Juries award film from the IFFR 2010 programma; VPRO Tiger Awards go to Costa Rica, Thailand and Mexico

39th International Film Festival Rotterdam
January 27 - February 7, 2010

PRESS RELEASE Friday 5 February 2010

· Juries award films from the IFFR 2010 programme
· VPRO Tiger Awards go to Costa Rica, Thailand and Mexico

During the IFFR 2010 Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 5, 2010 in the Oude Luxor Theater, the winning films of the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam were announced. The three VPRO Tiger Awards were granted to the Hubert Bals Fund supported films Agua fría de mar (Cold Water of the Sea) by Paz Fábrega (Costa Rica, France, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico) and Mundane History (Jao nok krajok) by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand), and to Alamar (To the Sea) by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio (Mexico).
On Saturday February 6th, the IFFR 2010 Audience Award and the Dioraphte Award for Best Hubert Bals Fund Supported Film will be announced.
Fourteen films from the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition as well as five films from the Tiger Awards Competition of Short Films screen in the ‘Rotterdam @ BAM’ showcase, March 3-9, 2010 at the BAMcinématek in New York (USA).


VPRO Tiger Awards
Fifteen films by first or second filmmakers competed in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition 2010. The jury consists French actress and singer Jeanne Balibar (portrayed this festival in Pedro Costa's Ne change Rien), Polish-Dutch film-maker Úrszula Antoniak (Nothing Personal), former director of the Singapore Film Festival Philip Cheah, Mexican film-maker and jury chair Amat Escalante (Sangre, Los bastardos and attending CineMart with his project Heli) and Ugandan actor and activist Okello Kelo Sam.

The jury statements on the VPRO Tiger Award winning films:

Agua fría de mar (Cold Water of the Sea) by Paz Fábrega (Costa Rica, France, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico, 2010)
'We are impressed by the film that accomplishes to present in a convincing and poetic way the mysterious relationship between a woman and a young girl. The film takes the audience on an unusual trip into Nature that interacts in a magical way with humans. The superb editing builds organic flow of images while the strong directing creates an unnerving atmosphere and tension.'
Agua fría de mar (Cold Water of the Sea) is supported by the Hubert Bals Fund.

Mundane History (Jao nok krajok) by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand, 2009)
'Constantly surprising, this film offers philosophical and political dimension of Thai society, while presenting a seemingly mundane story. To us, this film appeals to both intellect and spirituality. We are impressed by the film's accomplished way to interplay abstract ideas and harrowing reality.'
Mundane History (Jao nok krajok) is supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Earlier in the festival, Anocha Suwichakornpong’s CineMart 2010 Project By The Time It Gets Dark was awarded with the Prince Claus Fund Film Grant of 15,000.00 euro.

Alamar (To the Sea) by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio (Mexico, 2009)
'This naturalistic film stays true and honest to its subject and shows both: the happiness of being a child and tragedy of growing up in separate upbringing. To us the simplicity applied by the maker is at the same time the greatest strength of the film that cuts straight to a heart while avoiding sentimentality. The bondage between humans and Nature is beautifully rendered and ultimately transforms the films’ documentary approach into poetic image of childhood.'

Each VPRO Tiger Award comes with a prize of Euro 15,000.

NETPAC Award
The NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Jury, consisting of Zoë Chun-jung Chen (Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival), Hong Hyosook (Pusan International Film Festival), Gulbara Tolomushova (The Union of the Kyrgyz film-makers), presented the NETPAC Award to:

Moscow (Yang han-mari, yang doo-mari) van Whang Cheol-Mean (Zuid-Korea, 2009)
The jury statement:
"For the author's deep understanding of the internal world of the girl-outsider on her journey to find herself."

FIPRESCI Award
The Jury of the international association of film critics FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique), consisted of Diego Brodersen (Argentina, contributor El Amante, Jury Chair), Michelle Carey (Australia, Senses of Cinema), Peter van Bueren (Netherlands, formerly Volkskrant), Anjelika Artyukh (Russia, contributor Iskusstvo Kino / Film Art) and Freddy Sartor (Belgium, Filmmagie).

The FIPRESCI decided to award Let Each One Go Where He May by Ben Russell (USA, Suriname, 2009), selected for the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition of the 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

The jury statement:
"Let Each One Go Where He May creates, by pure cinematic tools, a vision about human nature in circumstances where past and present walk together, and makes us part of its characters lives."

KNF Award
The jury of the KNF, the Association of Dutch film critics, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam consisting of Oene Kummer (“Preview”, jury chair), Adwin de Kluyver (“Leeuwarder Courant”) and Jan-Pieter Ekker (www.jpekker.nl).

The KNF Jury has chosen its winner among films in Rotterdam 2010 official selection that have not yet been acquired for Dutch distribution. To the KNF Award, a grant is attached for subtitling the film, sponsored by Holland Subtitling. The Award of the KNF is meant to promote the acquisition for distribution within The Netherlands.

The winner of the KNF Award is Norteado (Northless) by Rigoberto Perezcano (Mexico, 2009).

The jury stated:
The KNF-award goes to a film that touched our hearts and minds with its great visual quality, its excellent acting and its heartfelt story about the position of illegal immigrants trying to cross into the United States.

The Association of Dutch Film Critics awards special mentions to:
“Two excellent films that had to overcome some distribution problems during the course of the festival. We hope that they will be released, because both Tetro by Francis Ford Coppola (USA, Italy, Spain, Argentina, 2009) and C’est déja l’été by Martijn Maria Smits (Netherlands, Belgium, 2010) are too good to be ignored.

C’est déja l’été was selected for the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition 2010.

Earlier in the festival, the following awards were announced:

Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films
The three Tiger Awards for Short Films were granted to Wei Wen (Condolences) by Ying Liang (China), Atlantiques by Mati Diop (France/Senegal) and Wednesday Morning Two A.M. by Lewis Klahr (USA).

The jury for Tiger Awards for Short Film comprised Jeremy Rigsby (programmer of Media City Festival in Windsor, Canada), Shai Heredia (director of Filter India Festival, Mumbai, India) and Albert Wulffers (filmmaker, writer, visual artist and teacher, The Netherlands).

European Film Awards 2010
The ‘Rotterdam Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2010’ was awarded to Out of Love by Brigitte Staermose (Denmark).

NPS New Arrivals Award
Sunday afternoon 31 January the NPS New Arrivals Award was awarded to Dag buurvrouw (Goodbye Neighbour) by Robert Jan Vos (The Netherlands).

MovieSquad Award
The Rotterdam young people’s jury, consisting of Ms. Roos Meijer (15 years), Mr. Matthijs Koster (17 years), Ms. Uriël Matahelumual (16 years), Ms. Aideen Hearn (17 years) and Mr. Max de Wolf (17 years) chose the winner out of twenty films in official Rotterdam 2010 selection. The award comprises Dutch distribution within the MovieZone educational film programme for young people and 2,000 Euro to be spent on its promotion among young people in The Netherlands.

The jury presented the MovieSquad Award to J’ai tué Ma Mère van Xavier Dolan (Canada, 2009).

MovieSquad is an initiative of the Nederlands Instituut voor Filmeducatie (Dutch Institute for Film Education) in collaboration with the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Arte France Cinéma Awards
The Arte France Cinema Award (10,000 Euro) for the best CineMart 2010 Projects was given to Layla Fourie by Pia Marais, a co-production of Pandora Filmproduktion GmbH / DV8 Films / IDTV Film B.V. (Germany / South Africa / The Netherlands).

The Arte France Cinema Awards Jury 2010 consisted of Rémi Burah and Antonin-Martin Hilbert (both with ARTE France Cinéma).

The Arte France Cinéma Awards are in cash, given to the producers towards financing the development of the awarded projects. By introducing the Award, Arte France Cinéma and CineMart aim to further support and promote the development and production of independent filmmaking.

Prince Claus Fund Film Grant
The tenth Prince Claus Fund Film Grant of 15,000 Euro has been awarded to the CineMart 2010 Project By the Time It Gets Dark by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand). The Grant was announced during the CineMart Closing Night Party on February 3rd, 2010.

The Jury of the 2010 Prince Claus Fund Film Grant consisted of: Bregtje van der Haak, chair (The Netherlands), political scientist, journalist, documentary maker and member of the Prince Claus Fund Board; Maartje Nevejan (The Netherlands), documentary maker; Karim Traïdia (Algeria / The Netherlands), film maker; Violeta Bava (Argentina), Co-Director of Buenos Aires Lab, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente and Peter Rorvik (South Africa) director of Durban International Film Festival.

The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant is annually awarded in cooperation with CineMart to support the very first creative phase of the development of a film production. Every year, the Film Grant is presented to a CineMart project by a filmmaker from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Caribbean, and selected for its excellent concept and innovative quality by an international expert jury.

(end of press release)
Note to the editor (not for publication)

Film information, search by film title:
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Hi res downloads of film stills:
http://filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/press/film-stills-2010-downloads/


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