Short films awarded at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011

40th International Film Festival Rotterdam
January 26 – February 6. 2011
 
PRESS RELEASE 31 January 2011
 
Short films awarded at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011
 
Monday January 31, Nicolas Provost’s Stardust (Belgium), Nathaniel Dorsky’s Pastourelle (USA) and Natasha Mendonca’s Jan Villa (USA/India) were awarded the three equal Rotterdam Tiger Awards for Short Films 2011. Alberto De Michele’s I Lupi (The Wolves, Italy) took the Rotterdam Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2011. The New Arrivals Award went to Silent Things by Rob Brown (UK).
 
Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films
The seventh Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films comprises twenty-eight films, ranging in length from six to fifty-two minutes. For its Jury the IFFR welcomed Fiona Tan, an artist known for her audiovisual installations, films and photographic works (The Netherlands), Anocha Suwichakornpong, filmmaker and Tiger Award winner for Mundane History (Thailand) and Thom Andersen, filmmaker, film critic and lecturer (USA). The Jury handed out the three equal Tiger Awards for Short Film (3,000 Euros) to the winning filmmakers during the VPRO Late Night Talk Show on Monday evening January 31.
 
The Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films is supported by the Chief Marketing Office Rotterdam.
 
The three winners and the jury statements are:
 
Stardust - Nicholas Provost, Belgium, 2010
We admire Stardust by Nicholas Provost for revealing in an unexpected way the possibility of documentary in fiction and of fiction in documentary and for showing one of the most photographed, analyzed, theorized cities in the world, Las Vegas, in an original way that is true and valid, uncovering something new about the place that resists the clichés.
 
Pastourelle - Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2010
A fine example of Dorsky’s uncompromising originality as a filmmaker, the filmed shots are beautiful; the editing balanced, resulting in a disarming and elegant work of cinema. This silent film is pure, timeless and refreshing for the gaze.
 
Jan Villa - Natasha Mendonca, USA/India, 2010
In Jan Villa, the filmmaker succeeds in telling a deeply moving story that is at once personal and universal. What begins as an outsider’s point-of-view imperceptibly transforms to subjective camera. Through poetic images and notably without the use of voice-over, the film maker intimately reveals to us the soul of a city after devastation.
 
Rotterdam Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2011
The winner of the Rotterdam Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards is automatically nominated for the European Film Awards. December 2011, the members of the European Film Academy will choose the winner.
 
Chosen by the Jury of the Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition for Short Film 2011, the Rotterdam Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2011 is:
 
I Lupi (The Wolves) - Alberto De Michele, Italy, 2011
We were impressed with the editing, sound mix and the contrapuntal relationship of the voice-over to the images. I Lupi is a film that manages to show night and darkness in a new way. A film which is minimal and sparse, but nonetheless engaging and intriguing.
 
New Arrivals Award
New Arrivals, an initiative of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Dutch national broadcasting company NTR, has shown short films online since January 2006. Submissions come from all over the world. For nine months each year, the editors make a selection of short films and a jury chooses the monthly winner. These monthly winners get a special screening at the IFFR. The New Arrivals Jury awards one film with a prize of 1,000 euros.
 
The international jury consisted of Dutch script editor at NTR’s Drama Department Sandra Beerends; British, Amsterdam-based filmmaker and visual artist Dan Geesin (his latest short film Elephant Feet screens at IFFR 2011) and Romanian short film and documentary filmmaker Adina Pintilie (her first feature film Touch Me Not has been selected for IFFR 2011’s CineMart).
 
The awarded film is:
Silent Things by Rob Brown, UK, 2011
Our preference went to a film that attempts to show and embrace the limitations of an anti hero and because of the simple silent connection and the resulting emotional impact.
 
The NPS New Arrival Award winner can be seen online at www.kortefilmonline.nps.nl. New Arrivals invites everyone interested to send in their short online film for the next edition.
 
 
(End of press release)
 
Notes to the Editor, not for publication:
 
Film stills of the Tiger Award winning films (and all festival titles) can be downloaded from the IFFR website, direct link:
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/press/film-stills-2011-downloads/
 
Line up of all films in Tiger Awards Competition of Short Films:
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/themes/rotterdam-tiger-awards-competition-for-short-films/
 
Information about New Arrivals: http://kortefilmonline.nps.nl/page/content/newarrivals
Press contact NTR: Ingrid Walschots, [email protected]
 
Press information International Film Festival Rotterdam:
IFFR Press Office, Bert-Jan Zoet/Nancy van Oorschot,
+31.10.890.90.90 / [email protected]