Still from Fantoomwijk

52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam

25 January – 5 February 2023

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the municipality of Rotterdam have awarded a grant of €20,000 to the filmmaker Ravi Sandberg to produce a short film about his former neighbourhood, the Tweebosbuurt in Rotterdam. The project will receive expert guidance and aims to premiere at IFFR 2023 as part of the festival’s Rotterdam-focused programme, RTM.

Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director: “We’re proud to support a new project from a local filmmaker through RTM Pitch. Ravi's project alongside the success of the two previous winners are testament of the creativity of the people and culture of Rotterdam. Thanks to the support of the municipality we can continue to reinforce the film ecosystem in this great city.”

The Tweebosbuurt neighbourhood and its demolition after a long struggle with local residents became the epicentre of debate surrounding gentrification and social cleansing in Rotterdam, attracting even the attention of the UN when in 2021 rapporteurs wrote a letter to condemn its removal.

Ravi Sandberg

Ravi Sandberg, filmmaker: “The neighbourhood may look like a ghost town now, but it’s still alive in the hearts of the people who lived there, often for decades, who were then forced to leave. I want this film to be a monument for this neighbourhood that soon will be completely erased from the physical memory of the city.”

The jury consisted of Rotterdam filmmaker Shamira Raphaëla and two IFFR team members, Suze van Bohemen and Ronny Theeuwes. They said: “This urgent project reflects Rotterdam as a city in constant change, with a story on a neighbourhood that before long will no longer exist. We encourage the team to explore the limits of the chosen form and not to shy away from experimentation.”

The €20,000 grant is financed by the municipality of Rotterdam as part of its film and media policy to encourage local film talent development. The winner of the first edition was Katarina Jazbec’s film You Can’t Automate Me and in 2021 Rotterdam-based Italian artist Lavinia Xausa won with So Loud the Sky Can Hear Us, which premiered at IFFR 2022.

Read more about the RTM Pitch winner here