IFFR wins the Louis Hartlooper Prize 2022

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is the 2022 winner of the Louis Hartlooper Prize for Best Film Publication for its book 25 Encounters, launched earlier this year.  The prize winning announcement was made on Thursday 22 September during the award ceremony in the Louis Hartlooper Complex in Utrecht – the Netherlands. The prize is awarded every year to a person or organisation who has made an outstanding contribution to cinema and enriched Dutch film culture in the past year with one or more publications.

Marjan van der Haar, IFFR Managing director, received the prize from the jury

Marjan van der Haar, IFFR Managing director, received the prize on behalf of Vanja Kaludjercic, IFFR Festival Director from moderator Lex Veerkamp. The jury wrote:

"When making a book such as this one, you run the risk of not being critical enough [...] Of course there are anecdotes and retrospectives on the history of the festival, but the conversations are conducted openly and honestly, with room for stories about the downsides of intensive collaborations. We - the jury - valued the less expected duos chosen for the conversations: the dialogues were not necessarily evident, yet often inspiring. Mixing technicians, artists, journalists and 'regular' festival-goers generated dialogues that  broadened our horizons and challenged our viewpoints. Through this exchange of diverse ideas, the book evokes the atmosphere of IFFR, where people from all over the world come together and immerse themselves in film culture. The fact that 25 Encounters is able to convey this feeling so convincingly on paper makes this book the deserved winner for us."

Louis Hartlooper Prize

The Louis Hartlooper Prize for the Best Film Publication was awarded for the 18th time this year. The 2022 jury consisted of Katja Draaijer and Willemijn Cerutti (on behalf of NAPA – Nederlandse Audiovisuele Producenten Alliantie, the Dutch Audiovisual Producers Alliance) Ronald Meij (on behalf of NSC – the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers) Sander de Reg (on behalf of Netwerk Scenarioschrijvers, the Network for Scenario Writers) Shariff Nasr (on behalf of DDG – Dutch Directors Guild).

About 25 Encounters

Fifty-one people connected with IFFR were asked to shed light on cinema in in-depth duo conversations; filmmakers and artists, journalists and visitors, activists and academics, former festival directors and cinephiles. The conversations they had form 25 Encounters, a rich collection of dialogues about the past and the future of the festival, about artistic freedom in countries where this is not self-evident, about analogue and digital cinema, and about what IFFR stands for and could stand for in the future.