Still: Dreissig

48th International Film Festival Rotterdam

23 January - 3 February 2019

Rotterdam, 6 December 2018

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) announces the first titles for its Bright Future section, the festival’s home for upcoming filmmakers with their own style and vision. The section comprises features, mid-lengths and shorts, and includes the feature film debuts competing for the Bright Future Award worth €10,000.

Among the productions selected so far are the world premieres of Viktor van der Valk’s neo-noir Nocturne (the Netherlands); Argentinian actress Romina Paula’s directing debut De nuevo otra vez; Ico Costa’s debut feature Alva (from the producers of Djon África, which was in IFFR 2018’s Tiger Competition); and Dreissig by Berlin-based filmmaker Simona Kostova. The international premiere of Fabiana, Brunna Laboissière’s portrait of a transgender truck driver, also screens in the Bright Future Competition.

In addition to feature films, IFFR’s Bright Future section devotes plenty of space to mid-length and short films. Titles confirmed for Bright Future Mid-length include Derrière les volets by Messaline Raverdy and the world premiere of L’inconnu de Collegno by Maïder Fortuné. Stefano Canapa’s The Sound Drifts (world premiere) and Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Walled Unwalled will both screen in Bright Future Short.

The feature film debuts in Bright Future that are world or international premieres compete for the Bright Future Award worth €10,000. The prize money is an incentive for a new film project. The winner will be selected by a professional jury consisting of Christoph Friedel of German production outfit Pandora Films, Sata Cissokho of Memento Films in Paris, and Italian film critic and programmer Beatrice Fiorentino.

For an overview of all Bright Future selections so far, click here.

The full Bright Future line-up will consist of approximately 50 feature films. The eight films in Tiger Competition, which is also part of the Bright Future section, will be announced early January 2019.