IFFR confirms Limelight programme for festival 2015

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

Rotterdam, 3 December 2014

IFFR confirms Limelight programme for festival 2015
Selected films from auteurs including Tim Burton, Christian Petzold and Abderrahme Sissako

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has confirmed its selection for its Limelight programme at IFFR 2015. The line-up includes several of the major upcoming arthouse releases of 2015 which will all receive their Dutch premieries during the Festival. The programme includes works by renowned filmmakers Abderrahme Sissako (TIMBUKTU), Ruben Ostlund (TURIST), Tim Burton (BIG EYES), Christian Petzold (PHOENIX) and homegrown talent Peter Hoogendoorn (BETWEEN 10 AND 12). Limelight is dedicated to close collaboration with Dutch distributors exemplifying IFFR’s commitment to supporting the Dutch film industry as a whole, providing a platform for new releases to premiere at a major film festival prior to their roll out across the country. The 44th edition of IFFR will take place from Wednesday, January 21st through Sunday, February 1st, 2015.

Many of the filmmakers will attend the Festival to present their films, including Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, director of THE TRIBE, Australian/Dutch auteur Rolf de Heer (CHARLIE'S COUNTRY), Alice Rohrwacher, director of the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winning LE MERAVIGLIE (THE WONDERS), Argentine screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Martin Rejtman (DOS DISPAROS), the directing duo Sharon Maymon & Tal Granit (THE FAREWELL PARTY) and Syllas Tzoumerkas (A BLAST).

Confirmed titles IFFR Limelight 2015

AMOUR FOU - Jessica Hausner
A ‘romantic comedy’ set in Romantic-era Berlin and inspired by the life and death of the German poet Heinrich von Kleist and the love of his life, Henriette Vogel.

ATLANTIC. - Jan-Willem van Ewijk
Driven by a yearning for freedom, young fisherman Fettah is determined to travel to Europe by surfboard across the Atlantic Ocean. Breath-taking, poetic and thrilling.

BIG EYES - Tim Burton
The true story of one of the biggest art frauds of the twentieth century. Artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) took all the glory, but the bizarre and shocking truth is that his introverted wife Margaret (Amy Adams) did all the painting.

A BLAST - Syllas Tzoumerkas
Maria, a caring mother and loving wife in crisis-hit Greece, decides to dramatically change her life in this energetic, unpredictable drama about a seemingly pleasant existence that turns out to be built on sand.

CHARLIE'S COUNTRY - Rolf de Heer
There is no place any more for Charlie in the contemporary Aboriginal community, dominated as it is by the laws of the whites. So he leaves to find his own way in the world.


THE DARK HORSE - James Napier-Robertson
Poignant, inspirational film about the life of the brilliant, charismatic Genesis Potini, a chess genius from New Zealand.

DOS DISPAROS (TWO SHOTS FIRED) - Martín Rejtman
After finding a pistol, 17-year-old Mariano shoots at himself, twice, on impulse. He survives, but the incident brings his relationships with family and friends to a head.

EDEN - Mia Hansen-Løve
Nostalgic, but never sentimental trip down Memory Lane in which a DJ in 1990s Paris proves less successful than his girlfriends in Daft Punk. Superb soundtrack.

ERBARME DICH - MATTHÄUS PASSION STORIES - Ramón Gieling
In a deserted church with a group of homeless people as an audience, experts and enthusiasts (theatre director Peter Sellars, conductor Pieter Jan Leusink) talk about their special relationship with the music of Bach.

THE FAREWELL PARTY - Sharon Maymon & Tal Granit
Pitch-black comedy about friendship and saying goodbye, about an older married couple in Jerusalem facing a challenge that threatens to drive them apart.

GIRLHOOD - Céline Sciamma
Raw, energetic portrait against the backdrop of the banlieues of Paris shows how a 16-year-old girl escapes her old life and is radically transformed by the pressure of the group.

LOIN DES HOMMES (FAR FROM MEN) - David Oelhoffen
A teacher (Viggo Mortensen) is forced to accompany a murderer to a French colonial court. Understanding grows between the two men during their punishing, perilous journey through the Atlas Mountains.

MELODY - Bernard Bellefroid
Homeless Melody receives a large sum of money to be a surrogate mother for a successful English business woman. These two social opposites are drawn ever closer together, until fate intervenes.

LE MERAVIGLIE (THE WONDERS) - Alice Rohrwacher
A beekeeping family live an isolated life entirely according to their own rules in the Umbrian countryside. Until the arrival of a German boy disrupts their microcosm.

PHOENIX - Christian Petzold
Berlin, 1945. A woman returns home, having been betrayed by her husband in the war. She seeks him out and starts a new life as her own doppelganger.

LA PROCHAINE FOIS JE VISERAI LE COEUR (NEXT TIME I'LL AIM FOR THE HEART) - Cédric Anger
France, late 1970s. A departement is being plagued by a serial killer. A young police officer heads the investigation – but is in fact hunting his own psychotic self.

TIMBUKTU – Abderrahmane Sissako
The city of Timbuktu is being terrorised by religious fundamentalists. Kidane flees to the desert, where he leads a quiet life until he accidentally kills a fisherman. On humanity and intolerance.

THE TRIBE - Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Deaf Sergey ends up in a boarding school for the deaf. As a newcomer, he has to find his place in the criminal hierarchy of the school. An ode to silent films.

TU DORS NICOLE - Stéphane Lafleur
Nicole is enjoying the summer holidays with her best friend. Their holiday takes an unexpected turn when her brother at home decides to record a rock album. Melancholy beautifully captured in black & white.

TURIST (FORCE MAJEURE) - Ruben Östlund
Faced with a landslide, will a real man save his telephone or his children? Hardnosed but humorous study of the role of the man in the modern family.

TUSSEN 10 EN 12 (BETWEEN 10 AND 12) - Peter Hoogendoorn
One summer morning, between ten and twelve, the life of a family is brought to a standstill. The world around them callously keeps turning.

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.
https://www.iffr.com/professionals/

(end of press release)

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