International Film Festival Rotterdam

Exclusive First Look at Poster for Melissa Leo's 'Francine,' Premiering at Berlin

Sophia Savage — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:59:37 GMT

Melissa Leo's "Francine," from directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky, will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 13. Check out the new poster for the American-Canadian co-production. Leo stars as woman regaining her foothold in society after being released from prison. The security of temporary jobs proves just as elusive as the relationships she tries to build with the people in her new-found small town in North America. Her failure with human connection leads her to seek support from animals, with tragic consequences. More on this first feature narrative from Cassidy and Shatzky below (their doc "The Patron Saints" played Toronto 2011 and Rotterdam last month):

"Francine" focuses on the title figure during a brief chapter in her life. Oscar winner Melissa Leo conveys the longings and woes of the distressed protagonist with remarkable precision, delivering a performance of tremendous force. The narrative provides no psychological backstory, and yet we grow increasingly close to this fragile person, whose life does not have a clear path but rather consists of a series of emotional states. As the protagonist moves through the film’s impressive locations, her path through life is much like an orbiting satellite: detached, lonely and ultimately destined to crash.

From Sao Paulo to Iran, A Final Look at Rotterdam 2012

Howard Feinstein — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:52:24 GMT

Exceptional "nevenprogrammas" distinguish the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and elevate it to the upper tiers of the festival circuit. These are the multiple sidebars, which span low and high culture, old and new films and beyond; they almost always have some political bent. Under the directorship of Rutger Wolfson, there is a stronger emphasis on modern art now than in the past, therefore a number of fusions.

Here we have "Hidden Histories: The Independent Chinese Documentary Makers and the Documentary Works of Ai Weiwei," a selection of non-fiction that includes films from the last decade by the embattled activist and art synthesizer. Simultaneously, restored low-budget, often raunchy fiction from the lower depths of Sao Paulo--in an undesirable section of the city by the rail station known for prostitution and robbery, circa late '60s through the '80s--unspool in the section "The Mouth of Garbage: The Lost Film Culture of the Boca de Lixo." Whether one is engaged by individual films in the strand matter less than learning the narrative behind their existence, which straddles both the better known, more highbrow Cinema Novo and an especially oppressive and censorial military junta.

As curators Gabe Klinger and Gerwin Tamasa write in their fastidious essay accompanying the series: “The working-class ethos of the neighborhood provided a production infrastructure: Construction materials for sets, props, food, costumes, etc., were all finished cheaply and locally.” The companies who situated themselves in this undesirable section of town were looking for cheap alternatives to the “high-end” but failed Sao Paulo-based studios modeled on their American counterparts. Profitable sex films, sometimes called pornochanchadas, became popular and tolerated by the junta, as long as politics were not the subject. Hardcore soon became dominant, but North American imports of same essentially demolished the industry by the late '80s.

One of the better known, relatively early products of the Boca de Lixo was Rogerio Sganzerla’s "The Red Light Bandit" (1968), in which a sexy bandit/rapist becomes a criminal superstar. A product of the slums, he has a chance at salvation with a beautiful woman, but, consistent with the film’s ethos, heads instead toward self-destruction. This is grit.

Many of the most provocative individual films in Rotterdam are treated with the gravitas of sidebars than as simply dangling presentations. The in-and-out-of-jail Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof introduced his Cannes prize winner "Goodbye," which was followed by a televised public interview (that I had the honor or moderating) outside the theater.
After such films as "Iron Island" and "White Meadows," "Goodbye" is his first work with a female protagonist, a disbarred lawyer-activist who desperately tries all avenues to gain permission to emigrate. The earlier films were well lit and open, but "Goodbye" is cold and claustrophobic. Rasoulof says he was filming “not about a woman battling the system, but more about a person’s final fall without any control of the situation.” Her sin is as much about her absent journalist husband, also an activist, not being around as it is about her human rights activities. (She has become pregnant in a misguided piece of advice from a "fixer.") In order to protect his cast and crew from arrest, Rasoulof went, like his heroine, to all sorts of agencies to get proper permissions, then worked with a very small crew and a small digital camera to call minimal attention to the shoot.

In my earlier coverage, I noted that a strand called "Bright Future" was the repository for the most impressive first and second features—for me, a necessary complement to the way overrated early films in the Tiger Awards competition, which, like competitions at most festivals, get the most buzz and attention, deserved or not. (This year’s winners are listed here.)

But back to the Bright Futures section: "Valley of Saints," which was shot in fragmented Kashmir by Musa Syeed and debuted at Sundance, is a poignant, almost ethereal story of two close friends, one a crack boatman, and the beautiful young woman who temporarily threatens their intense male bonding. The fighting and overall political context is way in the background, our experience with it only that impacting upon their personal lives and mobility. The two fellows had planned to take off to a more tranquil place and earn a decent living, but her affect on the boatman is too strong. The guys are playful, physically and emotionally, with each other, so much so that a westerner might mistake their relationship as homoerotic—-and, in fact, it may be.

Much more overt in its male attraction is Andrew Haigh’s British film "Weekend," which has been described by some as "British mumblecore," with a nod to the English classic "Brief Encounter." (the film opened in the U.S. last fall.) The morning after a bar pickup and a one night stand, the host finds a tape recorder in his face. His visitor asks him to recall in detail the events of the previous evening—-an art project, he claims. The film is well shot, the acting passable, but there seems to be a conscious dismissal of dramatic tension. There are a couple of surprises, but most of the scenes are redundant, monotonous, and the surprise gift passed at the end cannot make up for all the uninteresting time that has passed. Still, it is one of the better gay films to come out recently.

Festival Scope opens “Labels”

Sydney Levine — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:25:00 GMT

Finally a way to track festival winners that eliminates our need to track all festivals separately. Festival Scope, the online platform known for providing film professionals with online screening of films from more than 60 of the most prestigious international film festivals (including Berlinale, Rotterdam, Locarno, Venice, Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week, Toronto and San Sebastian) has developed a new section. The section is called "Labels" and is aimed at providing additional visibility to the films awarded in festivals or selected by partner organizations. The "Labels" has been launched with a special partnership with FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. On the FIPRESCI page Festival Scope presents a selection of films that have been awarded the FIPRESCI Award. About 30 titles are already available for screening, including recently awarded Salesman (ISA: EOne) (awarded in Torino), The Tiniest Place (Mar del Plata), Eighty Letters (Thessaloniki), Yatasto (Viennale). More will be added throughout the year. Klaus Eder, General Secretary of FIPRESCI says: "Our aim is not only to present, at festivals, the critics' prize to the films we like. We also wish to help them [get a larger audience]. Festival Scope offers a wonderful chance to make our engagement better known to the professionals of cinema and to provoke the interest of other festivals and of buyers.

One of my first reactions on reading thus far was that this seems more self serving on FIPRESCI's part than inclusive of winners in general. I realize that I have absorbed an industry criticism of FIPRESCI itself which deserves further investigation. My criticism is that, in creating a label of its own prizes on a general platform, it is furthering its own mission. FIPRESCI, a critics' organization, chooses one festival per country to put their labeled prize upon, and to the outsider their endorsement automatically carries a sort of prestige. However, I have heard from one top festival director that they then impose certain rules upon that festival and to this festival director, they represent a sort of mafia. As I said, this merits greater investigation, perhaps I or another reader will write a blog upon FIPRESCI itself.

As I read further, I realize that the Festival Scope "Labels" extends beyond FIPRESCI itself, and as such is a boon to people seeking certain types of films. One of the labels presents the Global Lens 2012, Global Film Initiative’s critically acclaimed independent world cinema exhibition and distribution platform. The line-up includes ten award-winning narrative feature films from around the world including Morteza Farshbaf's darkly comic road trip, Mourning (Iran, ISA: Wide) (FIPRESCI Prize and New Currents Award, Pusan IFF) , Paula Markovitch's The Prize (Mexico, ISA: Urban Media) (Silver Bear, Berlin IFF and Best Film, Morelia IFF) and Toll Booth, Tolga Karaçelik's acclaimed Turkish "everyman" story.

Santhosh Daniel from Global Film Initiative says “We’re honored that Global Lens is one of three inaugural “labels” on Festival Scope, as the distinction not only reflects a recognition of quality, but also a mutual respect for the impact our two organizations can create by working together.” I stand with Santhosh here. The Global Film Initiative is a great platform honoring seldom heard voices from countries upon which the camera rarely focuses.

Last but not least, Festival Scope dedicates a showcase to Binger Filmlab, the Amsterdam-based organization welcoming the best and brightest filmmakers providing them intensive series of labs, workshops and events. Selected filmmakers are presented to the international film community together with their previous work. Already highlighted the films by Darius Devas from Australia, Caroline Kamya from Uganda, Jonathan Ostos Yaber from Mexico and Kevin Meul from Belgium. The Binger is very dear to me, as Jeanne Wikler, a longtime American resident of The Netherlands and a documentary filmmaker herself, invited us for many years to be coaches. She created a warm and welcoming environment ("Gezellig") which to this day retains this atmosphere, even at their Cannes Reception Days where we are always warmly greeted by Greetje Schuring, Assistant to the Directors and by former Binger participant, now Artistic Director, Marten Rabarts and by the beautiful longtime film event organizer Daan Gielis Head of Talent & Communications. In raising startup funds for this event from the government she was aided by former parliament member Gamila Ylstra who is now CEO of Binger. Jeanne herself is now the Director of the Institute of The Netherlands in Paris. Gamila Ylstra states, “Festival Scope is the perfect partner for Binger Filmlab: a unique platform for film professionals that enables us to showcase previous work and contextualize the projects and filmmakers in our Writers and Directors Labs. We are honored to be part of this!” I find this use of Festival Scope especially appealing in light of current government moves to cut cultural events; Festival Scope helps prove that such organizations as Binger contribute to the world's well-being in the context of cultural freedom is very important. Alessandro Raja, founder of Festival Scope, says: "We are thrilled to widen the scope of our activities with the creation of the "Labels". It’s an additional way for us to contribute to the promotion of the films we like and that play a significant role in today’s and tomorrow’s cinema".

I think Festival Scope should go further in award posting; let FIPRESCI have its and let others have their own pages if they merit it. Certainly Binger and The Global Film Initiative merit pages of their own.

'Weekend' Wins MovieSquad IFFR Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Aaron Bogert — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:56:34 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has chosen Andrew Haigh's "Weekend" as the winner of their MovieSquad IFFR Award. The jury deciding upon the winner for the award is unique in that it consits of five members aged 15 to 19 years old.

There were twenty other films in the competition and other films nominated for the award by the jury were Christophe van Rompaey's "Lena" and Ruben Ostlund's "Play."

Full Press Release

PRESS RELEASE 2 February 2012

Andrew Haigh’s Weekend is young people’s jury favorite in Rotterdam

British film Weekend by Andrew Haigh (UK, 2011), selected in IFFR’s Bright Future section, has won the MovieSquad IFFR Award. The young people’s jury announced the winning film during the International Film Festival Rotterdam this afternoon during the MovieSquad Award Ceremony.

The MovieSquad jury consisted of five members aged 15 to 19 years: Nick Golterman, Manon Keus, Symen Hoogesteger, Juliette van den Dorpel en Roxanne Doorn. They have seen films, met directors and journalists and enjoyed film parties. MovieSquad gives young people the opportunity to fully experience a film festival and to present their opinions on film. They selected the winner out of the twenty festival films that were up for consideration. Out of these twenty films, the jury also nominated the films Lena (Christophe van Rompaey, The Netherlands/Belgium, 2011) and Play (Ruben Östlund, Sweden/Denmark/Finland, 2011) but in the end chose Weekend by Andrew Haigh as their winner.

In their statement about Weekend the jury said:

“Realistic and subtle, two words that describe this love story best. The wonderful acting, great use of light and beautiful conversations made it very pure and fascinating to watch, even the sexual scenes. The ending was just right!”

The winner of the MovieSquad Award has a chance to be programmed in one of the film educational programmes of EYE Film Institute Netherlands, such as MovieZone.

Weekend will be released in The Netherlands May 2012 by ABC-Cinemien.

MovieSquad IFFR is an initiative of EYE Film Institute Netherlands in cooperation with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and is sponsored by SNS REAAL Fonds

FESTIVAL VIDEO: Rotterdam Sunset Chat with IndieWire Press Play + The House Next Door + Cine Qua Non

Kevin B. Lee — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:03:00 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has been called a cinephile’s festival. This year’s edition (January 25-February 5) is living proof. Indiewire/Press Play editor-in-chief Kevin Lee talks with fellow critics Aaron Cutler (The House Next Door/Cine Qua Non) and Michal Oleszczyk (The House Next Door) about what films to see, old and new, in and out of competition. Recorded February 1, posted February 3. (pictured above: Awakening of the Beast, from the IFFR series "The Mouth of Garbage")

Index of video highlights:

0:20 - Why Rotterdam Matters
1:10 - Rotterdam vs. Sundance
2:52 - Competition Favorites
5:13 - Our Favorite Things from the Festival: Brazil's "The Mouth of Garbage", China's "Hidden Histories," James Benning's "small roads"

The 3 Rotterdam Film Festival Movies You Must See

Howard Feinstein — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMT

International Film Festival Rotterdam is getting older; perhaps ripening is a better term. Always regarded for edgy and newish movies that may or may not be validated elsewhere, Rotterdam now has eight venues and, last year, 340,000 admissions. Still, it retains the magic of surprise.

Take one world premiere, "Room 514," by Israeli director Sharon Bar-Ziv—a man, in case the name confuses non-Hebrew speakers—who, by chance, happens to be 44, ripened, and decided to make this first film after a career in acting and art direction. “It took me 20 years to do it overnight,” he says.

"Room 514" takes place mostly in the tiny room of the title, in a military headquarters. A beautiful young woman of Russian origin, Anna (Asia Naifeld, brilliant), investigates an incident of what she considers unnecessary violent behavior toward a Palestinian family in the Occupied Territories by one or more soldier pals (like cops, who would lie for one another) in the same tight-knit battalion. Anna is, by Israeli standards, a second-class citizen, but she willingly takes on the guys, whom Bar-Ziv calls the “salt of the earth.”

He explains, “In Israel, the Russian is ‘the other,’ but I reversed it.” The battalion head “becomes the ‘other.’ “Anna, between her position and her blurred aggression/flirtation with two of the men, has her moments of control. Of course, in a patriarchal military structure, that is a tenuous place to be at best.

She sits in a chair, often way too close to those she’s questioning (with her commanding officer, who is engaged, she has a much more intimate relationship in between interrogations within that miniscule space). She transgresses conventional proxemics. The low man she coaxes to snitch, the top one she nearly blackmails to extract a confession—which will have grave repercussions on her, him and the whole chain of command.

Bar-Ziv, who did his military service as an aid in a combat unit during the first Lebanese war, keeps his camera fairly tight on the actors, following them with a rare lens he found in London made for HD; only five exist. “I was looking for a special lens that would give a wide picture, but also close,” he says. “But I did want the film to be ‘in your face.’ I’m looking inside our society, inside its DNA. The investigation is a microcosm of Israel today.”

This masterful project cost only $100,000 (one-tenth of the cost of the average Israeli production), and shooting lasted all of five days after months of rehearsal. Like many of the best films in the festival, it unspools in a section aptly called Bright Future, where I usually find what I consider the finest of all.

In another Bright Future opera prima, Mexican filmmaker Michel Lipkes engages in a different, perhaps more familiar strand of minimalism, in his hauntingly poignant "Malaventura," an international premiere. The premise will not beckon families to run to the local art house: It follows, with Tarr-like long takes, a marginalized old man in seedy downtown Mexico City during the last days of his life, from his waking up (in a nine-minute take) through a variety of fairly banal pursuits (not for him, necessarily) until his death at film’s end.

His inspiration? “I stood downtown and observed," Lipkes said. "Once I saw this old man passing with his plastic bag (in the film it contains a bottle of booze), and he was saying, ‘I want to die.’ He was crazy with loneliness, and inducing himself to die.” There are hints in the film that the old man had been a sexual abuser; he goes to church to absolve himself. Said Lipkes, “He’s trying to ask for forgiveness, but can’t.”

I ask the articulate, affable director why this variety of minimalism is all the rage in Mexico and some other parts of Latin America. “We are educated in a baroque culture full of melodramas,” he said. “For me, this was a way to control reality and possess it. I think if I had written a baroque screenplay and made a baroque movie, I would not have escaped it.”

The film is frequently symmetrical, and Lipkes adeptly captures the frequently run-down architectural feel of downtown Mexico City. The old fellow, who doesn’t even have a name (non-pro Isaac Lopez embodies the part fully, without hurry), observes a deranged man shrieking bits of the national anthem, buys (comically) a taco made from every possible part of the cow, passes through a porn cinema, engages in an odd version of Bingo/Scrabble in a rundown bar (the caller recites William Blake; this is hardly verite), makes an awkward pass at a young woman on the subway, sits in an empty park holding balloons he’ll never sell. He’s desperate for structure.

This is hardly melodrama: It is anti-drama. “I was interested in making a contrast between daily life, and how the tension of the quotidian starts to shape this man’s tragedy and guide him toward his death. I didn’t want to make a general portrait of loneliness and old age and marginalization.”

The old man may be nameless, but Lipkes graces him with singularity. Alejandro de Icaza and Jose Miguel Enriquez’s chilling sound design, Galo Duran’s funereal music and Gerardo Barroso Alcala’s stylized cinematography contribute strongly toward enabling Lipkes to realize his vision, based on a script he wrote with Fernando del Razo.

Loneliness can, of course, be the function of any number of variables. Dutch filmmaker Francisca Toetenel is a former industrial graphic designer and a Rotterdam native; she made her first short, "Katya," while on an exchange program in the Czech Republic. At 15 minutes, this is one of the most impressive Dutch films I have seen in years. It is part of a perhaps token “Made in Rotterdam” program, but her talent is huge.

The eponymous Czech character is a teenage girl who can not stay anymore with her alcoholic mother, so goes in search of a father she hasn't seen in years. When she finds him she discovers that he's started a second family and refuses to get involved with her, much less let her live with him. Much of the film involves her train journey between her rejecting parents.

What Toetenel does with sound—often far from the source we would expect, like in memory rather than in the “real” time in which it occurred, and deploying headsets in ways I’ve never seen—and images so lyrical and original that viewing "Katya" is a cathartic experience that expunges the residue of less accomplished movies.

Okay, so Toetenel is no kid either, mid-thirties maybe, but as she clarifies, “I’m finally doing what I really want to do and embracing it.” Rotterdam is a lively but relatively provincial city, so I only hope that she gets out more or curious producers seek her out.

From Kelly Reichardt to the Arab Spring, Highlights from the Rotterdam's CineMart and the Rest of the Fest

Brandon Harris — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:19:08 GMT

The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam, which opened this past Thursday with the world premiere of Lucas Belvaux’s "38 Temoins" (38 Witnesses), kicked into gear on Sunday morning with the opening of the festival’s annual CineMart.

One of the world's most preeminent co-production and financing markets for feature film projects looking to get under way in the new year, this year CineMart includes 36 projects, up from last year’s total of 33, but down from years' past when CineMart routinely included well over 40 projects. “We had to pass up a lot of projects we really love,” said Tobias Pausinger, co-selector of this year’s CineMart with manager Jacobine van der Vloed. This year’s pool was culled from 465 submissions.

Between the parties, lunches and panels, the core element of CineMart is four full days of "speed date" meetings between project producers and potential financiers, sales agents, distributors and producers. During that time each project is also presented to a jury made up of film industry professionals who award several cash prizes sponsored by organizations like the ARTE France Cinema and the Prince Claus Fund. This year’s jury includes Claire Launay of ARTE France Cinema, Winnie Lau of Fortissimo Films and Petri Kemppinen of Eurimages.

Although the organizers are weary of suggesting any projects are their favorites among those selected, significant buzz around the market has centered on Scottish artist Henry Coombes "Little Dog Boy," "The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," David Dusa’s follow up to his 2011 Rotterdam and Tribeca selection "Fleurs Du Mal" ("The Flowers of Evil") and "Jomo" by Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza, whose terrific debut feature "Grey Matter" is in Rotterdam’s selection this year.

Still, the atmosphere at CineMart is a lot different than the hothouse acquisitions environment for completed films that one finds at Toronto, Sundance or Cannes. Even among the highest profile projects, such as Kelly Reichardt’s "Night Moves," no magic bullet single check financier is expected to materialize at a market like this. Producers Anish Savjani and Neil Kopp are here representing Reichardt’s film, which plans to shoot this year and is currently--like all the other projects in CineMart--seeking financing for its low seven-figure budget.

Most of the films in CineMart are here to foster conversations that may eventually lead to a project being financed through the labyrinth of European public financing, pre-selling foreign territories through a sales company who takes on the project or leveraging the bankability of an international movie star for private equity in the countries where state funding is less significant, such as the United States.

Among American films world premiering in Rotterdam, buzz has been strong for both Julia Halparin and Jason Cortland's narrative "Now, Forager: A Film About Love & Fungi," which premiered on Friday afternoon, and Matt McCormick's doc "The Great Northwest," which screened last night.

By day four, major auteurs had already come and gone as the festival settles into its primary business of nurturing new voices. The established names in attendance include Michel Gondry, who was here for the latest incarnation of his "Home Movie Factory" installation project that has already been exhibited in New York, Sao Paulo and Paris, and Takashi Miike, who was on hand for the world premiere of his bizarre and oddly satisfying video game adaptation and otherworldly legal satire "Ace Attorney."

The festival as a whole has slimmed down from previous years, particularly in the seemingly catch-all Bright Future section. Dedicated to first and second time filmmakers, it encompasses the festival’s centerpiece Tiger Award competition, but in the past has included a sprawling number of films not in competition. It has shrunk by 20% this year, according to festival director Rutger Wolfson. "We got tired of competing against ourselves," he confided on the festival’s third night.

The Signals section, which in the past has been a home for giant retrospectives of individual artists as well as eclectically themed programs that often involve non-filmic art world components, is also noticeably smaller this year, with just two strands this year focusing on China and the Arab Spring.

Perhaps the festival's most interesting sidebar in 2012 is "Signals: Power Cut Middle East," which brings into relief everything one comes to expect from the festival. It’s a typically heady and unexpected survey of images from the Arab Spring, including the Western media's role in reproducing them and the ways in which these countries’ difficult pasts, both politically and cinematically, inform their present representations.

The program focuses specifically on Egypt, the site of the Arab Spring’s most high profile revolution, and Syria, home to perhaps the bloodiest ongoing crackdown on civil unrest in the world today.

Experimental Syrian documentaries during the Assad regime's time in power are the focus of the "Suspended Dreams" and "Between the Lines" programs, while the Egyptian "Timelines" tries to foster a dialogue between pre- and post-revolutionary Egypt by pairing films together from before and after the unrest. "Shifting Shores" presents a sampling of recent Arab video art from the aforementioned countries, along with work from Lebanon. Together, these often tiny but miraculous films represent the most significant meditation on the evolving turmoil on the streets of the Middle East this author has come across yet.

Rotterdam Chooses Three Short Films for 8th Annual Tiger Awards

Indiewire — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:43:59 GMT

The eighth annual Tiger Awards at the International Film Festival Rotterdam went to Makino Takashi’s "Generator" (Japan), Mati Diop’s "Big in Vietnam" (France) and Jeroen Eijsinga’s "Springtime" (Netherlands). Each Tiger winner received a prize of 3,000 Euros.

Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen received a special jury mention for "I'm Lisa"(Malaysia).

Separately, the International Film Festival Rotterdam short film nominee for the European Film Awards 2012 is "Im Freien" ("In the Open") by Albert Sackl (Austria).

Winners were selected from 21 films, ranging in length from five to 56 minutes. Jurors were documentarian Rania Stephan (The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni"), film curator and writer Andréa Picard from Canada and film critic/screenwriter Dana Linssen from the Netherlands.

Details on the winners and jury statements follow:

GENERATOR by Makino Takashi, Japan, 2011
'With its impressive soundtrack and hybrid layering, GENERATOR creates an explosive, pulsating experience of an environment on the brink of disaster.'
MAKINO Takashi belongs to the new generation of Japanese experimental filmmakers. While studying at the Nippon University he made several Super-8 films. In 2001 Makino apprenticed with the Quay Brothers. He had his international breakthrough in 2007 with NO IS E. Since then, IFFR has shown several of his movies. In 2008, IFFR honored Makino with a Short Profile.

BIG IN VIETNAM by Mati Diop, France, 2012
'Raw, defiant and elliptical, BIG IN VIETNAM is suffused with an unusual mood and disarming intimacy.'
Mati Diop lives and works in Paris. While attending the Tokyo National Studio of Contemporary Arts and having an artist in residency of Palais de Tokyo in Paris, she directed her first four short films. In IFFR 2010, her short film ATLANTIQUES won a Tiger Award for Short Films.

SPRINGTIME by Jeroen Eisinga, Netherlands, 2012
'A monumental and transfixing cinematic portrait created out of a fearless performance etched in buzzing bees and 35mm grain.'
Jeroen Eisinga is a visual artist and was educated at the art academy in Arnhem, the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and in scriptwriting at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles. He lives and works in Rotterdam. He has made several short and experimental films. In his work, Eisinga has been inspired by artists like Bas Jan Ader and Chris Burden.

Special Mention:
I’M LISA by Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen, Malaysia, 2010
'An elegantly composed miniature revealing the mystery within the gestures of the everyday.'
Charlotte LIM Lay Kuen made several TV commercials after completing her studies in broadcasting. She has assisted in direction and production for Malaysian new wave pioneers like James Lee and Ho Yuhang and directed some short films. MY DAUGHTER (2009), Lim's feature film debut, was also screened at IFFR.

IFFR 2012 Short Film Nominee for the European Awards 2012
IM FREIEN (IN THE OPEN) by Albert Sackl, Austria, 2011
'For its rigor and its original marshaling of Modernist traditions and structural cinema.'
Albert Sackl studied Philosophy and Art History in Vienna and Film with Peter Kubelka (currently attending IFFR) in Frankfurt. A retrospective on his work was held in Montevideo, Uruguay during TIE 2007. Sackl currently lives and works in Vienna.

Rotterdam Fills Out Bright Futures Slate, Adds 'Oversimplification of Her Beauty'

Sophia Savage — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:37:26 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam announced the complete Bright Future selection, which presents debut or second feature films. Among the selection are 14 world premieres and 14 international premieres. The fest expects almost all of the 68 of the films' directors to attend the event, running January 25 - February 5 in the Netherlands.

The lineup includes films from Argentina, Canada, Columbia, France, India, Indonesia, Israel, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and the US (including Terence Nance's "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty"). The eclectic lineup includes a 16mm film about harvesting sugarcane ("Corta"), an old fisherman in Kenya ("Wavumba"), a French homage to Greek tragedy and a look at the Israeli military's power relations ("Room 514").

Check out the list of premieres below and the complete Bright Future slate here.

IFFR 2012 Bright Future: list of films with premiere status, alphabetically by production country:

World premieres

 A la Cantábrica (To La Cantábrica), Ezequiel Erriquez, Argentina
Corta, Felipe Guerrero, Colombia, Argentina, France
The Ultimate Pranx Case, Influenz Films, Canada
Par exemple, Electre (Electre, for instance), Jeanne Balibar & Pierre Léon, France
Carnival, Madhuja Mukherjee, India
Parts of the Heart, Paul Agusta, Indonesia
Room 514, Sharon Bar-Ziv, Israel
Wavumba, Jeroen van Velzen, Netherlands
Ensayo final para utopia (Dress Rehearsal for Utopia), Andrés Duque, Spain
He Was a Giant with Brown Eyes, Eileen Hofer, Switzerland, Azerbaijan
Gaamer (Gamer), Oleg Sentsov, Ukraine
Now, Forager: A Film about Love & Fungi, Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin, USA
The Great Northwest, Matt McCormick, USA 

 International premieres

Black & White & Sex, John Winter, Australia
Rânia, Roberta Marques, Brazil
As hiper mulheres (The Hyperwomen), Fausto Carlos & Leonardo Sette & Takuma Kuikuro, Brazil
The Patron Saints, Melanie Shatzky & Brian M. Cassidy, Canada
Sentimental Animal, Wu Quan, China
La jubilada (The Retired), Jairo Boisier Olave, Chile
L' anabase (The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and the 27 Years Without Images), Eric Baudelaire, France
Die Räuberin (Rough), Markus Busch, Germany
Amma Lo-fi (Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsd), Orri Jónsson & Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir & Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, Iceland, Denmark
Valley of Saints, Musa Syeed, USA/India
Hikari no oto (The Sound of Light), Yamasaki Juichiro, Japan
Malaventura, Michel Lipkes, Mexico
Ex Press, Jet Leyco, Philippines
Chapiteau-show, Sergey Loban, Russia
Akataka (That Small Piece), JOSEph S KEN, Uganda
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Terence Nance, USA
The Whirlpool, Alvin Case, USA 

European premiere

Un nuage dans un verre d'eau (A Cloud in a Glass of Water), Srinath C. Samarasinghe,  France, Canada
Momoiro sora wo (About the Pink Sky), Kobayashi Keiichi, Japan
Padang besar (I Carried You Home), Tongpong Chantarangkul, Thailand

Rotterdam Reveals Films Vying for Tiger Awards and Jury

Nigel M Smith — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:05:45 GMT

The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected its 15 films vying for their 2012 Tiger Awards Competition, including eight world premieres. All films mark first or second features for the filmmakers.

Highlights include "It Looks Pretty from a Distance," the directorial debut of Polish visual artists Anka Sasnal and Wilhelm Sasnal, and "A Fish," directed by Hong-min Park, the first 3D film to screen in Rotterdam's competition lineup.

This year's jury was also announced. Among the chosen members: Brazilian actress and filmmaker Helena Ignez ("The Red Light Bandit"); Ludmila Cvikova, Head of International Programming of the Doha Film Institute, Qatar and former programmer of the International Film Festival Rotterdam; Tine Fischer, director of CPH:DOX, the international documentary film festival in Copenhagen, Denmark; filmmaker Eric Khoo from Singapore, who’s animated feature film "Tatsumi" screens in the festival; Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz, who’s first feature film "Lebanon" won the Golden Lion in Venice.

In addition, IFFR revealed the 21 films in their Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films (list below).

The winners of the Hivos Tiger Awards will be announced on February 3.

Tiger Awards Competition for first and second feature films 2012 (descriptions provided by Rotterdam):

"Thursday Till Sunday," Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Netherlands, 2012, 96’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Sotomayor’s feature film début, expertly shot by Barbara Alvarez, is a Chilean road movie set in and around the car belonging to a middle-class family. Seen through eyes of the kids in the back, they embark on a four day holiday trip to the north, while the marriage is falling apart. Dominga Sotomayor’s short film Videojuego was screened in Rotterdam in 2010. De jueves a domingo was selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2010.

"Voice of My Father," Orhan Eskiköy & Zeynel Dogan, Turkey, Germany, 2011, 87’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Voice of My Father is a powerful meditation on identity and family ties, and a profound portrait of a country in transition. Co-director Zeynel Dogan plays a character called Zeynel who lives with his pregnant wife in Diyarbakir, while his mother lives alone in the old family house in a nearly deserted village. Eskiköy and Dogan co-directed documentary short films and the feature length documentary On the Way to School. Voice of My Father is a fiction, based on Zeynel Dogan’s family history.

"Neighbouring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil, 2012, 100’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
For his gripping. slow burning feature film début Kleber Mendonça Filho expanded on a theme from one of his short films, Eletrodoméstica. In the middle class street where a rich family owns much of the real estate, life takes an unexpected turn when a private security outfit offers its services to the inhabitants. The presence of the guards brings a feeling of security but also adds good deal of anxiety to a culture that runs on fear. In 2007, IFFR presented five short films by Kleber Mendonça Filho as a ‘Profile’ in the short films section.

"Living," Vasily Sigarev, Russia, 2012, 119’, World premiere
Vasily Sigarev's second feature, after his acclaimed Wolfy, is a grim portrait of existence in a wintry Russian town, showing some characters living through their own ordeal. A mother wants to reunite with her twin daughters; after a wedding ceremony, a young couples’ love is tested in the most brutal way; a boy wants to see his estranged father, despite his mother's protests. Celebrated young playwright and director offers an unsentimental, sincere and personal film on the complexity of life – and death.

"Egg and Stone," Huang Ji, China, 2012, 97’, World premiere
In the Hunan province village where she was born, Huang Ji shot her first elegant feature, a quietly disturbing drama about 14-year-old Honggui, who lives with her aunt and uncle in the countryside. It seems she is not very wanted. Her parents intended to farm her out to family for only two years so they could work in the big city, but in the meantime, seven years have passed. In 2009, she presented her mid-length fiction The Warmth of Orange Peel at the Berlinale.

"Clip," Maja Milos, Serbia, 2012, 100’, World premiere
Maja Miloš’s first feature film is a dynamic, disturbing portrait of contemporary youth. Jasna, played fearlessly by Isidora Simijonovic, is a pretty girl in her mid-teens. With a terminally ill father and dispirited mother at home, she is disillusioned by her unglamorous life in a remote Serbian town. Opposing everyone, including herself, she goes experimenting with sex, drugs and partying.

"In April the Following Year, There Was a Fire," Wichanon Somumjarn, Thailand, 2012, 76’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
At first sight, an atmospheric, suitably languid portrait of a young man returning to his home town in North Eastern Thailand from his job in Bangkok to attend a friends’ wedding in the hottest month of the year, Wichanon Somumjarn’s first feature turns into a semi-autobiography, and a journey into the labyrinth of the real and the imagined, the past and the present, the personal and the political.

"Black's Game," Óskar Thor Axelsson, Iceland, 2012, 100’, World premiere
Reykjavik, April 1999: Iceland’s crime scene is in violent flux and young Stebbi suddenly finds himself in a world of tough guys, drugs dealers, stunning blondes, drugs, robberies and slaughter. The feature début by Óskar Thor Axelsson is based on the bestselling Icelandic gangster story Black Curse by Stefán Máni and was executive produced by Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher, Drive).

"It Looks Pretty from a Distance," Anka Sasnal & Wilhelm Sasnal, Poland, USA, 2011, 77’, International premiere
The feature film début by visual artists Anka & Wilhelm Sasnal focuses on a small Polish community during a hot summer. Everyone is either about to explode or come to a complete halt. Hidden aggression, hatred, discrimination, as well as fears, longings and emotional crises are on the edge of breaking through the surface. Using a precise and austere style, the Sasnals create a physical portrait of a micro society that turns into a viscous swamp, unresistingly absorbing any kind of violence.

"Romance Joe," Lee Kwang-Kuk, South Korea, 2011, 115’, International premiere
Lee Kwang-Kuk, former assistant director to Hong Sang-Soo, plays the storytelling game with unmistakable pleasure in this elegantly shot first feature. In a web of intertwined stories, a film maker seeks inspiration and finds it with an energetic waitress who in return for some payment is willing to tell him about, for instance, the time she met a suicidal guy called Romance Joe.

"A Fish," Park Hong-Min, South Korea, 2011, 105’, International premiere
Park Hong-Min’s feature debut A Fish is the first 3-D film in the Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition. Little by little, the filmmaker reveals where this unfortunate road movie is taking its characters. In a roadside restaurant, the protagonist, Professor Lee, picks up the detective who says he has found Lee's missing wife on an island off the coast. The men head for the sea, but that night, the professor has a curious dream.

"Return to Burma," Midi Z, Taiwan, Myanmar, 2011, 84’, European premiere
Return to Burma, first feature by Midi Z, offers a unique, authentic story from Burma (Myanmar). Xing-hong, a Burmese guest-worker in Taiwan, has the duty of returning the ashes of a friend to their native country. At home, there’s the joy of seeing friends and family. Young people still sing romantic songs and dream of working aborad, like his younger brother. Xing-hong starts to look around for local business opportunities.

"Southwest," Eduardo Nunes, Brazil, 2011, 128’, European premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Sudoeste, a tale of fantasy and mystery shot in stunning black-and-white, is Eduardo Nunes’ fiction feature début, after several successful short films, three of which were screened at IFFR. Situated in a sleepy Brazilian coastal village, a baby, a girl and a woman named Clarice seem to live their (or is it her?) life in one single day.

"L," Babis Makridis, Greece, 2012, 86’, European premiere
The protagonist in L, a man aged 40, is a more than dedicated driver. His work is his life, and his car is more than a means of transport. He lives in his car, receiving his family at fixed times. His employer is a rich narcoleptic who can’t drive himself. But The Man loses his job and decides to go looking for another means of transport. A unique combination of abstract comedy and existential drama, Makridis debut feature is filled with singular dialogue, a stuttering Mondscheinsonate and a great song about bears.

"Tokyo Playboy Club," Okuda Yosuke, Japan, 2011, 97’, European premiere
In 2010, young film maker Okuda Yosuke made a name for himself with his low-budget gangster comedy Hot as Hell: The Deadbeat March. This year, he returns with his first commercially made film, a dry-humorous crime story set in the fringes of Japanese society. A gangster drama that focuses on people who primarily live by instinct, which results in reckless behaviour, bad decisions, and violence.

Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012 (descriptions provided by Rotterdam):

"the meaning of style," Phil Collins, Malaysia, 2012, 5’, World premiere
A deceptively complex Malaysian reverie featuring a cast of skinheads, butterflies and the sounds of Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl in perfect harmony.

"The Waves," Miguel Fonseca, Portugal, 2012, 22’, World premiere
An expertly played, effortlessly cosmic topography of surf, sea and sand from one of Portugal’s rising cinematographic stars.

"Scene Shifts, in Six Movements," Jani Ruscica, Finland, Germany, Denmark, 2012, 15’, World premiere
Latest work by Finnish artist Jani Ruscica (retrospective at IFFR 2008) alternately describes locations in words, images and music.

"Big in Vietnam," Mati Diop, France, 2012, 29’, World premiere
Diop, who won a Tiger Award in 2010 with his short Atlantiques, has two new films including this mysterious tale of a director who gets distracted during a shoot.

"In Search of a City (in the Papers of Sein)," Hala Elkoussy, Egypt, United Kingdom, 2012, 34’, World premiere
Idler Sein’s perambulations become a layered declaration of love to the city of Cairo. Shot before, but edited after the Egyptian revolution.

"Postcard from Somova," Romania, Andreas Horvath, Austria, 2012, 20’, World premiere
Life in the Danube Delta almost stands still. The postcard is a suitable anachronism for a message from this inconspicuous place.

"Agatha," Beatrice Gibson, United Kingdom, 2012, 14’, World premiere
A psychosexual sci-fi about a planet without speech. Based on a dream had by the radical British composer Cornelius Cardew.

"Field Notes from a Mine," Martijn van Boven, Tom Tlalim, Netherlands, 2012, 20’, World premiere
Abstract documentary about a data environment. Based on a list of cities, villages and unnamed places in North Africa that were part of old pilgrim routes.

"Springtime," Jeroen Eisinga, Netherlands, 2012, 19’, World premiere
Maker Eisinga described this performance - which people can now watch - as 'A liberating experience' during which his body was taken over by insects.

"Generator," Makino Takashi, Japan, 2011, 20’, International premiere
Generator is a response to the disaster in Fukushima and visualises Tokyo as an eroding metropolis accompanied by Jim O'Rourke’s dark soundscapes.

"In the Open," Albert Sackl, Austria, 2011, 23’, International premiere
A three-month sojourn on Iceland linearly condensed into 23 minutes by the camera. An existentialist portrait of an awe-inspiring setting.

"Light Escapes Through the Intervals," Tasaka Naoko, USA, 2011, 15’, International premiere
An attempt at thinking without language. Point-of-view, observation, flexibility... and surf!

"The White Disease," Christelle Lheureux, France, 2011, 42’, International premiere
A night-time party in a mountain village in France; a reflection on the essence of our existence and a monster that preys on girls.

"Shadow Life," Cao Fei, China, 2011, 10’, European premiere
How something as old-fashioned as hand shadow play can be elevated into a higher art form. A witty, intelligent animation.

"I'm Lisa," Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen, Malaysia, 2010, 8’, European premiere
Almost sensual observation of a young cleaning lady. The heat of the Malaysian evening is almost tangible.

"Lack of Evidence," Hayoun Kwon, France, 2011, 9’
Experimental, animated documentary tells the tragic tale of a Nigerian refugee who becomes entangled in European bureaucracy.

"The Arc," Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, Netherlands, Chile, 2011, 17’
After an idyllic start, things go drastically wrong with this Noah’s Ark. The paper-mache actors elicit realistic emotions.

"5000 Feet Is the Best," Omer Fast, USA, France, Ireland, 2011, 27’
Film based on meetings with anonymous Predator drone pilots from the US military, operating the un-manned flights over Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Dinosaur Eggs in the Living Room," Rafael Urban, Brazil, 2011, 12’
Extremely idiosyncratic portrait of an eccentric widow who looks after the impressive collection of fossils and documents left behind by her late husband Guido.

"Restricted Sensation," Deimantas Narkevicius, Lithuania, Spain, 2011, 46’
Disturbing fiction recounts the systematic homophobia of the Soviet regime through the experience of an aspiring theatre director in Vilnius.

"Bobby Yeah," Robert Morgan, United Kingdom, 2011, 23’
A breathtakingly bizarre, hilariously horrifying, button-pushing stop-motion saga featuring a subhuman troublemaker who falls perilously out of his depth.

James Franco and Takashi Miike Among Directors With World Premieres in Rotterdam

Nigel M Smith — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:20:44 GMT

The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 25 - February 5) has released their full Spectrum lineup. Of the 72 features and documentaries, 16 will be world premieres, including new works from Takashi Miike, James Franco and one starring Vincent Gallo.

Franco's film, "Francophrenia (Or: Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)," co-directed by Ian Olds, uses footage shot by Franco during his brief stint on "General Hostpital." It's described as a "humorous psycho-thriller."

"Ace Attorney" by Miike, is a film adaptation of the Nintendo game about the legal battle between a defense attorney and his rival prosecutor.

Italian director Davide Manuli will also be world premiering his latest, "The Legend of Kaspar Hauser," described as a "post-modern Western" starring Gallo.

IFFR 2012 Spectrum: list of films making their world premieres. Go here for full Spectrum lineup.

World premieres
"Cornelia at Her Mirror," Daniel Rosenfeld, Argentina, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
"Roman Diary," Michael Pilz, Austria, World premiere
"Rua Aperana 52," Júlio Bressane, Brazil, World premiere
"Lacan Palestine," Mike Hoolboom, Canada, World premiere
"38 Witnesses," Lucas Belvaux, France, Belgium, World premiere / Opening Film IFFR 2012
"The Rest of the World," Damien Odoul, France, World premiere
"The Blindfold," Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, World premiere
"The Legend of Kaspar Hauser," Davide Manuli, Italy, World premiere
"Ace Attorney," Miike Takashi, Japan, World premiere
"I'm Still Alive," Peter van Houten, Netherlands, World premiere
"Peace versus Justice," Klaartje Quirijns, Netherlands, World premiere
"Nick," Fow Pyng Hu, Netherlands, World premiere
"Agonistes, the Myth of Nation," Lav Diaz, Philippines, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
"When the Lights Went Out," Pat Holden, United Kingdom, World premiere
"A Shape of Error," Abigail Child, USA, Italy, World premiere
"Francophrenia (or: Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)," Ian Olds, James Franco, USA, World premiere

41st International Film Festival Rotterdam Sets Opening & Closing Films

Brian Brooks — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:52:44 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam unveiled its opening and closing night selections for its 41st edition.

French director Lucas Belvaux's "38 Témoins" (38 Witnesses), starring Yvan Attal, Sophie Quinton and Nicole Garcia, will open the event January 25th, while Australian filmmaker Daniel Nettheim's "The Hunter" with Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor and Sam Neill will close out the fest February 4th.

IFFR's festival program consists of three main sections: Bright Future - described as an "idiosyncratic and adventurous new work by novice makers, including the Tiger Awards Competitions." Spectrum," new and recent work by experienced filmmakers and artists who provide, in the opinion of the IFFR, "an essential contribution to international film culture. And Signals, a series of thematic programs and retrospectives offering "insight in topical as well as timeless ideas within cinema."

The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam will take place January 25th - February 5th. The festival will release its full lineup January 19th.

IFFR's opening and closing films follow with descriptions and commentary provided by the festival:

"38 Témoins"
Louise (Sophie Quinton) returns home to discover that while she was away on business in China her street was the scene of a crime. There were no witnesses. Apparently everybody was asleep. Pierre, Louise's husband (Yvan Attal) was at work. Apparently.

Rutger Wolfson, Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, about "38 Témoins": "Lucas Belvaux brings us an excellently written and directed film that is not only tense but also moving and offering food for thought. He makes us very clear what may be the consequences of emotions like fear and shame. Just like in his strong Grenoble-triptych in 2002 and his dramatic Rapt in 2009, Belvaux knows how to capture life's complexities in beautiful cinema."

Lucas Belvaux (1961, Belgium) has been a film, TV and stage actor for over thirty years; he acted in Claude Chabrol's "Madame Bovary" and several of his own films. Before he embarked on his ambitious Grenoble Trilogy, he directed two other features. "38 Témoins," written by Belvaux based on the novel 'Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent?' by Didier Decoin, is his seventh film.

"38 Témoins" was produced by Patrick Sobelman (Agat Films), Patrick Quinet (Artemis) and Yvan Attal. Sales agent is Films Distribution and Diaphana will distribute the film in France.

"The Hunter"
"The Hunter" is a powerful psycholigical drama that tells the story of Martin (Willem Dafoe) a mercenary sent from Europe by a mysterious bio-tech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger. Next to Willem Dafoe, "The Hunter" stars Frances O'Connor ("Mansfield Park") and Sam Neill ("The Piano") in the principal roles. "The Hunter" is based on the novel of the same name written by Julia Leigh.

"The Hunter" was launched as film project at Rotterdam’s CineMart 2004. The film premiered last September during the Toronto IFF. Australian filmmaker Daniel Nettheim directed many television series and the short film The Third Stroke (1995). After his début feature Angst (2000), The Hunter (2011) is his second feature film.

Rotterdam Unveils First Five Films Competing for Tiger Awards

Nigel M Smith — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:02:12 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has locked down the first five films selected to compete for the 2012 Tiger Awards, which go to first or second films from up and coming filmmakers.

The five selected works are: The Polish-American co-production "It Looks Pretty From a Distance," by Anka and Wilhelm Ankal, a film that delves into the darker sides of country life; Midi Z's "Return to Burma," a Southeast Asian contemporary fiction tale; Eduardo Nunes' black and white Brazilian fairylike "Southwest"; the first 3D film in the Tiger Awards Competition, "A Fish" from South Korea; and Huang Ji's Chinese entry "Egg and Stone," making its world premiere at the festival.

Three equal Tiger Awards, each with prize money of 15,000 Euro, will be decided by the jury. Approximately ten more competing titles will announced shortly.

Below are full descriptions of the first five selected films (synopses courtesy of International Film Festival Rotterdam):

"Jidan he shitou" (Egg and Stone) by HUANG Ji

China, 2012, world premiere

Production and sales: Yellow-Green Pi, Beijing, China

Huang Ji shot her feature début drama in her Hunan province hometown with a cast of non-professional actors. Like numerous others in China, the 14 year old protagonist is living with relatives because her parents are working a big city. She has few friends, and at home she tries to keep her door shut.

"Z daleka widok jest piekny" (It Looks Pretty from a Distance) by Anka & Wilhelm Sasnal

Poland/USA, 2011, international premiere

Production: Anton Kern Gallery, New York, USA

Sales: Filmpolis Agata Szymanska, Warsaw, Poland

In their début feature film, renowned visual artists and painters Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal explore the dark and antisocial sides of life on the beautiful Polish countryside, where in a hot summer everything seems to fall apart.

"Gui lai de ren" (Return to Burma) by Midi Z

Burma/Taiwan, 2011, European premiere

Production and sales: Flash Forward Entertainment, Taipei, Taiwan

Film maker Midi Z, born in Burma and raised in Taiwan, shot his début feature film in his native country, working with non-professional actors. A realistic and authentic portrayal of daily life in the least known and least accessible Southeast Asian country, Return to Burma will see its European premiere in Rotterdam.

"Sudoeste" (Southwest) by Eduardo Nunes

Brazil, 2011, European premiere

Supported by the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development.

Production and sales: Superfilmes, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Eduardo Nunes made several successful short films, three of which were screened at IFFR. A tale of fantasy and mystery shot in stunning black-and-white, his fiction feature début Sudoeste is situated in a sleepy Brazilian coastal village. Here, a baby, a girl and a woman named Clarice seem to live their (or is it her?) life in one single day.

"Mulgogi" (A Fish) by PARK Hong-min

South Korea, 2011, international première

Production: Dima Entertainment, Seoul, Zuid-Korea

Sales: Mirovision Inc, Seoul, South Korea

Park Hong-min’s first feature film A Fish will be the first 3D-film in the Tiger Awards Competition. Produced for only about 100,000 Euro, A Fish tells a tragic absurdist tale of a professor who travels South in search of his wife who apparently has deserted him to become a shaman.

Rotterdam Bringing New Film Fest to Curaçao in 2012

Indiewire Staff — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:21:06 GMT

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the Fundashon Bon Intenshon have announced their partnership for a four-day film festival in Willemstad on the southern Caribbean island of Curaçao in 2012, under the name Curaçao IFFR . The festival, with about 20 films in total, will emphasize Caribbean and Latin-American films, but will also include various independent and artistic films, documentaries and shorts, as well as an educational program for children, and even a drive-in screening.

IFFR Director Rutger Wolfson commented: "“It is our pleasure to be organising Curaçao IFFR together with Fundashon Bon Intenshon; a great initiative which will expand the range of culture available in Willemstad. The festival wishes to inspire cinemagoers and young talented filmmakers from around the region. To the IFFR, this represents a welcome addition to the international activities the festival uses to draw attention to the films it screens and actively supports." The festival will take place from March 29-April 1, 2012.

Full press release below:

On 7 June 2011, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the Fundashon Bon Intenshon signed a partnership agreement sealing their organisation of a four-day film festival in Willemstad on Curaçao in 2012. The first edition of the new festival will take place from Thursday 29 March – Sunday 1 April 2012 under the name ‘Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam’. Curaçao IFFR’s main location will be The Cinemas, the new six-screen complex in the Otrobanda area of Willemstad.

Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam will augment the range of films that can be seen in Willemstad by screening independent and artistic films, documentaries and shorts. The film festival’s programme, with an emphasis on Caribbean and Latin-American films, will consist of IFFR 2012 selections and newer work, an educational programme for schoolchildren and special events including a drive-in screening. In total, some 20 films will be screened. As is the case in Rotterdam, the organisation will attempt to get as many filmmakers as possible to present their work in Willemstad and to answer audience questions after the screenings.

IFFR Director Rutger Wolfson: “It is our pleasure to be organising Curaçao IFFR together with Fundashon Bon Intenshon; a great initiative which will expand the range of culture available in Willemstad. The festival wishes to inspire cinemagoers and young talented filmmakers from around the region. To the IFFR, this represents a welcome addition to the international activities the festival uses to draw attention to the films it screens and actively supports.
A special event will be held during the coming 41st IFFR in Rotterdam which will look ahead to the first edition of Curaçao IFFR. The film programme will subsequently be drawn up and advice provided regarding the production of the festival in Willemstad. An excellent range of commercial films can already be watched on Curaçao. Together with Fundashon, the IFFR wishes to create an audience for more artistic films there, and in the surrounding region.”

Gregory Elias, founder and chairman of the Board of Fundashon Bon Intenshon: “We want to utilise this initiative to further strengthen the range of artistic activities on Curaçao. We hope this festival will become an annual event which will, over time, allow Curaçao to present itself as a meeting place for filmmakers and producers from the Caribbean and Latin America. I would like to thank all the people who constructively and creatively helped set up this festival over such a short period of time. In particular, I would like to thank Eduardo de Veer, who responded enthusiastically both in word and deed from the start, and graciously made The Cinemas available as a festival location. This contribution has enabled us to organise a festival of this scale in partnership with the IFFR. We expect the event to attract many new, interested visitors both from the island and abroad. Addressing the IFFR, I would like to say: ‘Rotterdam, we think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’.”

IFFR Business Director Janneke Staarink: “The cooperation between the IFFR and Fundashon Bon Intenshon not only comprises organising Curaçao IFFR, but we are proud to be able to welcome Fundashon Bon Intenshon, alongside our existing partners – de Volkskrant, VPRO and UPC – as the fourth main sponsor. The IFFR and Fundashon intend to enter into a multi-year cooperation.”

Fundashon Bon Intenshon was founded in 1990 on Curaçao. The Fundashon supports projects in the field of education, culture, sports, poverty alleviation, care and tourism on Curaçao and elsewhere on the basis of social and societal commitment.
The Fundashon has been the main sponsor of Dutch premier league football club NEC since the 2008-2009 season, is the main sponsor of baseball club Sparta-Feyenoord and is the co-organiser and sole sponsor of the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival, the second edition of which will take place on 2 and 3 September 2011.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands’ largest cultural events, is not only a must for film fans, but also for adventurous culture lovers. The festival opts for young film talent, for film auteurs with an independent, innovative style and for filmmakers or artists who explore boundaries and transgress these in novel ways. The festival programme consists entirely of films that have never before been screened in the Netherlands. The Hubert Bals Fund, which supports filmmakers from developing countries, and CineMart, the world’s largest co-producers’ market for film projects for small to medium-sized budgets, are also part of the IFFR’s activities. Furthermore, the IFFR has an educational programme, its own DVD label ‘Tiger Releases’ and a YouTube channel. In 2011, the festival attracted 340,000 visitors. The 41st IFFR will take place from 25 January – 5 February 2012 in Rotterdam and it will draw ample attention to the festival in Curaçao among its visitors and the readers, listeners and viewers of its various media communications.

Websites:
IFFR Curacao: www.iffrcuracao.com (under development)
IFFR: www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
Travel agency: Does Travel & Cadushi Tours: www.caribbean.nl

Rotterdam Dispatch | Fest Reinforces its Reputation for Avant-Farde Fare

Brian Brooks — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:05:55 GMT

The 40th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which is coming to a close this weekend, has been branded the "XL Edition." Not only does XL stand for 40 in Roman numerals but it also suggests the extra-large number of both visitors and films to seek out. The festival's reputation for the experimental and avant-garde was once again confirmed this year, as one of the top Tiger Award winners, Catalan ghost road movie "Finisterrae," was a hot subject of debate among the cognoscenti at the fest.

Sergio Caballero's "Finisterrae" is the kind of film that will leave no one indifferent, which is why it is such a perfect fit for the Rotterdam fest. As Doug Jones reported earlier for indieWIRE, it is a challenging work, some might say closer to video art or gallery piece than a film, but then again, this kind of cross-pollination between film and the other arts has always been a hallmark of Rotterdam programming (Caballero himself comes from the visual arts world and curates the Sonar festival in Spain). Whether hated or loved, the jury should be commended for having the cajones to give one of the fest's three main prizes to this out-there feature.

The other two Tiger Award winners, each coming with a €15,000 prize, were from Asia, a continent that's always heavily present at Rotterdam. In fact, many of the Asian films at Rotterdam have their European premiere there after their initial bow at Pusan in October, and this year's two Asian Tigers were no different (they both played in the fest's New Currents program).

Park Jung-Bum's Tiger winner "The Journals of Musan," about a North-Korean man who defects to the South is certainly a film worth seeking out, despite succumbing to that disease so common to many Korean films: not knowing when to stop. In an impressive case of triple duty for a first feature, Park not only wrote and directed the film but also plays the leading role.

Sivaroj Kongsakul, who directed Thai winner "Eternity," was not only an assistant to Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Aditya Assarat ("Wonderful Town") but also worked as cinematographer for Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and all these influences can be felt in his first feature, which is divided into several sections and also features ghosts. Though it's hard to develop a particular signature style if one's part of a wave of filmmakers and if one's working on a first feature, the impression remains that "Eternity" is an OK first film from a director who might become a name to watch in the future.

Two further Asian films were rewarded the special "Return of the Tiger" award. This special section and award, on the occasion of the fest's 40th birthday, showcased new films by people who had participated in past editions of the Tiger Competition with their first or second film. The award went jointly to Hong Sang-soo's "Oki's Movie," which premiered in Venice, and "Club Zeus," from Dutch director David Verbeek, which had its world premiere in Rotterdam.

The latter film was actually filmed before the director's Cannes Un Certain Regard entry "R U There?" from last year and is, if anything, a Shanghainese indie. Shot over two weeks with minimum means, this tale of friendship between two male hosts at the titular club for companionship for women in Shanghai paints a rather dour but very authentic-feeling portrait of the loss of human warmth and easy friendships in a big metropolis such as Shanghai.

The Tiger Competition films this writer enjoyed most both hailed from South America: "Todos tus muertos" (saddled with the ungainly, literally translated English title "All Your Dead Ones") from Colombian director Diego Ramirez ("Dog Eat Dog") and "The Sky Above" by Brazilian rookie director Sergio Borges.

The former looks at the life of an older, cross-eyed farmer who discovers a huge pile of bodies in his cornfield on election day, and who tries to tell the authorities about his find, though it's hard to grab their attention. Though at first sight a seemingly naturalistic story about something that could actually occur in Colombia, which has been torn since the 1960s by warring factions, Ramirez uses various cinematic tools, including sound design, saturated visuals, mise-en-scene -- the pile of fifty dead bodies looks like it was arranged for a Benetton shoot --and droll and dry humor, to slowly let the audience know that what we're watching is really a parable of how Colombians, and Colombian officials especially, deal with the country's problems.

If "Muertos" is both a visceral and visual cinematic experience, then "The Sky Above" is almost its opposite. The portrait of three men, all around thirty, in Belo Horizonte is a minimalist documentary experiment. The strength of the film is that it never judges its protagonists and lets the people and their actions speak for themselves. The three characters are all unique in their own way: Everlyn is a university graduate and teacher who is also a transsexual prostitute, Murari is a Hare Krishna, telemarketer, graffiti artist and soccer fanatic, and Lwei is an (apparently) suicidal bum, who has a handicapped son and who has plans to write a novel but has never worked a day in his life. Each of them has apparently contradictory facets to their persona that make them and their struggles unique, but Borges' film is so good because he never allows his portrait of the three men to become sensationalistic. It is simply the story of their daily lives.

Rotterdam Dispatch | Record Audiences Treated to "Wasted Youth" and Retro Commie Westerns

Bryce J. Renninger — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:59:12 GMT

Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, the Rotterdam International Film Festival opened last Wednesday to record crowds yet again. In recent years, the 11-day festival has become the Netherland’s largest cultural event, with attendance at last year’s event topping over 350,000. If the jumble of filmgoers crowding the box office each morning is any indication, this year’s festival promises to be an equal success (albeit one that could use a few more ticket booths).

Opening the festival was the world premiere of Greece’s “Wasted Youth,” one of fourteen films featured in the festival’s Tigers Competition section. Taking their inspiration from recent events that are still sensitive topics back home, directors Argyris Papadimitropoulos and Jan Vogel paint an portrait of uneasy Athens, following a teenaged skater and a middle-aged policeman, each unaware of the other, over the course of a blisteringly hot summer day. Following the in the wake of Athina Rachel Tsangari’s acclaimed “Attenberg” and Giorgos Lanthimos’ Academy Award-nominated “Dogtooth,” “Wasted Youth” is yet another example of the new direction Greek cinema seems to be heading. “There’s a sense of freedom and urgency,” explained Maria Drandaki, producer of the short “Casus belli,” over drinks a few days after the premiere of “Wasted Youth.” “You can’t wait for the old official channels to finance your film,” chimed in Papadimitropoulos. “Our film was 100 percent independent.”

Although the official crew on “Wasted Youth” consisted of only nine people, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, the film’s producer, feels an entire community of young filmmakers helped in making it. “The difference between our generation and the previous one is we all share with each other.” For example, Papadimitropoulos continued, “I called Maria fifty times during filming. How did you do this? How did you do that? We share information.” Sitting back in his chair, the director looked around. “Next year, if a filmmaker wants to know what Rotterdam is like, they should call me. I’ll tell them it’s great.”

Rotterdam audiences are always up for a challenge—the top ten of the ongoing audience poll currently includes a film essay about the history of experimental cinema—but even the most generous of viewers will have a hard time swallowing Tiger competitor Sergio Caballero’s “Finisterrae.” In a film that often feels more like a multimedia theater piece, two recently deceased souls, wearing white sheets with black eyeholes cut out of them in classic Charlie Brown style, wander the Earth, looking to rejoin the living. There are fleeting moments of surreal genius, such as when the bedsheet-clad ghosts encounter trees which bare music videos rather than fruit, but the playful visuals (shot by the always impressive Eduard Grau) are ultimately overwhelmed by ponderous dialogue and laborious pacing.

Far more successful, but in its own way equally as stylistic, is “Hoy como ayer,” Bernie IJdis’ portrait of 87-year-old tango singer Juan Carlos Godoy. With a directorial approach that favors observation over interaction, IJdis explores the dynamic between Godoy onstage, where he performs with the ease and offhanded charm of an Argentine Tony Bennett, and off, where the singer is perfectly content to dress, drive and eat largely in silence. (The first thing Godoy says in the film, after over ten minutes of quiet preparation for that evening’s performance, is, “Shooting quite a silent film, right?”) Appropriately, there is nothing hurried or forced in IJdis’ filmmaking. Capturing Godoy with a series of long takes and a refusal to move his camera once filming begun, even when the performer is singing just out of frame, IJdis seems as at ease with Godoy as the elderly musician is with his beloved songs. “Hoy como ayer” may be the quietest, most contemplative documentary about a musician ever made.

The passage of time is felt in an entirely different way in Lotte Stoops’ “Grande Hotel.” When it was first opened on the coast of Mozambique in 1952, complete with exclusive shops, five-star restaurants and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, the Grande Hotel catered to a lifestyle only within reach of a precious, privileged few. Today, the building is inhabited by families of squatters and refugees, who have made their home among the ruins of the once opulent structure. Moving between the memories of those who experienced the hotel at the height of its grandeur and the daily lives of those who live there now—including one man whose family currently lives under a stairwell who is proud to say that his father once stayed at the hotel as a paid guest—Stoops reveals the lingering legacy of African colonialism, past and present.

An image from Vytautas Zalakevicius's 1966 film "No One Wanted to Die." [Image courtesy of IFFR]

Rotterdam has a long tradition of exciting retrospective programs in its Signals section, and this year the festival has discovered pure cinephilic catnip with Red Westerns, a survey of films made behind the Iron Curtain inspired, at least in part, by the most American of genres. In films like the marvelously titled silent “The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks” or the Polish parody “Lemonade Joe,” the conventions usually associated with the likes of Tom Mix, John Ford and even Clint Eastwood are reconfigured to align with the Soviet ideology of the time. Cattle rustlers are replaced with anti-Communist partisans, and Monument Valley makes way for the steppes of Eastern Europe. While these rebranding efforts and lines like “What to see what a real Bolshevik looks like?” can produce a chuckle or two from contemporary viewers, the films themselves, when taken at face value, marvelously reinforce just how resilient certain Western themes—honor, justice, even revenge—can be. The sight of a man on horseback, coming over a ridge at a full gallop, is stirring whether he’s wearing a ten-gallon hat or a red-starred Red Army cap, and the inevitable gunfight at the end of “No One Wanted to Die” is no less heartbreaking for taking place in Lithuania instead of the O.K. Corral.

Doug Jones is Associate Director of Programming for Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival.

Early Additions to 40th Rotterdam Film Festival Unveiled

Nigel M Smith — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:24:38 GMT

Ahead of its late January kick-off, the 40th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has revealed a number of films that made it onto next year's program, as well as details on a new action movie series.

The majority of the features announced land in the Tiger Awards Competition for first or second films from new directors. South Korea features prominently in the competition with two films featured in the lineup: Park Jungbum's "The Journals of Musan," and "Bleak Night" from director Yoon Sung-hyun. Other Asian films on the docket include Vipin Vijay's "The Image Threads," Sanjeewa Pushpakamara's "Flying Fish," and Sivaroj Kongsakul's "Eternity." Also on the list is Lawrence Tooley's "Headshots," as well as "Rainy Seasons" from Iranian director Majid Berzagar. Additional films in competition will be announced in early January by the festival.

Moving from features to shorts, the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films has selected the first twenty films to fend off against one another. Films that made the cut include Nathaniel Dorsky's "Pastourelle," John Price's "Home Movie," Aleksandra Streyanaya's "Bread for the Bird," and "Maska" from the Quay Brothers.

In addition, IFFR announced a special series dedicated to 'wu xia' (Chinese martial arts) films, to be hosted in the Water Tiger Inn festival location. Films on the lineup span from 1929 to 2010, and include Chang Cheh's "Golden Swallow," Ching Siu-tung's "Duel to the Death," and Su Chao-pin & John Woo's newest film "Reign of Assassins."

The 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam runs from January 26 - February 6, 2011. For additional news on IFFR, check out their website.