Daily Tiger #5 (English)

international film festival rotterdam12

Heartof tHetiGer

Every year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s extensive line-up comprises not just feature-length presentations, but mid-length and short films too, either brought together in compilation screenings or screening ahead of features. As usual this year, there is also a competition category for films with a runtime not exceeding 60 minutes. At this 43rd edition of the festival, 24 films from around the world were nomi-nated for the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films. Unlike their full-length brethren, Tiger Shorts Award nominees need not be debut or second films. One of the winners is also nominated for a European Film Award.

scopeThis diverse selection received the scrutiny of a jury consisting of Mati Diop (France), herself a two-time winner of a Tiger Award for Short Films (Atlan-tiques, 2010, and Big in Vietnam, 2012); art historian

and visual arts curator at the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, Bart Rutten (Netherlands) and filmmaker and visual artist Mika Taanila (Finland). After examining the short films, the Jury commented: “The jury was very pleased by the scope of cinematic approach demonstrated throughout the nominees for the Tiger Awards for Short Films. The selection of 24 nominated shorts celebrates the richness of this domain in a wonderful way. Here we can see glimpses of newer forms of cinema that will enrich the language in many ways.”

UncompromisedHowever, some films have to be picked as winners, and the jury justified their selection thus: “All of the winners were outstanding productions in the search for new ways of narration. Although we were not necessary looking for craftsmanship in the way the shorts were executed, but rather at the approach

taken by the maker towards the story or subject matter, and the ambition to celebrate the power of the cinema in personal, thorough or witty ways. And most importantly, in an uncompromised way. Nevertheless, all three winning films were outstan-ding in their craftsmanship, either in storytelling, montage, soundtrack – or even by bringing a langu-age to the foreground that we as a jury have never experienced before.”

new audienceFilmmaker Salla Tykkä says that bringing her film to Rotterdam is a “good chance to address a new and wider audience”. On what receiving a Tiger Award for Short Films would mean to her and her crew, she said, “It would be a reward for a lot of work”. The jury described her film, Giant, as: “A very focused and pure portrait of a place and a political history in one. The brilliant editing and sound design push the seemingly distant observations to a thrilling friction between dehumanisation and man’s quest for beauty and grace.”

next stepFrench director Adan Jodorowsky’s short The Voice Thief also competed in the Tiger Shorts competition. The director says: “I am very honored to be in the competition, I gave all my soul in this film, so it’s a nice present ... To be part of such a beautiful festival is a caress to my humble ego.” When questioned about his thoughts on what the selection means for him and his career, he reveals: “For the film, it would be very

prestigious, people are always more attentive to your work […], so it would maybe help me to start a feature film. This is the next step.”

second homeFilmmakers often come back to Rotterdam with new work, and director Sergio Caballero is an example of this. After winning a Tiger Award in 2011 for his debut feature Finisterrae, he returns this year with his second feature La distancia and the short Ancha es Castilla/N’importe quoi, which competes in the Tiger Shorts competition. Caballero says, “Rotterdam was the first International festival I attended. I feel that IFFR is like a second home. It was an honour to be included in the competition. It means a lot to me, as IFFR is possibly the greatest stage for my films.”

WinnersAt the awards ceremony last night, the Canon Tiger Awards for Short Films 2014 were accorded to Sebas-tian Buerkner’s The Chimera of M. (United Kingdom); Salla Tykkä’s Giant (Finland/Romania) and La isla by Dominga Sotomayor and Katarzyna Klimkiewicz (Chile/Poland/Denmark). The award brings each recipient a cash prize of €3,000 and a Canon video camera. Along with this, The Chimera of M. was also nominated to compete in the short film category of the annual European Film Awards (EFA).

shorts are an integral part of iffr, and have their own competition, the tiger awards Competition for short films, which, like the Hivos tiger awards Competition for feature-length fare, annually imparts three awards for films up to 60 minutes. laya maheshwari reports

43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam #5 Monday 27 January 2014

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space for shorts

short specialTonight, a film and live performance by Swedish artist and composer Erik Bünger who inge-niously, humorously employs found footage to bring lost voices back to life and make unexpec-ted connections. Co-production with Stichting Impakt. See also Spectrum Shorts. 20:00 hrs, LantarenVenster 3, €11, €8 with discount.

Sign up for four digitals dailies containing CineMart and industry news from the festival grounds brought to you by Screen International, from Sunday 26 January. Register for the e-mail newsletters at www.screendaily.com/news.

Peter Buckingham (left) of SampoMedia addresses yesterday’s launch summit for IFFR Live!, an initiative that aims to link up global audiences to events such as film premieres at IFFR. Other speakers at the event included IFFR artistic director Rutger Wolfson, who is recovering from illness.

The Chimera of M. Giant La Isla

13INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

Ten to watchFollowing last year’s inaugural edition, IFFR’s Big Screen Award Competition returns with ten fresh discoveries. The selected titles, chosen from the Spectrum and Bright Future sections, compete for two prizes. Each prize has its own jury. An audience jury composed of cinephiles decides one prize, while the other is awarded by the Association of Dutch Film Critics (KNF). The latter prize, known as the KNF Award, has been a part of IFFR since 1983. Past winners include Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise; Claire Denis’ Beau Travail and Alexey Balabanov’s Cargo 200. Five critics make up the KNF Award jury: Kees Driessen (Vrij Nederland); Jelle Schot (cinema.nl and VPRO Gids); Nienke Huitenga (de Filmkrant); Quirijn Foeken (biosagenda.nl) and Paul van Es (TrosKompas / TV Krant). Headed by Driessen, the jury can – in exceptional circumstances – award a fi lm selected from outside the ten Big Screen Award nominees, as long as it is without Dutch distribution.At the time of invitation, none of the ten nominees had distribution deals for the Benelux region. This year, IFFR is award-ing €10,000 to support distribution and publicity costs within the Netherlands for the winning fi lm.There are two previous Tiger Award winners among the competition. Manolo Nieto, of Uruguay, returns to IFFR with The Militant, following success with The Dog Pound in 2006. Set during Uruguay’s economic and political crisis in 2002,

the fi lm tells the tale of Ariel, a politi-cally engaged student who returns home to inherit his recently deceased father’s farm.Sergio Caballero, meanwhile, follows up Finisterrae (2010) with La distancia, a playful reworking of the heist fi lm genre. This absurdly comic, multilingual work plays fast and loose with genre conven-tions, boasting a memorable soundtrack and a narrative structure that in some ways resembles musical composition more than any fi lmic precedent.Other directors vary in experience. See No Evil, a Dutch-Belgian co-production, is former fi lm critic Jos de Putter’s seventh feature-length documentary. It is a study of three apes who have been subjected to various treatments and conditioning, from starring in Tarzan fi lms to harmful testing. Obvious Child, on the other hand, is the feature debut of New York fi lmmaker Gillian Robespierre. The fi lm depicts the travails of Donna, a stand-up comedian who, recently ditched by her boyfriend, drinks away bad news and becomes pregnant from a one-night fl ing. Serious issues, the fi lm reminds us, are never beyond comic treatments. Completing the Big Screen Award line-up are Another Year (Oxana Bychkova); It’s Us (Nick Reding); Jacky in Women’s Kingdom (Riad Sattouf); R100 (Matsumoto Hitoshi); Reimon (Rodrigo Moreno) and To Kill a Man (Alejandro Fernández Almendras). Michael Pattison

For the third consecutive year, the Art:Film initiative is part of the Rotter-dam CineMart, taking fi lm projects further by exploring distribution opportunities. As the name suggests, it draws attention to the existing link between the art world and the fi lm industry and, in the words of curator Tobias Pausinger, is “trying to fi nd what can be applied from one fi eld to the other.” Sometimes a fi lm project will need something more than a cinema screening, with part of it being exhibited in an alternative space, for example. Art:Film is all about fi nding the proper venue for hard-sell fi lms, involving art world professionals and fi lm market professionals in their distribution. As Art:Film represen-tative Jacobine van der Vloed puts it, “Organizing Art:Film involves a lot of taking suggestions, of asking around the art network; networking is an important part of the process. It gives participants an opportunity to meet that they might not have had in other circumstances.” Van der Vloed says that choosing projects is done by scouting for them, while Pausinger points out they are also picked from the CineMart selection – indeed, this year’s festival selection includes former Art:Film participants Sergio Cabal-lero’s La distancia (CineMart 2013, now

screening in Bright Future) and Ben Rivers’ & Ben Russell’s A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (CineMart 2011, also in Bright Future). A very limited number of projects from CineMart are chosen, however. Pausinger explains: “At the moment, we are looking for projects by directors who preferably already have leverage in the art world. It’s not that we are snobbish about it – but we are developing new methods, trying to investigate, and we need a reputation to rely on; we can’t start from scratch.” This year’s three Art:Film projects are Fierté nationale by Sven Augustijnen (Belgium, director of Spectres, 2011); Invention by Mark Lewis (UK, Backstory, 2009) and Tarda primavera by Michel-angelo Frammartiono (Italy, Le quattro volte 2010).Today’s Art:Film panel is curated by Van der Vloed and Pausinger together with IFFR representatives Rutger Wolfson and Bianca Taal and CPH:DOX representatives Rine Fischer and Daniella Eversby and involves numerous industry professionals. The audience will have the opportunity to get involved in the discussion, give feed-back and suggestions. Asked whether Art:Film changes strategies from year to year, Van der Vloed and Pausinger reply: “From event to event, even. From project to project.” Irina Trocan

Artful strategies

10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00 22.00 23.00 24.0009.00

Casa GrandeFellipe Barbosa

107’

09:00 TG ArwadSamer Najari, Dominique Chila

105’

11:15 TG Obvious ChildGillian Robespierre

83’

13:30 BF Once Upon a Time in ShanghaiOnce Upon a Time in ShanghaiOnce Upon a

Wong Ching PoWong Ching PoWong Ching PoWong Ching Po 96’

15:15 SP Another YearOxana Bychkova

107’

17:15 SP HeliumEché Janga

90’

22:15 BF

Cherry PieLorenz Merz

85’

21:45 BF

The History of EternityCamilo Cavalcante

118’

09:00 BF Mancanza-InfernoStefano Odoardi 71’

11:30 SP Secretly GreatlyJang Cheol-Soo

123’

13:00 HS

L’ éclat furtif de l’ombreA. Housiaux, P. Dechesne 90’

09:15 BF Piccola patriaAlessandro Rossetto

111’

11:15 SP Blood in Bahia’s HotAurelio Grimaldi 75’

13:30 SP

The Creator of the JungleJordi Morató 74’

09:00 BF Leave It for Tomorrow, for Night Has FallenLeave It for Tomorrow, for Night Has FallenLeave It for Tomorrow,

Jet LeycoJet LeycoJet Leyco 100’

10:45 BF About SarahElisa Miller

76’

13:00 BF Oilfields Mines HurricanesFabian Altenried

122’

14:45 BF After the RainCláudio Marques, Marília HughesCláudio Marques, Marília HughesCláudio Marques,

95’

22:45 BF

Letters from the Southvarious directors

105’

09:00 SP The DriverJarkko T. Laine, J-P PassiJarkko T. Laine, J-P PassiJarkko T. Laine,

62’

11:15 BF The Songs of RiceThe Songs of RiceThe Songs

Uruphong RaksasadUruphong RaksasadUruphong Raksasad 75’

12:45 BF Little CrushesAleksandra Gowin, Ireneusz GrzybAleksandra Gowin, Ireneusz GrzybAleksandra Gowin,

78’

14:30 BF The Iranian FilmYassine el Idrissi 67’

22:15 BF

Ping Pong SummerMichael Tully

90’

09:15 SP Sorrow and JoyNils Malmros

107’

11:15 NM The DisobedientMina Djukic

112’

13:30 BF Bella VistaVera Brunner-Sung

80’

22:30 BF

DINAMO P&I Screenings 4

87’

10:00 SH

de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal

Pathé 3

Pathé 5

Pathé 6

Cinerama 3

Cinerama 4

Cinerama 5

LantarenVenster 2

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS MONDAY 27 JANUARY Admission with P&I accreditation only

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS MONDAY 27 JANUARY Admission with P&I accreditation only

de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal •FLM•

09:00Casa Grande [wp] TGFellipe Barbosa, Brazil, 2014, DCP, 107 min, Portuguese, e.s.Jean (17) is growing up in the elite district of Rio, with its private schools, drivers and housekeepers. While he tries to escape from his over-protective parents, they keep their approaching bankruptcy secret. This beautifully played coming-of-age fi lm provides a clear picture of class differences and racism.

11:15Arwad [ip] TGSamer Najari/Dominique Chila, Canada, 2013, DCP, 105 min, French, e.s.Ali returns to Arwad in Syria after the death of his mother. One night, Ali mysteriously drowns at sea. Both his wife and mistress struggle: accident or suicide? Ali’s identity crisis as an immigrant only makes the quest more complex. Moving drama about loss, escape and exile.

13:30Obvious Child [ip] BF•geel•

Gillian Robespierre, USA, 2014, DCP, 83 min, EnglishStand-up comedian Donna is dumped by her cheating boyfriend, loses her job, gets blind drunk and becomes pregnant from a one-night stand. She considers an abortion, then gets to know the father. Romance, quirky humour and irresistible characters. Nominated for The Big Screen Award.

15:15Once Upon a Time in Shanghai [ip] SP•paars01•

Wong Ching Po, Hong Kong, 2014, DCP, 96 min, Mandarin, e.s.A Hong Kong ode to pre-war Shanghai. The legendary city of pulsating nightclubs, Japanese spies and dandy gangsters, summed up in stylish black-and-white Kung Fu fi lms. A poor boy from the country fi ghts his way to the top in a fi lm that can compete with the best of them.

17:15Another Year [wp] SP•paars01•

Oxana Bychkova, Russia, 2014, DCP, 107 min, Russian, e.s.He’s an unemployed guy who earns some money by giving lifts to strangers. She’s a graphic desig-ner who just got her fi rst job. The fi lm tracks their relationship - and the way it gradually melts away - throughout a year. A subtle, moving portrait of an immature love that breaks down easily. Nominated for The Big Screen Award.

22:15Helium [wp] BF•geel•

Eché Janga, Netherlands, 2014, DCP, 79 min, Dutch, e.s.A world-weary gangster boss is forced to retreat to a wintry, deserted Dutch island. Here, he feels a peace and quiet he has never known before. It deeply affects him. An atmospheric, almost contemplative crime fi lm, with more thinking and looking than shooting.

Pathé 3 •FLM•

09:00The History of Eternity [wp] BF•geel•

Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil, 2014, DCP, 118 min, Portuguese, e.s.Compellingly staged and bursting with big emotions, this is the long-anticipated fi rst feature from Cavalcante: the passion, desire and despair of three women of different ages in a village deep in the searing landscape of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil.

11:30Mancanza-Inferno [wp] SP•paars01•

Stefano Odoardi, Italy/Netherlands, 2014, DCP, 71 min, Italian, e.s.While an angel fl ies around, 20 doomed prisoners are sitting in the hell of L’Aquila, the city where there was a horrifi c earthquake in 2009. Visionary and stylised, by the maker of A White Ballad (IFFR 2007). Inspired by Rilke’s Elegies of Duino; beautiful music by Andrea Manzoli.

13:00Secretly Greatly [ep] 25Jang Cheol-Soo, South Korea, 2013, DCP, 123 min, Korean, e.s.A strange mix of genres as only the Koreans can. North Korean spies infi ltrate the South preten-ding to be a village idiot, musician and student. When they receive a text message that the mission is aborted and they have to commit suicide, the crazy comedy turns into a full-blooded action thriller.

Pathé 5 •FLM•

09:15L’éclat furtif de l’ombre [wp] BF•geel•

Alain-Pascal Housiaux/Patrick Dechesne, Belgium/Germany, 2014, DCP, 90 min, Amharic/French, e.s.The horrors of war cast young fi sherman Adisu adrift in vast Ethiopia. Forty years later, he is a taxi driver in a Northern European city, dreaming every night of his lost love. Surprising debut is dreamlike yet authentic, with no hint of false sentimentality.

11:15Piccola patria [ip] SP•paars01•

Alessandro Rossetto, Italy, 2013, DCP, 111 min, Italian, e.s.Superb fi ction debut from an experienced documentary maker shows a small community in northern Italy, where city and countryside merge, like a patchwork quilt unravelling under pressure from the crisis, migration and decadence. In the stultifying summer heat, two women pursue their escapist dreams - and create nightmares.

13:30Blood in Bahia’s Hot [wp] SP•paars01•

Aurelio Grimaldi, Italy/Brazil, 2014, DCP, 75 min, Portuguese, e.s.Grimaldi makes unusual fi lms that reveal his admiration for Pier Paolo Pasolini, among them Le buttane or Rosa Fonseca. The authentic and youthful energy also jumps out at you from the screen in this simple love story based on true facts and set in the favelas of Bahia, the most hot-blooded city in Brazil.

Pathé 6 •FLM•

21:45Cherry Pie [ip] BF•geel•

Lorenz Merz, Switzerland, 2013, DCP, 85 min, French/Russian/English, e.s.Zoé is young and alone, on the road, clearly running away. From a painful past? From herself? She drifts aimlessly but deliberately, leaving the people and places she encounters. Her sorrow does not dissipate until a stranger offers her a cherry pie, on a desolate beach.

Cinerama 3 •FLM•

09:00The Creator of the Jungle [wp] BF•geel•

Jordi Morató, Spain, 2014, DCP, 77 min, Catalan, e.s.Near the Catalan village of Argelaguer, Garrell spent 45 years building spectacular jungle struc-tures, tree houses, waterfalls and labyrinths with his bare hands. In the meantime, he made Tarzan fi lms with local kids. An ode to the creative urge - and compulsion.

10:45Leave It for Tomorrow, for Night Has Fallen [ip] BF•geel•

Jet Leyco, Philippines, 2013, DCP, 100 min, Filipino, e.s.The years under dictator Marcos (1965-1986) were a time of great suffering for the Philippines. This fi lmmaker was born after the dictator-ship, but felt its ongoing effect on his family. Searchingly, Leyco brings fragments from that confusing time back to life.

13:00About Sarah [wp] BF•geel•

Elisa Miller, Mexico/United Kingdom, 2014, DCP, 76 min, English/Spanish, e.s.Fascinating portrait of Sarah Lucas, who together with Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin conquered the art world as a controversial Young British Artist. Now almost 50, the artist is working on a solo show in Mexico, while smoking, drinking and refl ecting on life and work.

14:45Oilfi elds Mines Hurricanes [wp] BF•geel•

Fabian Altenried, Germany/Iceland, 2014, Video, 122 min, English/German/Icelandic, e.s.Based on John Cage’s centuries-long organ piece As SLow aS Possible, this portmanteau road movie follows the meanderings of Salpa, a man with a fi sh on his chin. The quest for his own identity is carried on ad absurdum.

22:45After the Rain [ip] BF•geel•

Cláudio Marques/Marília Hughes, Brazil, 2013, DCP, 95 min, Portuguese, e.s.Fresh, punky microcosmic drama about the fi rst school council elections after the end of the Bra-zilian dictatorship, held simultaneously with the fi rst democratic Presidential elections. Sixteen-year-old Caio and Fernanda are caught up in young love and emerging political consciousness.

Cinerama 4 •FLM•

09:00Letters from the South [ep] SP•paars01•

Various directors, China/Malaysia/Thailand/Singapore/Myanmar, 2013, DCP, 105 min, Mandarin/Thai/Taiwanese/Burmese/Cantonese, e.s.An omnibus fi lm about how immigrant Chinese in Southeast Asia cling to their traditional cus-toms, language and habits - even after centuries in a different country. Made by fi lmmakers with a Chinese background who have individually been regular guests in Rotterdam.

11:15The Driver [ip] BF•geel•

Jarkko T. Laine/J-P Passi, Finland, 2013, DCP, 62 min, Finnish, e.s.When romance develops between a driver at the racecourse and his pupil, he has to choose: her, or his wife? But decision-making is not his strong point. This love story is set during those long Finnish summer days on which men work on cars and melancholy lurks everywhere.

12:45The Songs of Rice [wp] BF•geel•

Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand, 2014, DCP, 75 min, Thai, e.s.In Thailand, a hymn to rice need not always be sung. A dance, or spectacular homemade fi reworks can say the same thing. As can a fi lm, as is convincingly demonstrated by this lyrical, beau-tifully fi lmed homage to this essential staple food.

14:30Little Crushes [wp] BF•geel•

Aleksandra Gowin/Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland, 2014, DCP, 78 min, Polish, e.s.Two girls clean places after somebody dies there. Sometimes they sell the belongings of the dead at a fl ea market. When they meet an odd guy who has a passion for boxes, a strange game unfolds. An unconventional love story about the oddity of ordinary things. Eccentric and natural at once.

22:15The Iranian Film [wp] BF•geel•

Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco/Netherlands/Egypt, 2014, DCP, 67 min, Arabic, e.s.Creative documentary about fi lmmaking in Mo-rocco, by a fi lmmaker inspired by Iranian masters. He sets out to get his own fi lm off the ground. On the way, he faces incomprehension, corruption and self-censorship. An ode to cinema, Iranian above all.

Cinerama 5 •FLM•

09:15Ping Pong Summer [ip] SP•paars01•

Michael Tully, USA, 2013, DCP, 90 min, EnglishA family holiday in Ocean City turns the life of 13-year-old Rad upside down. He falls in love for the fi rst time, has to deal with bullies, makes a new best friend and is able to play ping-pong to his heart’s content. Great ode to the 1980s teenager fi lm, with oldskool hip-hop beats.

11:15Sorrow and Joy NM•blauw•

Nils Malmros, Denmark, 2013, DCP, 107 min, Danish, e.s.When fi lmmaker Johannes returns from a lecture one evening, he fi nds the house in mourning and terror: his wife has killed their baby. A meditation on the limits of human law and the infi nite pos-sibilities of kindness and understanding, and a Protestant melodrama on the subject of grace.

13:30The Disobedient [ep] BF•geel•

Mina Djukic, Serbia, 2014, DCP, 112 min, Serbian, e.s.As children, they were best friends. After many years abroad, Lazar returns to the village where Leni stayed behind. Bored, they set out on a sum-mer bike trip. In playful sketches, a wonderful, romantic, comic tale about soul mates, growing up and youthful disobedience unfolds.

22:30Bella Vista [wp] BF•geel•

Vera Brunner-Sung, USA, 2014, Video, 80 min, EnglishAn English teacher feels isolated in a small town in the American West. Pressured by circumstan-ces beyond her control, she searches the local landscape for answers in long, time-stopping shots; the sound of tires on an unseen highway haunts every frame.

LantarenVenster 2 •FLM•

10:00DINAMO P&I Screenings 4 SH•paars02•

Compilation Programme, 79 minDINAMO (Distribution Network of Artists’ Moving Image Organizations) distributors show recently acquired work.