IFFR confirms Signals Programme

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

IFFR CONFIRMS SIGNALS PROGRAMME
LINE-UP INCLUDES TRIBUTE TO JANG JIN AND TAIWAN NEW CINEMA CLASSICS

Rotterdam, Friday, January 9th, 2015:
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has confirmed the full Signals programme for its upcoming 2015 edition. The final programme includes a tribute to Korean director JANG JIN, a focus on artist and filmmaker BRUCE MCCLURE and MADE IN TAIWAN, a special addition to the annual REGAINED section. Exploring cinema's treasure trove and screens restored classics, forgotten cinematic masterpieces and documentaries that centre on cinema itself, REGAINED will include the world premiere of MOBILISIERUNG DER TRÄUME by Martin Reinhart, Thomas Tode and Manu Luksch as well as PAUL SHARITS by François Miron. MADE IN TAIWAN is programmed by IFFR–programmer Chinlin Hsieh on the occasion of her film FLOWERS OF TAIPEI, celebrating the Taiwan New Cinema which established the careers of internationally renowned directors including Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang and Chen Kunhou. JANG JIN is a retrospective of South Korea’s most famous modern playwright and theatre director as well as a celebrated filmmaker and controversial satirist.

SIGNALS REGAINED: MADE IN TAIWAN
In 1982, under severe martial law and amid the stormy climate of pre-democratisation, a small group of Taiwanese writers and directors set out on a daring journey to examine their national history, far from the official line, in search of an identity. The movement was triggered by state-owned studio CMPC, which offered opportunities to new directors in exchange for fresh ideas in an attempt to save a moribund industry from losing ground to Hollywood and Hong Kong productions. The studio’s ‘newcomer policy’ brought on Wu Nian-chen, Edward Yang, Ko I-chen, Chang Yi, Hou Hsiao-hsien and others. Taiwan New Cinema was born. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of this short-lived yet important cultural heritage, the city of Taipei initiated a documentary, FLOWERS OF TAIPEI, which now serves as a joyful reason for this edition of IFFR to remember and (re)discover some rare classics of Taiwan New Cinema. All eight films in the programme are shown on 35mm prints.

SIGNALS: JANG JIN
Jang Jin is South Korea’s most famous modern playwright and theatre director. He also works in television, recently as the mastermind behind the sketch show Saturday Night Live Korea, which more than once caused a national uproar. He writes, produces and directs movies, but beyond all the accomplishments on his CV, Jang Jin is known best for one thing: satire. He does not respect institutions, powerful individuals or dogmas of any kind.
His filmography runs to several gangster movies and rom-coms. But he messes with the genres that other Korean directors have made popular, challenging their assumptions and giving them a subversive spin. His targets are universal: the hypocrisies of the mass media, the absurdity of machismo, the dubious certainties of religious faith. He finished two new feature films this year that will be included in the line up of 13 films he has worked on.

SIGNALS: BRUCE MCCLURE
With its focus on Bruce McClure, the IFFR is not celebrating a filmmaker but a rather an artist who devotes himself to the projector as a unique instrument in art history. With his idiosyncratic methods of projecting strips of film, and using the same signals to produce his barrage of sound, Bruce McClure is by far the most original successor to the likes of the radical avant-gardist such as Peter Kubelka, Ken Jacobs and Hollis Frampton.
Trained as an architect, McClure is recently applying himself more to installations where he further spatializes the interplay light and perspective with a similar low-tech, minimalist approach. His presentation at Witte de With, COURTING DAYLIGHT IN SAVING DARKNESS, is his most elaborate and expansive installation to date.

In the cinema, Bruce McClure will present nine different performances on consecutive evenings under the generic title OPPOSITION BRINGS REUNION.

As previously announced 24/7, EVERYDAY PROPAGANDA, WHAT THE F?! and REALLY? REALLY complete the Signals 2015 programme. 24/7 will examine what has become known as the ‘attention economy’, present among many others the World Premiere of the 480 minutes new film by Kevin Jerome Everson PARK LANES (USA), as well as NARBE DEUTSCHLAND by Burkhard von Harder (Germany).
EVERYDAY PROPAGANDA raises the question of whether we are aware of constant exposure to propaganda in our daily life, and will include new films by Adam Curtis, Oleg Mavromatti and IFFR opening film WAR BOOK by Tom Harper. WHAT THE F?! pushes us to examine the ways in which we are caught up in, or at least confused by, a diverse mix of ideologies that all go by the name ‘feminism’, and will include brand new films such as the world premiere of controversial Mexican artist Artemio Narro ME QUEDO CONTIGO, and SELF-PORTRAIT OF A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER by Ana Lungu (Romania). REALLY? REALLY will provide an insight into the remarkable, yet overlooked, comeback of surrealism in cinema.

The full lineup of all Signals can be found online at www.iffr.com on 14 January 2015

PREMIERES in SIGNALS 2015 LINE-UP:

JANG JIN
We Are Brothers by Jang Jin (South Korea) European Premiere

REGAINED
Mobilisierung der Träume by Martin Reinhart, Thomas Tode, Manu Luksch (Austria) World Premiere
Paul Sharits by François Miron (Canada) International Premiere

24/7
Park Lanes by Kevin Jerome Everson (USA) World Premiere
Narbe Deutschland by Burkhard von Harder (Germany) European Premiere

EVERYDAY PROPAGANDA
No Place for Fools by Oleg Mavromatti (USA, Russia, Bulgaria) World Premiere
Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis (United Kingdom) World Premiere
Broken Land by Stéphanie Barbey, Luc Peter (Switzerland) International Premiere
War Book by Tom Harper (United Kingdom) International Premiere
Made in China by Kim Dong-Hoo (South Korea) European Premiere

WHAT THE F?!
Me Quedo Contigo by Artemio Narro (Mexico) World Premiere
No Men Beyond This Point by Mark Sawers (Canada) World Premiere
Self-portrait of a Dutiful Daughter by Ana Lungu (Romania) World Premiere
The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes by Nancy Andrews (USA) World Premiere
To the Editor of Amateur Photographer by Luke Fowler and Mark Fell (United Kingdom) International Premiere
Cart by Ji-Young Boo (South Korea) European Premiere
Dreamcatcher by Kim Longinotto (United Kingdom) European Premiere

REALLY? REALLY.
German Angst by Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski and Andreas Marschall (Germany) World Premiere
The Performer by Maciej Sobieszczanski and Lukasz Ronduda (Poland) World Premiere
Landscape with Many Moons by Jaan Toomik (Estonia) International Premiere
Final Flesh by Vernon Chatman (USA) European Premiere
Orgy of the Devil and Other Forbidden Tapes of Ivan Cardoso by Ivan Cardoso (Brazil) European Premiere




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