IFFR announces competition (dd 8 January 2007)

PRESS RELEASE January 8, 2007

Rotterdam film festival announces its Competitions

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected fifteen first or second feature films for its Tiger Award Competition. The line up consists of seven world premieres, five international premieres and two European premieres. Two competition films were supported by the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund. For the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films, the festival has selected twenty-five films.

Rotterdam festival director Sandra den Hamer: “The Tiger Awards Competition this year shows a particularly big diversity in origin, subject and cinematic styles. There is moody psychological drama alongside quite bizarre rock‘n roll and experiences that are visually sparkling. Some of the films we found are baroque and wayward, some more subtle – yet poignant. Many playfully are breaking the boundaries of established film genres. But all are works of talent and originality.”

The Tiger Awards Jury 2007 to select the winning feature films consists of Portuguese filmmaker Teresa Villaverde (her TRANCE screens in the festival), Dutch actress Maria Kraakman who starred in both ILES FLOTTANTES and GUERNSEY by Nanouk Leopold, Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye (his SUMMER PALACE screens in the festival); Piers Handling, Director of the Toronto International Film Festival; British filmmaker and visual artist Isaac Julien (Artist in Focus of IFFR 2004).

The Jury to award the winning short films consists of Austrian filmmaker Peter Tscherkassky (who will give a Master Class as part of the festival’s short film section “Short: As Long As It Takes), New York-based media artist, theorist, curator and translator Keith Sanborn (presenting his video CLEAR TO ENGAGE within the “Seatless Cinema”-section) and Dutch artist Gijs Frieling (director of W139, work/exhibition centre for contemporary art in Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

The three winning short films will be announced on Monday January 29 and the winning features during IFFR 2007’s Awards Ceremony, to be held on Friday February 2. The three equal VPRO Tiger Awards come with Euro 10,000 and guaranteed Dutch television screening by IFFR’s main sponsor, Dutch public network VPRO; the three Tiger Awards for short films come with Euro 3,000 each, kindly offered by the festival’s Tiger Business Lounge and by INHOLLAND University.

The 15 films in IFFR 2007’s VPRO Tiger Awards Competition:

(in alphabetical order by director’s name)

BAIXIO DAS BESTAS (BOG OF BEASTS) by Claudio Assis (Brazil, 2007), international premiere
BUNNY CHOW by John Barker (South Africa, 2006), European premiere
YO (ME) by Rafa Cortés (Spain, 2007), world premiere
CHELOVEK BEZVOZVRATNY (THE MAN OF NO RETURN) by Katya Grokhovskaya (Russia, 2006), European premiere
HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? by Xiaolu Guo (China/UK 2006), international premiere
AFR by Morten Hartz Kaplers (Denmark, 2006), international premiere
JU-YON-SAI (FOURTEEN) by Hirosue Hiromasa (Japan, 2006), international premiere
LA FINE DEL MARE by Nora Hoppe (Germany/Italy/France, 2006), world premiere
ROCK’N’ROLL NEVER DIES by Juha Koiranen (Finland 2006), international premiere
DOES IT HURT? – THE FIRST BALKAN DOGMA by Aneta Lesnikovska (Macedonia/Netherlands, 2007), world premiere
EX DRUMMER by Koen Mortier (Belgium, 2007), world premiere
DIE UNERZOGENEN (THE UNPOLISHED) by Pia Marais (Germany, 2007), world premiere
LA MAREA (TIDES) by Diego Martinez Vignatti (Belgium, 2007), world premiere
LA ANTENA (THE AERIAL) by Esteban Sapir (Argentina, 2007), world premiere, supported by the Hubert Bals Fund & Opening Night Film 2007
LOVE CONQUERS ALL by Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia, 2006), European premiere, supported by the Hubert Bals Fund

The 27 short films in IFFR 2007’s Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films:

(in alphabetical order by international film title)

...... .:.:...:::CCCCOCCOOOO:: by Ben Pointeker (Austria, 2007), 8’
VOM INNEN; VON AUSSEN (ABOUT THE INSIDE; FROM THE OUTSIDE) by Albert Sackl (Austria, 2006), 20’
ANANIYASHI by Setoguchi Miki (Japan, 2006), 26’
BAYRAK (THE FLAG) by Köken Ergun (Turkey, 2007), 8’, world premiere
BOMB by Ian Olds (USA, 2006), 14’, international premiere
DAYDREAM by Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy (UK, 2007), 29’, world premiere
DEEP SPACE ONE by Peter Garfield (USA, 2007), 17’, world premiere
THE DELAWARE PROJECT by Melanie Shatzky & Brian Cassidy (Canada/USA, 2007), 15’, world premiere
DRIVE-THRU by Gretchen Skogerson (USA, 2006), 20’, international premiere
EXCUSE ME BROTHER by Jeanne Faust (Germany, 2006), 7’
NOITE DE SEXTA MANHA DE SABADO (FRIDAY NIGHT SATURDAY MORNING) by Kleber Mendonça (Brazil, 2006), 15’
THE GENERAL RETURNS FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER by Michael Robinson (USA, 2006), 11’, European premiere
HINTERLAND by Geoffrey Boulange (France, 2007), 28’, world premiere
MAN IN LOVE by Liew Seng Tat (Malaysia, 2007), 4’, world premiere
MONOLOGUE #1 by Kim Jongkwan (South Korea, 2007), 10’, world premiere
WATASHI NO OJI (MY PRINCE) by Oguchi Yoko (Japan, 2006), 15’, European premiere
OUTWARDLY FROM EARTH’S CENTER by Rosa Barba (Sweden, 2007), 25’, world premiere
TRECHO (PASSAGE) by Helvecio Marins Jr. & Clarissa Campolina (Brazil, 2006), 16’, international premiere
SOUTH OF TEN by Liza Johnson (USA, 2006), 10’, international premiere
THIS IS MY LAND by Ben Rivers (UK, 2006), 14’, international premiere
VIEW OF THE FALLS FROM THE CANADIAN SIDE by John Price (Canada, 2007), 7’, world premiere
VENUS by Jose Alvarez (Mexico, 2006), 20’, international premiere
VIDEO GAME by Vipin Vijay (India, 2006), 30’, international premiere
VISIBILITY OF INTERIM~ by Manuel Knapp (Austria, 2006), 14’, international premiere
WE WILL SEE KAZAN IN THE BROKEN MICROSCOPE by Sergey Litovets (Russia, 2006), 20’
YOU CAN WALK TOO by Cristina Lucas (Spain, 2006), 9’, international premiere
YOYOGI PARK by Kwang-ju Son (The Netherlands/South Korea/Japan, 2007), 11’, world premiere