Rutger Wolfson to step down

44e International Film Festival Rotterdam
21st January – 1st February, 2015

IFFR FESTIVAL DIRECTOR RUTGER WOLFSON TO STEP DOWN FOLLOWING 2015 EDITION AFTER 8 YEAR TENURE

Rotterdam, December 23rd, 2014
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) Advisory Board confirmed today that Festival Director, Rutger Wolfson, has made the decision to step down from his position following the upcoming 2015 edition of the Festival. IFFR Managing Director, Janneke Staarink’s role will remain unchanged and will work with Wolfson’s replacement together with the exisiting management structure. The IFFR Advisory Board will begin the formal process of identifying Wolfson’s successor once the 2015 edition of the Festival has ended.

On making the decision Wolfson commented ''Eight years is a long time to be running a major film festival and following what I know will be a tremendously successfull 44th edition in January I will have accomplished everything I set out to. Together with my family I have made the decison that it is the right time for me to step down and allow someone else the uniqie opportunity to lead the Festival further into the 21st Century. I remain focussed on the preparation for the upcoming Festival which is fast approaching and will make a decision on my future plans once the Festival is over. I have complete confidence that with Janneke Staarink, together with the rest of the dedicated team at IFFR the Festival is in superb hands and has a great foundation to go from strength to strength in the years to come.''

Chairman of the IFFR Supervisory Board, Pieter Broertjes added ''Rutger has had an immeasurably positive impact on the Festival having created a distinctive and relevant programme and proved so valuable in helping build new and innovative industry initiatives that will benefit the Dutch and international film industry in the years to come. We would like to thank Rutger for his commitment, dedication and hard work over the past eight years, we respect his decision to step down in search of a new challenge and once the upcoming edition of the Festival is over we will turn our attention to the process of identifying the right person to continue in the spirit of this wonderful Festival, a key fixture on the international calendar and we look forward to collaborating with this person on the next stage in the life of IFFR.''

Rutger Wolfson was named Director, International Film Festival Rotterdam in Sept 2007. From 2004 until his appointment as Director, he was a member of the board of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. From 2000 to 2007 Wolfson was Director of De Vleeshal, a leading Contemporary Art Space, departing the post for the position of Director, IFFR. He has curated several renowned exhibitions on the boundaries of the visual arts and other art forms, has served as advisor to several foundations and funds dedicated to supporting contemporary art, achitecture, design and film including the Mondrian Foundation and Dutch Film Fund. Wolfson compiled and introduced the collected works 'Kunst in crisis' (Art in Crisis, 2003) and 'Nieuwe symbolen voor Nederland' (New Symbols for the Netherlands, 2005) and he has been published numerous times including the 2009 essay 'The Museum as Space for Ideas' published in an english language anthology. From 1996 to 1999 he was curator of Witte de With, centre for contemporary art in Rotterdam and compiled exhibitions and (co-)produced music, theatre, dance projects. Rutger Wolfson is a graduate of Erasmus University in Rotterdam with a degree in Art & Cultural Sciences.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's Tiger Awards Competitions, Bright Future, Spectrum and Limelight sections contain new work by auteurs from all over the world including many World Premieres. In the Signals section, IFFR presents retrospectives and themed programmes. IFFR actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through numerous industry initiatives including co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund and Rotterdam Lab.