Meanwhile in the Other Hemisphere: Film Fest Rotterdam

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 19 January 2012 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 41st Annual International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is being held January 25 - February 5, 2012 all over downtown Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

From its start with an audience of 17 people in 1972, through the 1973 festival which hosted over 7,000 visitors, IFFR has grown to be one the largest audience driven film festivals in the world. It is also one of the largest cultural events in the Netherlands.  

Concurrently with IFFR, the 29th CineMart, IFFR's co-production market, is taking place from January 29 - February 1.

"CineMart was the first platform of its kind to offer filmmakers the opportunity to launch their ideas to the international film industry and to find the right connections to get their projects financed.

Every year, CineMart invites a select number of directors/producers to present their film projects to co-producers, bankers, funds, sales agents, distributors, TV stations and other potential financiers."

Between IFFR’s longtime venue LantarenVenster and Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Pathé Schouwburgplein, Cinerama Filmtheater, Oude Luxor Theater and Sub-urban Video Lounge, among others, something Festival-related is happening everywhere, be it film showings, video installations or arts exhibitions.

This year some 16 submissions are having their world premiere at Rotterdam (so they are not being seen at Sundance):

Cornelia at Her Mirror
dir. Daniel Rosenfeld (Argentina)
This stylish film is based on the story by Silvina Ocampo.

Roman Diary
dir. Michael Pilz (Austria)
The film is a meditation on images of a park in Rome.

Rua Aperana 52
dir. Júlio Bressane (Brazil)
A musical film about a street corner in Rio, edited together from old photos and the director's  own films from the period 1957-2005.

Lacan Palestine
dir. Mike Hoolboom (Canada)
This found footage is an "essay on a complex country and its love-struck inhabitants".

Florentina Hubaldo, CTE
dir. Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Two workers leave the city in search of treasure.

Le Reste du Monde
dir. Damien Odoul (France)
with Marie-Eve Nadeau, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Béart
A family considers issues of identity and relationships.

38 Témoins / 38 Witnesses
dir. Lucas Belvaux (France)
with Yves Attal, Sophie Quinton, Nicole Garcia
This film about a murder of a young woman in Le Havre is strongly reminiscient of the Kitty Genovese murder in New York City some 50 years ago. The film is the Opening Night selection.

When the Lights Go Out
dir. Pat Holden (UK)
with Kate Ashfield, Steven Waddington
A family in Yorkshire is tormented by an evil spirit.

The Blindfold
dir. Garin Nugroho (Indonesia)
This film deals with religion in Indonesia, "stressing that fundamentalism exists in every faith".

La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser / The Legend of Kaspar Hauser
dir. Davide Manuli (Italy)
with Vincent Gallo
This "surreal post-Western" is a new take on an old story dating back to 1812, with Gallo as a castaway washed up on a Mediterranean beach.  

Ace Attorney
dir. Miike Takashi (Japan)
with Narimiya Hiroki, Saitoh Takumi
An adaptation of the Nintendo game about the legal battle between defense attorney Phoenix Wright (Hiroki) and his rival, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth (Takumi).

Nick
dir. Fow Pyng Hu (Netherlands)
with Merijn de Jong, Marcel Hensema
A road movie as character study.

Peace Versus Justice
dir. Klaartje Quirijns (Netherlands)
This documentary discusses Uganda's relationship with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

I’m Still Alive
dir. Peter van Houten (Netherlands)
A documentary about a poor, elderly Polish woman who has lived in many countries, including the Netherlands.

Francophrenia (or: Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)
dir. Ian Olds, James Franco (USA)
This "humorous psycho-thriller" is based on a new script written for existing footage shot by Franco during his stint on the TV daytime soap General Hospital.  

A Shape of Error
dir. Abigail Child (USA)
Imaginary home movies filmed in Rome from the lives of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and her husband, Percy B. Shelley.

The Festival features three main sections with components ranging from films and new technology to art installations:

Bright Future presents idiosyncratic and adventurous new work by novice filmmakers, usually their first or second films, which are eligible for the Tiger Awards Competition.  

Spectrum comprises new and recent work by experienced filmmakers and artists who provide “an essential contribution to international film culture”. The Shorts section includes some 400 films.

Signals presents the interactive installation Home Movie Factory by French filmmaker Michel Gondry. Inspired by Gondry's 2008 film Be Kind Rewind, the project gives participants the opportunity and resources to make a short film in under three hours.

Ready-to-use film sets and equipment will be available  free of charge and with no special training or knowledge required. Small groups of 5 to 15 people will work independently with creative control over the entire project, including the genre and title of their film, the script, acting and actual filming. After completing their film, the participants can see a screening of their film and will be given DVD copies of the final product.

Another Signals presentation this year is The Mouth of Garbage: Sub Culture and Sex in São Paulo, a broad selection of short and feature films "from São Paulo’s so-called ‘Boca do Lixo’ (Mouth of Garbage), the nickname for the working class neighborhood in the center of the Brazilian metropolis. These quick and dirty productions frequently highlighted the sleazy underbelly of Brazilian society using established genres such as noir, horror, the western, and pornography."

Other Signals themes include:

• Peter Von Bagh – This year tribute is paid to the Finnishdirector whose first feature in 1971 is one of several of his films screening, as well as three Finnish films that influenced him. Von Bagh will be present. Films include:
  • Pockpicket - Recollections of a Helsinki Bourgeois Youth (short, 1968 )
  • The Count (1971)
  • Olavi Virta (1972)
  • Blue Sky - Journey Into the Land of Memories (1978)
  • Paavo Nurmi - The Man and His Times (1978)
  • The Year 1952 (1980)
  • A Day at Karl Marx's Grave (1983)
  • Drama of Time (1986)
  • Helsinki, Forever (2008)
  • Land of the Pharaohs (1988)
  • The Last Summer 1944 (1992)
  • The Year 1939 (1993)
  • Man in the Shadows (1994)
  • The Story of Mikko Niskanen (2010)
  • Sodankylä Forever: The Century of Cinema (2011)
  • Splinters - A Century of an Artistic Family (2011)
• For Real – In addition to Gondry's Home Movie Factory, attendees can also participate as an actor or extra. Not so much cinema as everyday reality, these films show the resulting art forms thanks to new technologies. Included are a subtlemob (the answer to a flashmob), interactive projects, and happenings in public spaces where attendees are encouraged (expected?) to participate.
• eteam: 100 Meters Behind the Future – This is a live film being shot, acted, directed, edited, screened, watched and deleted in real time on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam. The audience views the film in a van as it drives around Rotterdam, both through the vehicle's windshield and on a handheld device.
• Regained – Resurrected classics and forgotten works are screened in an amazingly eclectic mix which spans over a century of cinema -- from the first science fiction film ever, Méliès's 1902 A Trip to the Moon, to films by and/or about Kubelka, Maya Deren, Jean Epstein and Bill Morrison on through brand new works.
• Power Cut: Middle East – This section focuses on the Arab Spring, with emphasis on Egyptian and Syrian films.
• Hidden Histories – The focus here is on hidden aspects of Chinese society, such as poverty and corruption, as well as fact that the films themselves were often forbidden to be seen. Also screening are some films by Ai Weiwei, including Beijing 2003, the longest film ever shown in Rotterdam -- 150 hours.

As always, the Festival is a feast of riches with assorted films and presentations from all over the world.

For more information, go to www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
January 25 - February 5, 2012

CineMart
January 29 - February 1, 2012

Festival Headquarters:
De Doelen
Karel Doormanstraat 278/B
3012 GP Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: 010 890 90 90

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