” (i.e., male) cinema.

“The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes,” directed by Nancy Andrews, 2015

The mad scientist Dr. Myes has unexpectedly acquired superior vision, but unfortunately, the side effects of her experiments are slowly transforming her into an insect—yes, just like Gregor Samsa, but with a little more oomph. This deliciously weird mix of 60s B-movies, the Hollywood “mad scientist” narrative, horror, animation, and musical is visually gorgeous and invites us to re-think the fundamental concept of feminist film theory: the gendered gaze. When Dr. Myes claims a superior vision for herself, she works analogously to the role of the female film director who refuses to play the role of the spectacle in front of the camera, and instead takes matters into her own hands.

Feminism is NOT saying that women are somehow better than men (obviously).

“No Men Beyond This Point,” directed by Mark Sawers, 2015

Not everyone got it right, though. Although there is no doubt that “No Men Beyond This Point” is at times highly entertaining and contains some bright moments, in the end, conjuring a straw man of a “feminist utopia” on screen just to poke holes in it and ultimately portray it as nonsense is as far from feminist as can be. In the alternative universe of the film, women are able to reproduce without male interference and an all-female world bans violence and sex completely. Because everyone knows that women hate sex and are not violent at all, right? (See above.) Although there is no arguing that reversing the power of gender dynamics is illuminating at times just for exposing the absurdity of the reverse-situation—for example, when a woman tells three men to “keep it down because nobody wants to hear a bunch of men’s voices”—ultimately, “No Men Beyond This Point” is just too rife with an essentialist, binary logic of gender representations, men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus type of jokes, references to the “natural order,” and even downright offensive portrayals of lesbians as frigid, jealous, and borderline psychotic to be anything more than just everyday sexism done a bit more creatively.

Three steps forward, one step back is still progress, right?

Rotterdam: CineMart Awards at Closing Ceremony: 'Luxembourg,' 'Santa y Delfin' and 'Toxic Immobility'

Sydney Levine — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:00:00 GMT

It’s a thrill to see two out of three of the CineMart Awards are to filmmakers we are tracking: “Luxembourg” by Myroslav Slaboshptyskly from Ukraine and Cuba’s Claudia Calvino and Carlos Lechuga's “Santa y Delfin” won the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award. Best unpublished screenplay prize was awarded to the team this past December at Havana’s Festival de Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. The Ukrainian-German production to be produced by MIFF’s Business Square founder Anna Katchko, “Luxembourg”, was awarded the €7,000 ARTE International Prize after winning the Sundance AJ+ sponsored Global Filmmaking Award of US $10,000.

The project has a budget of €1.5 million and is half financed by the Ukrainean State Film Agency. It received a grant from Hubert Bals Fund earlier and will be at Berlin’s EFM Coproduction Market next week. This U.K.-German-French coproduction is being sold internationally by Ultra Violet who sold writer-director Myroslav Slaboshptyskly’s first film “The Tribe” to 35 territories. Myroslav and I spoke at Sundance and he gave me a link to his short “Nuclear Waste” which is a pilot for this film, shot in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and awarded the Silver Leopard of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival and showed at many festivals.

CineMart 2015 awards were announced recently, marking the close of the 32nd edition of the co-production market. Dutch/French/Belgian production “Tonic Immobility” was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer.

CineMart selected 24 international projects to participate in the four day event which has been one of the most successful in recent years. A panel discussion to launch IFFR’s new VoD initiative, Tiger Release, was well attended with several filmmakers now in discussion with the IFFR team on releasing their new films via this platform. Multiple conferences and panels covering topics ranging from “Making the most of a film festival” to “The Director-Producer Partnership” were held in front of packed audiences who were invited to be involved in the debates and receive advice. The "Creative Europe Day" on Tuesday, January 27th which offered advice and guidance on creating beyond the boundaries of Europe proved one of the highlights of IFFR 2015.

On making the announcement Head of Industry & CineMart, Marit van den Elshout commented “The quality of our line-up this year is something the whole team is very proud of - so many standout projects with talented teams behind them, the award winners exemplify this. We hosted multiple extremely well attended panels and conversations, experienced great success with the launch of Tiger Release and the enthusiasm with which our Creative Europe day was received all adds up to one of the strongest CineMart’s in a long time. ”

This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, “Tonic Immobility” by Nathalie Teirlinck, (The Netherlands, France, Belgium), is a Bart van Langendonck, Xavier Rombaut, Savage Film production. It tells the story of Alice, an escort who abandons her baby son Robin. Unexpectedly, seven years later Alice is reunited with the boy and they must find a way to co-exist while Alice is confronted with the fact that true emotions can't be controlled and that intimacy can lead to vulnerability. On the Jury’s decision Dorien van de Pas commented “ The award is being given to a project from a multitalented first time feature director who will tell a very emotional, universal story. His short films demonstrate a strong visual style in combination with a great focus on sound. ”

The ARTE International Prize winner “Luxembourg”, (Ukraine, Germany) by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, and produced by Anna Katchko with Tandem Production is a film noir with touches of a western. A great project by a very talented director, stunningly set up for a strong and cinematic story. On presenting the award Annamaria Lodato commented. “This year the ARTE International Prize is awarded to a talented, daring and radical director. He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl. Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with its own rules, an almost primitive community that the director knows from the inside. ”

The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner “Santa y Delfin” (Cuba), by Carlos Lechuga is produced by Claudia Calvino and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida. Cuba, homosexuality, censorship, working class and intellectuals, a young talented director and a real story - real potential for a hit project.

On presenting the award Managing Director of Fortissimo Films, Nelleke Driessen commented “The Wouter Barendrecht Foundation (WBF) encourages the work of talented young filmmakers, we encourage daring films, films that oppose social conventions, with a large urgency. There were 8 films eligible for this award, but in the end only one can win and 'Santa y Delfin' stood out amongst all - if Wouter were here he would be thrilled with the choice. ”

CineMart Selected Projects

"A Shining Flaw" by Erwin Olaf
Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Netherlands

"Cobain" by Nanouk Leopold
Circe Films/Waterland Film, Netherlands

"Vita & Virginia" by Sacha Polak
Mirror Productions/Viking Film, United Kingdom/Netherlands

"Tonic Immobility" by Nathalie Teirlinck
Savage Film/CTM Pictures, Belgium/France/Netherlands

"The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea" by Syllas Tzoumerkas
Homemade Films/PRPL, Greece/Netherlands

"Angel" by Koen Mortier
CZAR FILM/Tobina Films/Anonymes Films, Belgium/Senegal/France

"Ceux qui travaillent" by Antoine Russbach
Box Productions, Switzerland

"Cunningham" by Alla Kovgan
Arsam International/Chance Operations, France/USA

"La Fille de l’Estuaire" by Gaëlle Denis
Life to Live Films, United Kingdom/France

"Holiday" by Isabella Eklöf
Dharmafilm/Beofilm, Denmark

"Luxembourg" by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Tandem Production/Garmata Film, Ukraine/Germany

"Bat, Butterfly, Moth" by Sergio Caballero
Corte y Confección de Películas/AM Films, Spain

"The Gray Beyond" by Alejandro Fernández Almendras
Jirafa Films/Wa Entertainment, Chile/Japan

"Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War" by Khavn
Kamias Overground, Philippines

"Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat
Pucará Cine, Argentina

"La Barracuda" by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin
Small Drama/Hot Metal Films/Blue Suitcase Productions, USA

"Boyfriend" by Ashim Ahluwalia
Future East Film, India

"Gabriel and the Mountain" by Fellipe Barbosa
TvZero/Gamarosa Filmes, Brazil

"Los Delincuentes" by Rodrigo Moreno
Compañía Amateur/Rizoma, Argentina

"Santa y Delfín" by Carlos Lechuga
Producciones de la 5ta Avenida, Cuba

"Kodokushi" by Janus Victoria
Paperheart, Philippines/Malaysia/Japan

Art:Film projects

"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy
Transit Films, Egypt

"Hurrah, Wir Leben Noch" by Agnieszka Polska
Kijora Anna Gawlita/Museum of Modern Art Poland, Poland/Germany

"Mr Sing Sing" by Phil Collins
Shady Lane Productions, Germany/USA

Audience Awards Winners

The awards, as voted for by the public audience attending the Festival, were announced this evening at the IFFR 2015 Closing Night Ceremony, hosted by Festival Director, Rutger Wolfson and Managing Director, Janneke Staarink. James Napier Robertson was awarded the IFFR Audience Award 2015 of €10,000 for his film "The Dark Horse." The award is Napier’s second of the Festival following the MovieZone IFFR Award which was presented on Friday, January 30th at the IFFR Awards Ceremony. The Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, also of €10,000, presented to the most popular film which received support from the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) went to Oscar Ruiz Navia for "Los Hongos," an autobiographical drama centering on the youth culture of Cali, Colombia.

READ MORE - Toronto Review: Cliff Curtis is a Fallen Champion Turned Mentor in "The Dark Horse"

On the announcement of the IFFR Audience Award 2015 Wolfson commented “The audiences who come from all over the Netherlands and around the world to participate in the Festival and explore our diverse, thought provoking programme are integral to IFFR. It would not be the special Festival it is without them so we would like to thank all who joined us in celebrating cinema this year and of course congratulations to James who created a wonderful, personal film.”

On the announcement of the Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, Manager of the Hubert Bals Fund, Iwana Chronis commented “I am thrilled with the reception the HBF supported films received throughout the twelve days of the Festival. Oscar Ruiz Navia is a talented filmmaker with a long and successful career ahead of him, this recognition is fully deserved, we are so pleased to have been a part of helping getting this film to the big screen .”

A highly acclaimed drama, "The Dark Horse" tells the true and moving story of Genesis Potini, who fought for the future of disadvantaged children in New Zealand until his death in 2011. In spite of his own bipolar disorder, he taught them to play chess and fight for opportunities. "The Dark Horse" is both amusing and raw, and above all intensely moving. Born in New Zealand, director James Napier Robertson made a name for himself in the world of television before switching to cinema. He appeared as an actor in the series "The Tribe" and "Shortland Street." He directed his first feature film "I’m Not Harry Jenson" in 2009.

Directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia, "Los Hongos" is an autobiographically inspired drama based around two skater friends who are at the heart of the colorful, noisy street and youth culture of Cali, Colombia. With a warm heart, Ruiz tells the story of Ras and Calvin, who are looking for their own voice, a stage and of course freedom, love and fun. Born in Colombia, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s debut film "Crab Trap" won a Fipresci Award at the Berlinale in 2010. Prior to that he was focused on the development and production of independent cinema in Colombia and founded the production company Contravia Films having previously studied Social Communications and Journalism.

Top 5 Audience Award IFFR 2015

"The Dark Horse"
"The Farewell Party"
"Loin des Hommes"
"La Vie de Jean-Marie"
"Alice Cares"

Top 5 HBF Dioraphte Award 2015

"Los Hongos"
"La Mujer de los Perros" (Dog Lady)
"NN"
"Court"
"The Tribe"

The full list can be found on the Festival's website:

www.iffr.com/professionals/iffr-2015/iffr-audience-award-2015

Rotterdam Exclusive: Clip And Poster For Nathan Silver's 'Stinking Heaven'

Katie Walsh — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 22:05:00 GMT

Nathan Silver is unstoppable at the moment. The NYC-based indie auteur premiered “Uncertain Terms” last summer at LA Film Fest (a film we called “wry, oddly funny, but poignant”), and his next project, his fifth feature, “Stinking Heaven,” is already done and bowing at the Rotterdam International Film Festival next week. The film’s log line reads “a black as tar comedy charting the dissolution of a commune for sober living in early 90's suburban New Jersey,” and seems to be at least a thematic continuation observing the ups and downs of group dynamics in extraordinary or odd circumstances. “Uncertain Terms” took place at group home for pregnant teens, though the tone and style of "Stinking Heaven" looks to be profoundly different.

Today, we’ve got the exclusive premiere of a clip from the film, and the poster. The striking one-sheet was designed by Dana Davis, who also designed the unforgettable poster for Josephine Decker’s “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely” last year. The clip features up-and-comer Keith Poulson (“Hellaware”) as Jim, as well as a distinct lo-fi, videotape aesthetic—Silver shot on an early ‘90s news camera in order to properly capture the era. As with most of his work, the film is largely improvised, a collaboration between writers, director, actors, and cinematographer, and Silver calls the finished product “a documentary of a fictional world.” Silver’s one of the most exciting indie directors working right now: his films are unique, distinct, and really unlike anything else out there. And with the speed that he churns them out, he's already produced quite the body of work.

“Stinking Heaven” has its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival on Monday, January 26th. Check out the long synopsis, clip, and poster below.

Married couple Jim and Lucy (Keith Poulson, Deragh Campbell) run a commune for sober living out of their suburban New Jersey home. The motley members eat, bathe and work together selling homemade "health tea" out of their van. Although there's constant bickering and plenty of fires to be put out, Jim and Lucy have managed to establish a haven for these outcasts. But the harmony is interrupted when Ann (Hannah Gross), a recovering addict and the ex-lover of one housemate, arrives. Ann's insidious presence sends the members spiraling out of control, resulting in paranoia, drug relapse and eventually death.

Slamdance & Rotterdam Exclusive: Clip From Small Town Love Letter 'Tired Moonlight'

Katie Walsh — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 16:03:00 GMT

A film premiering at two festivals this weekend is "Tired Moonlight," a 16mm movie shot in filmmaker Britni West's hometown of Kalispell, Montana. The film boasts an indie pedigree, as West worked on the upcoming films "Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter" (which premiered at Sundance last year) and "7 Chinese Brothers," while DP Adam Ginsberg shot Alex Karpovsky's underrated road trip romance flick "Red Flag." Karpovsky himself serves as associate producer and plays Crazy Mike in the film, which follows Dawn (Liz Randall), a lonely, middle-aged woman in a small town.

Today we've got an exclusive clip from the film, which Slamdance programmer Josh Mandel describes as "a love letter to small town Americana oblivious to Facebook, reality tv and diet soda," and says it, "casts a spell and doesn’t let go until you can smell the fireworks lighting up the summer nighttime sky." With the talent behind the camera and an endorsement like that, color us intrigued for this one. The clip captures some of the boredom, silliness, and aimless, innocent time-killing of childhood.

Check out the clip below and the longer synopsis. "Tired Moonlight" premieres at Slamdance on Friday, January 23rd at 3:35 pm in the Ballroom, and at Rotterdam on Monday, January 26th.

Every town has a post office, lovers, guns, switchblades and beer. you just have to know where to look and when to look the other way. Pitting grand landscapes against dinners of fried chicken and the roar of V8 engines on Saturday nights, TIRED MOONLIGHT wanders through Solitaire games (always won), secrets lost in cavernous hearts, and the fifty miles of bad road that always gets you home.

'The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes,' Starring Michole Briana White Will World Premiere at Rotterdam

Tambay A. Obenson — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:24:16 GMT

We featured the fundraising campaign for this project over a year-and-a-half-ago, in early 2013 - one whose description really intrigued. It did eventually surpass its goal, raising over $46,000, and a couple of months ago, a first trailer for the film was released by the filmmaker, and is embedded below, if you missed it.

Titled "The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes," the film is now set to make its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) later this month.

Recapping...

As the filmmaker describes it, the film is an "original indy, musical, animation, schlock-opera, science-fiction, micro-budget, alternative dramatic feature film."

Starring actress Michole Briana White, who you might remember from her co-starring role in Ava DuVernay's "I Will Follow," the multi-media feature film is titled "The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes" - writer/director Nancy Andrews' feature film debut.

Here's a brief synopsis: "After a near-death experience, Dr. Myes, researcher in the science of perception, attempts to graft animal senses to the brain in order to revolutionize human consciousness. She must face the consequences when she uses her own body and mind as a research tool and transforms herself into a creature with super-senses."

Michole Briana White stars as Dr. Myes, in a project that combines live-action with animation, as well as musical elements, to create something that promises to be quite fantastical, and an IFFR debut makes sense, given what I know of the festival (one that promotes alternative, innovative and non-commercial films) and the limited amount of info we have on the film itself.

To help fund the film, a Kickstarter campaign was set up by director Andrews on April 1, 2013, to raise $45,000. As of the close of the 30-day campaign, it had raised $46,487.

S&A likely won't have any representation at IFFR this year (it takes place in Rotterdam, Netherlands), but I'm sure one of us will eventually see it, and will write about it here.

If you missed it, check out the first fantastical trailer for "The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes" embedded below:

Rotterdam Film Fest Announces Tiger Awards Competition and Jury

Sydney Levine — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 15:30:00 GMT

Laura Citarella & Verónica Llinás represent Argentina with their directorial debut “La Mujer de los Perros”. Festival director Rutger Wolfson made the announcement that the ‘Hivos Tiger Awards Competition’ includes projects from Latin America, Thailand, U.K. & U.S.

The 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will be held January 21 to February 1, 2015, overlapping this year with Sundance (January 22 – 31) which is coming later than usual

IFFR’s line-up for the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2015 consist of 13 projects by first and second time feature filmmakers from across the world competing for three prizes of €15,000 each, awarded by the Festival’s five Tiger jury members. From its inception in 1995, the Competition has been dedicated to discovering, celebrating and awarding emerging international film talent. Eleven of the 13 competing films are World Premieres and the remaining two are International Premieres.

Contenders, “La Mujer de los Perros” and “Vanishing Point” were both partly financed by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) as were “Another Trip to the Moon” by Ismail Basbeth, “La Obra del Siglo” by Carlos Quintela and “Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes” by Juan Daniel Fernández Molero.

The Hivos Tiger Awards jury is comprised of acclaimed stage and screen actress Johanna ter Steege, director of the Filmoteca Española Jose Maria Prado Garcia, Dutch born, Australian auteur Rolf de Heer, award winning Japanese producer Shozo Ichiyama and former Tiger Award winning director Maja Miloš. The winners, selected by the jury, will be announced at the Hivos Tiger Award Ceremony on Friday, January 30th.

Hivos Tiger Awards Competition Full Line-Up

“Above and Below” by Nicolas Steiner (Switzerland/ Germany) – International Premiere
The film is a rough and rhythmic roller coaster ride seating five survivors in their daily hustle through an apocalyptic world. A mind-blowing, cinematic exploration of contemporary existence in the U.S.

Trip to the Moon" by Ismail Basbeth (Indonesia) – World Premiere
The magical surrealist journey of Asa, daughter of a shaman, who confronts her own mother, fighting for her own life and freedom.

“Bridgend" by Jeppe Rønde (Denmark) – World Premiere
Over a five-year period in Bridgend, Wales, 79 people, many of them teenagers, committed suicide without leaving any clue as to why. This is the starting point for this mysterious social drama. Hannah Murray convinces as the 'new girl in town' in Danish Rønde’s feature debut.

“Gluckauf" by Remy van Heugten (The Netherlands) – World Premiere
Social drama about the oppressive relationship between a father and a son who, as modern outlaws, struggle to survive in the depleted Dutch province of Limburg.

“Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory” by Lisa Takeba (Japan) – World Premiere
Haruko is a girl who prefers to cuddle up to her old-fashioned TV set. In this wondrous story, a television can transform into a man: and this is by no means the end of the strange cheerfulness.

“Impressions of a Drowned Man” by Kyros Papavassiliou (Cyprus/ Greece/ Slovenia) – World Premiere
A man who doesn’t know who he is meets his former love. She tells him he is a famous poet, Kostas Karyotakis, who killed himself in 1928. Every year he returns on the anniversary of his death.

“La Mujer de los perros” (Dog Lady) by Laura Citarella & Verónica Llinás (Argentina) – World Premiere
The protagonist of Dog Lady is a woman who lives in a poor area with a pack of dogs, in a house like so many other humble shacks in the urban sprawl of Greater Buenos Aires.

“Norfolk” by Martin Radich (U.K.) – World Premiere
As a man's unspeakable past starts to catch up with him, two very different worlds collide and he is finally forced to confront what is right and what is wrong in order to protect his family's future.

“La Obra del siglo” (Work of the Century” by Carlos Quintela (Cuba/ Argentina/ Germany) – World Premiere
Three Cuban men, obliged by circumstance to live together under the same roof, pass their days in the ElectroNuclear City.

“Parabellum” by Lukas Valenta Rinner (Argentina/ Austria/ Uruguay) – World Premiere
In the company of housewives, professionals and a retired tennis instructor, Hernán is part of a middle-class community that is preparing for the eventual arrival of the end of the world at a holiday resort in the marshy Tigre delta.

“Tired Moonlight” by Britni West (U.S.) – International Premiere
Combustible dreams fail to ignite as a lonely, middle-aged woman is confronted by lost love in a glorified-pit-stop town.

“Vanishing Point” by Jakrawal Nilthamrong (Thailand) – World Premiere
A drama depicting life in different paths. As two men delve deep down in search for what could heal their pains, through the path of imagination, they see themselves in each other.

“Videophilia (And Other Viral Syndromes) by Juan Daniel Fernández Molero (Peru) – World Premiere
Internet cafés and slackers, not-so-innocent schoolgirls and amateur porn using Google Glass: things in Lima, the Peruvian capital, are pretty similar to contemporary reality, virtual or otherwise, in the rest of the world. Cinema meets digital psychedelia.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) offers carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's Tiger Awards Competitions, Bright Future, Spectrum and Limelight sections contain new work by auteurs from all over the world including many World Premieres. In the Signals section, IFFR presents retrospectives and themed programmes. IFFR actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through numerous industry initiatives including co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund and Rotterdam Lab.

Political Thriller 'War Book' Will Open Rotterdam - Sophie Okonedo & Nathan Stewart-Jarrett Co-Star

Tambay A. Obenson — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:44:56 GMT

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will open on Wednesday January 21, with the international premiere of Tom Harper's political thriller "War Book," which tells the story of a war game between a group of government officials, which reaches boiling point.

Further, the film "takes place over 3 days as 9 civil servants gather in a government building to take part in a policy shaping scenario. They are there to take decisions on Britain's reaction to an international nuclear attack. At first the participants are casual, playing out the scenario against a backdrop of their own petty squabbles and personal ambitions. Only 2 participants know the truth – that the country is secretly facing a real nuclear threat, and that their theoretical responses may become reality sooner than they can know. As the scenario escalates and the group begins to address the breakdown of civil order, the reality that they are deciding our futures dawns. When personal politics crash irrevocably into the room, each is forced to look closely at what they really believe, and how much their decisions are actually worth."

As you can see in the official cast image above, the film's starring cast includes 2 familiar faces in Sophie Okonedo and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett of "Misfits" fame. They are joined by Ben Chaplin, Phoebe Fox and Shaun Evans.

On making the announcement that the film will open the festival, IFFR director Rutger Wolfson commented: "'War Book' is a topical and relevant film that fits perfectly with the contemporary issues we are exploring and debating at IFFR 2015, an ideal film to open the festival and the reason why we have also included it in our Everyday Propaganda programme."

No trailer yet; just the above image.

Final Deadline for the Yellow Robin Award at the CIFFR 2015 is Approaching!

Carlos Aguilar — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 18:00:00 GMT

Back in April 2012, Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam- the Caribbean ‘sister’ of the renowned International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the Netherlands – experienced its first and highly successful edition in Willemstad, Curaçao. For its second edition in April 2013, Curaçao IFFR first introduced its annual Yellow Robin Award film competition.

With this competition, Curaçao IFFR intends to offer a hospitable platform for new films and filmmakers. In cooperation with IFFR, the Netherlands, and in cooperation with several regional film festivals and institutions it aims to encourage, support, and contribute to the careers of talented beginning filmmakers from the region.

The winner of the Yellow Robin Award competition will receive US$ 10,000 as well as priority access to one of the important IFFR activities, such as CineMart or Rotterdam Lab or a special screening at the festival in the Netherlands.

Christine Davila, who is also Ambulante California's Festival Director, is in charge of programming this competition. With her vision and experience Davila and her team carried out the first touring documentary film festival in Los Angeles back in September.

What kind of films are we looking for?

The identity of the people of Curaçao, its history and culture shows a clear link to its African and European roots. Culturally and economically, the island has strong bonds with the Caribbean region, the Latin-American mainland but also with the United States.

Films that are eligible for the Yellow Robin Award competition should, by its country of origin, theme, and chosen form, be relevant to this contemporary society and its historical network, in all its facets. Films submitted for the competition can be feature length fiction or creative documentaries. The first public screening has not taken place prior to 1 January 2014

Deadline to submit your work is 1 January 2015

For more information visit HERE

Watch: David Cronenberg Hopes to Remove Pests From Breasts in His New Short 'The Nest'

Oliver MacMahon — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 18:20:00 GMT

David Cronenberg is back to his mind-bending, body-morphing best. In his new NSFW short "The Nest" he takes a walk down memory lane to his days of body horror or just about (sadly there are no exploding heads). The nine-minute, single-shot film documents an interview between a doctor (maybe) and a topless patient (Evelyne Brochu) in what appears to be a custodial closet. They discuss usual things - why she wants to remove her left breast, how an insect nest grew within it, how they might trap said insects, how they won't stop "buzzing and rustling" as "they sense the threat." The doctor behind the camera, voiced by Cronenberg himself, always responds in an eerily nonchalant tone, simply concerned that he's "not an entomologist."

The film was commissioned by the International Film Festival of Rotterdam's friends at EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam. From 22 June through 14 September 2014, they will present a major exhibition focusing on Cronenberg, following the main themes of his work. For more information go their website. Check out "The Nest" below:

Here's Why The 2015 Sundance Film Festival Ends in February

Indiewire — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:43:08 GMT

This week, guests of the Sundance Film Festival received a reminder about the 2015 edition that was markedly different from previous editions: While Sundance has generally run from January 15 - 25, the next one will take place January 22 - February 1.

The later dates were determined last fall in an arrangement with Park City, Utah, which hosts the festival, to avoid the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The agreement was part of a renewed contract with the festival to ensure its presence in Park City through 2026. According to the terms of the deal, the festival will move its dates whenever they overlap with the holiday. In the past, Park City estimates that it has lost around $4.2 million in ski revenue when the festival has taken place during that period.

The overlap takes place five times over the next 13 years, which means the festival will move its dates during those times. A rep for the festival told Indiewire that these changes will not impact submission deadlines.

However, Sundance's new timing will have a significant effect on the film festival calendar. Generally considered the first major festival of the year, Sundance will now take place during the exact same dates as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, a significant festival in the European film community that in previous years has started several days into Sundance (permitting some members of the industry to attend both). Sundance will also conclude a mere four days before the latest edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, otherwise known as the Berlinale, which also hosts the European Film Market.

Things I Learned at the Rotterdam Film Festival

Torene Svitil — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:32:13 GMT

How must festivals must change to survive in the digital age? How can they continue to support independent film and filmmakers, build audiences, increase film literacy and encourage vital dialogue when watching films on a big screen is no longer the norm? Panels and programs at Rotterdam grappled with these issues, but the festival itself illustrated some of the confusion of these shifting roles.

Next year, the festival will launch IFFR Live! Audiences around the world will be able to watch film premieres at the same time as festival audiences. Selected films will stream simultaneously in art houses and online platforms and spectators will be able to participate in Q&As via social media. Currently supported by IFFR, Fortissimo Films, Trust Nordisk Film Sales and Doc&Film, IFFR Live! is intended to boost theatrical audiences for European films.

A panel of festival artistic directors-- Marco Müller (Rome), Frédéric Boyer (Tribeca), Hans Hurch (Viennale), Tina Fischer (CPH:Docs), Chris Fujiwara (Edinburgh), and Nashen Moodley (Sydney)--discussed the tricky balancing of aesthetics and economics in festival programming. "Festivals radically changed the way of engaging with and treating film," said Fujiwara, but now "the old format has to be challenged."

Here are four things I learned on the panel:

1. Festivals are increasingly run like a business. This affects many of the artistic directors' decisions. Müller questioned whether a focus on world sales put a premium on films with commercial potential or those of a certain length. "Now festivals have to bring in celebrities or filmmakers to attract an audience," added Boyer. "People are attracted to the 'event' of a festival," leading to a growing embrace of parties, exhibitions, workshops, marketplaces and the like." Added Moodley, "The Sydney Film Festival is dependent on the box office for survival, and this affects which films and which filmmakers will be invited to attend."

2. Competition between festivals for world premieres and audience-pleasing films is intense. But Boyer insisted: "You cannot play films just to please the press or the audience."

3. Retrospectives are still important. Fujiwara called attention to the place of retrospectives in creating a film-literate audience. In the enviable position of having enough financial support from Venice to program as he likes, Hurch stressed the importance of slowly introducing the public to more challenging films. "Once there is trust between the public and the festival, the programmer can push the boundaries a little."

4. Big festivals like Rotterdam may be too big. Rotterdam offers more films than any viewer can possibly take in, not to mention the exhibitions, panel discussions, and other related events. "At a certain point [a large festival] is not good for the quality of the films," said Hurch, "and it's too hard for the public to meet filmmakers or connect in debate. Rotterdam is too big. It doesn't have a heart."

Judging from the films I saw at Rotterdam, commercial considerations played a small part in the programming. Yet the festival does not ignore the commercial side. It runs CineMart to help filmmakers launch co-productions. "Tabija" by Igor Drljaca won the €10,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award and the ARTE International Prize of €7,000 went to "Happy Time Will Come Soon" by Alessandro Comodin.

The purpose of the Big Screen Award is to help fund a commercial release within the Netherlands. The winner of the €10,000 grant to support distribution costs, chosen by an audience jury, was "Another Year," a first feature by Ukrainian Oxana Bychkova, which the jury called "Pitch perfect, beautifully acted and choreographed, modest, subtle and utterly convincing.'' The film was picked up for international distribution by Russian sales agent Ant!pode. Among the other films nabbing international distribution were Dick Tuinder's "Farewell to the Moon" by Media Luna New Films; and Caroline Strubbe's "I'm the Same, I'm An Other" by New Europe Film Sales.

Heart or no, Rotterdam's public attendance is strong--many come back year after year with friends and family. And it's probably no coincidence that two of the films on the public's top 10 list are not only from the Netherlands, but take place at least partly, in Rotterdam.

PUBLIC'S TOP 10

Nebraska, Alexander Payne, USA, Audience Award winner
Zombie: The Resurrection of Tim Zom, Billy Pols, Netherlands
Starred Up, David Mackenzie, UK
Feel My Love, Briet Teck, Belgium
Sorrow and Joy, Nils Malmros, Denmark
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard, UK
Papusza, Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze, Poland
The Creator of the Jungle, Jordi Morató, Spain
The Other Side of the Heart Is White, Leonard Pansier, Netherlands
Her, Spike Jonze, USA