51st International Film Festival Rotterdam

26 January – 6 February 2022

Rotterdam, 7 January 2022

Tiger Competition, Big Screen Competition, Ammodo Tiger Short Competition selections available for press and industry, and Big Talks confirmed.

During today’s press conference, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed the 14 films selected for the festival’s Tiger Competition, as well as the Big Screen Competition and Ammodo Tiger Short Competition selections – made available exclusively for press and industry guests online. The festival also announced the IFFR 2022 Selection available to audiences in the Netherlands on IFFR.com from 26 January to 6 February 2022. The programme includes titles in Harbour, Limelight, Bright Future and Cinema Regained. The opening film Please Baby Please by Amanda Kramer, and Big Talks with Amanda Kramer, Mathieu Amalric and Robby Müller Award recipient Sayombhu Mukdeeprom have also been announced.

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic: “The announcement of our full festival programme is always an exciting moment and this year is no exception. After the tough decision to move our festival online, we've curated a wonderful online selection for our audiences here in the Netherlands, whilst also ensuring that our competition lineups and the filmmakers who trusted us with their premieres will be given a platform within our Press & Industry Selection. When cinemas are allowed to open again, we will present competition titles on the big screen to our audiences later in the year.”

The full Press & Industry Selection 2022 is now online. Click here to browse.

Stills from the Tiger Competition selection

IFFR’s flagship Tiger Competition is the festival’s platform for emerging film talent and features a selection of 14 titles for its 51st edition. The jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each. The Tiger Jury consists of Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki.

Tiger Competition 2022 selection

The Cloud Messenger, Rahat Mahajan, 2022, India

A criança, Marguerite de Hillerin/Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois, 2022, Portugal

EAMI, Paz Encina, 2022, Paraguay/Germany/Argentina/Netherlands/France/United States

Excess Will Save Us, Morgane Dziurla-Petit, 2022, Sweden

Kafka for Kids, Roee Rosen, 2022, Israel

Malintzin 17, Mara Polgovsky/Eugenio Polgovsky, 2022, Mexico

Met mes, Sam de Jong, 2022, Netherlands

The Plains, David Easteal, 2022, Australia

Proyecto Fantasma, Roberto Doveris, 2022, Chile

Le rêve et la radio, Renaud Després-Larose/Ana Tapia Rousiouk, 2022, Canada

Silver Bird and Rainbow Fish, Lei Lei, 2022, United States/Netherlands

To Love Again, Gao Linyang, 2022, China

Yamabuki, Yamasaki Juichiro, 2022, Japan/France

The Tiger Competition selection 2022 is now online. Click here to browse.

Stills from the Big Screen Competition selection

The Big Screen Competition offers a wide-ranging selection, bridging the gap between popular, classic and arthouse cinema. This year, 9 titles have been selected. IFFR invites an audience jury to grant the VPRO Big Screen Award. The winning film receives a guaranteed theatrical release in the Netherlands and will be broadcast on Dutch TV by VPRO and NPO. In addition, a €30,000 prize is awarded, equally shared between the filmmaker and the distributor who releases the film.

Big Screen Competition 2022 selection

Assault, Adilkhan Yerzhanov, 2022, Kazakhstan/Russia

Broadway, Christos Massalas, 2022, Greece/France/Romania

CE2, Jacques Doillon, 2021, France

Daryn’s Gym, Brett Michael Innes, 2021, South Africa

Drifting Petals, Clara Law, 2021, Australia

The Island, Anca Damian, 2021, Romania

Kung Fu Zohra, Mabrouk El Mechri, 2021, France

Mi vacío y yo, Adrián Silvestre, 2021, Spain

Splendid Isolation, Urszula Antoniak, 2022, Netherlands

The Big Screen Competition selection 2022 is now online. Click here to browse.

Stills from the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition selection

IFFR has announced 16 short films selected for the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. The jury consists of Tim Leyendekker, Nduka Mntambo and Rieke Vos. They will determine which three titles will receive three equal Ammodo Tiger Short Awards, each worth €5,000.

Ammodo Tiger Short Competition 2022 selection

Answering the Sun, Rainer Kohlberger, 2022, Austria/Germany

Becoming Male in the Middle Ages, Pedro Neves Marques, 2022, Portugal

Chants from a Holy Book, Cesar Gananian/Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, 2021, Brazil

Constant, Sasha Litvintseva/Beny Wagner, 2022, Germany/United Kingdom

Dawn, Leonor Noivo, 2021, Portugal

Glass Life, Sara Cwynar, 2021, United States

Isn't It a Beautiful World, Joseph Wilson, 2021, United Kingdom

The Making of Crime Scenes, Hsu Che-yu, 2022, France/Taiwan

Nazarbazi, Maryam Tafakory, 2022, Iran/United Kingdom

El nombre de las cosas, Diego Escobar, 2022, Chile

Nosferasta: First Bite, Bayley Sweitzer/Adam Khalil, 2021, United States

Polycephaly in D, Michael Robinson, 2021, United States

Punctured Sky, Jon Rafman, 2021, United States

Songs for living, Korakrit Arunanondchai/Alex Gvojic, 2022, United States/Thailand

Tomorrow Is a Water Palace, Juanita Onzaga, 2022, Belgium

urban solutions, Arne Hector/Luciana Mazeto/Vinícius Lopes/Minze Tummescheit, 2022, Germany/Brazil

The Ammodo Tiger Short Competition selection 2022 is now online. Click here to browse.

Opening film: Please Baby Please by Amanda Kramer

The 51st edition programme has been scaled down and moved online in response to increased concerns about Covid-19 and the lockdown in the Netherlands. The IFFR 2022 Selection offers audiences in the Netherlands online access to 52 film titles, including titles from Harbour, Bright Future, Cinema Regained, Focus: Amanda Kramer and RTM. The programme will be made available on demand from Thursday 27 January until Sunday 6 February. The world premiere of Amanda Kramer’s feature film Please Baby Please, accompanied by Lewie and Noah Kloster’s short film Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver, will open IFFR 2022 during the Opening Night timed screening on 26 January.

IFFR 2022 Selection is now online. Click here to browse.

The Press & Industry Selection 2022 will provide accredited press and industry guests with international access to films on Festival Scope Pro, including the titles selected for Tiger Competition, Big Screen Competition and Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. More than 200 titles including those from the Harbour, Bright Future, Limelight, Cinema Regained, Short & Mid-length Film and RTM programmes will be available. IFFR Pro industry events CineMart and Rotterdam Lab will additionally take place online. The IFFR Awards Ceremony will take place on 2 February, and include both the main competitions and the IFFR Pro Awards.

The Press & Industry Selection 2022 is now online. Click here to browse.

IFFR Talks programme will be made available worldwide on IFFR.com, and includ Big Talks with American filmmaker, musician and author Amanda Kramer, French actor and director Mathieu Amalric and Thai cinematographer and this year’s Robby Müller Award recipient Sayombhu Mukdeeprom.

IFFR Talks programme is now online. Click here to browse.

IFFR introduces 25 Encounters, a two-fold programme in light of the festival's 50th edition, celebrating cinema in its broadest form. The programme comprises 25 conversations between filmmakers and film enthusiasts reflecting on the past, present and future of film festivals and IFFR. These 25 encounters are captured in a printed publication and released with an accompanying selection of 25 titles chosen by those involved, made available to audiences on IFFR Unleashed in three batches, starting from the closing film of IFFR 2022 on 6 February.

Ticket sales for the IFFR 2022 Selection go live on 21 January 2022. Find practical information on how to purchase tickets and watch films on IFFR.com.

Click here to access the film stills