52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam

25 January - 5 February 2023

Rotterdam, 19 December 2022

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) presents Sunshine State, a Steve McQueen artwork commissioned by IFFR. The work will be presented in the Depot in collaboration with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen from January 26 to February 12 2023. Sunshine State is the latest artwork from the Oscar-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist and is the first presentation to be hosted on the fifth floor of the Depot since it opened in November 2021.

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic: “With great anticipation we look forward to finally presenting Steve McQueen’s latest artwork Sunshine State, after we commissioned it for our 50th edition. As both a visual artist and filmmaker, McQueen is an uncompromising creator who shares our vision for everything cinema can be. The spectacular Depot in Rotterdam is a fitting location for this monumental work which invites audiences for a moment of reflection.”

Steve McQueen, Sunshine State, 2022© Steve McQueen. Courtesy the artist, Thomas Dane Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Agostino Osio

McQueen’s first new artwork since his major commission Year 3 at Tate Britain in 2019, Sunshine State is a two-channel video projection shown on both sides of two screens placed one next to the other. Opening with footage of a burning sun, the work unfolds exploring images from the musical drama The Jazz Singer (1927), starring the famous singer Al Jolson. The film is known as the first "talkie" in the history of cinema that uses synchronised dialogue.

The art collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is kept and cared for in its brand new depot. From the outside, this work building is a mirroring pot, from the inside a veritable machine room where art handling, registration, restoration, and conservation are the main activities. Visitors get a glimpse behind the scenes of the museum in this Rotterdam icon.

The largest exhibition space is found on the fifth floor of the Depot. Sunshine State is the first exhibition to be shown here since the opening of the building in November 2021, and is made possible by the support of Stichting Droom en Daad. The installation will open to the public on Thursday 26 January and run up to and including Sunday 12 February. 

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen

The 52nd edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam takes place from 25 January until 5 February 2023, with Sunshine State running until 12 February. The lineups for the Tiger, Big Screen and Ammodo Tiger Short competitions were announced at the IFFR 2023 Press Conference on 19 December. Sunshine State is part of IFFR’s Art Directions programme, the multi-disciplinary section that expands the realm of cinema to installations, exhibitions and live performances. The full Art Directions programme will be announced at the start of January. 

• 100 årstider, Giovanni Bucchieri, 2022, Sweden, world premiere
• Gagaland, Teng Yuhan, 2023, China, world premiere
• Geology of Separation, Yosr Gasmi, Mauro Mazzocchi, 2023, Tunisia, Italy, France, world premiere
• Indivision, Leïla Kilani, 2023, Morocco, France, world premiere
• Letzter Abend, Lukas Nathrath, 2023, Germany, world premiere
• Mannvirki, Gústav Geir Bollason, 2023, Iceland, France, world premiere
• Munnel, Visakesa Chandrasekaram, 2023, Sri Lanka, world premiere
• New Strains, Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan, 2023, United States, world premiere
• Notas sobre un verano, Diego Llorente, 2023, Spain, world premiere
• Numb, Amir Toodehroosta, 2023, Iran, world premiere
• Nummer achttien, Guido van der Werve, 2022, Netherlands, world premiere
• La Palisiada, Philip Sotnychenko, 2023, Ukraine, world premiere
• Playland, Georden West, 2023, United States, world premiere
• Le spectre de Boko Haram, Cyrielle Raingou, 2023, Cameroon, France, world premiere
• Thiiird, Karim Kassem, 2023, Lebanon, world premiere
• three sparks, Naomi Uman, 2023, Albania, Mexico, world premiere

The Tiger Competition selection 2023 is now online. Click here to browse.

Clockwise, stills from the films: Numb, Letzter Abend, Notas sobre un verano, Indivision

The Big Screen Competition offers a wide-ranging selection, bridging the gap between popular, classic and arthouse cinema features. 16 titles have been selected for IFFR 2023. 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.

• Avant l'effondrement, Alice Zeniter, Benoît Volnais, 2023, France, world premiere
• Before the Buzzards Arrive, Jonás N. Díaz, 2023, Mexico, world premiere
• Copenhagen Does Not Exist, Martin Skovbjerg, 2023, Denmark, world premiere
• Drawing Lots, Zaza Khalvashi, Tamta Khalvashi , 2023, Georgia, world premiere
• Endless Borders, Abbas Amini, 2023, Czech Republic, Germany, Iran , world premiere
• Le formiche di Mida, Edgar Honetschläger, 2023, Austria, Italy, world premiere
• Four Little Adults, Selma Vilhunen, 2023, Finland, world premiere
• La hembrita, Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde, 2023, Dominican Republic, world premiere
• Joram, Devashish Makhija, 2022, India, world premiere
• Luka, Jessica Woodworth, 2023, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia, world premiere
• My Little Nighttime Secret, Natalya Meshchaninova, 2023, Russia, world premiere
• Não Sou Nada – The Nothingness Club, Edgar Pêra, 2023, Portugal, world premiere
• Okiku and the World, Sakamoto Junji, 2023, Japan, world premiere
• One Win, Shin Yeon-Shick, 2023, South Korea, world premiere
• La Sudestada, Daniel Casabé, Edgardo Dieleke, 2022, Argentina, world premiere
• Voyages en Italie, Sophie Letourneur, 2023, France, world premiere

The Big Screen Competition selection 2023 is now online. Click here to browse.

Clockwise, stills from the films: Drawing Lots, Copenhagen Does Not Exist, Luka, Não Sou Nada - The Nothingness Club

IFFR announces 24 short films selected for the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. The jury consists of Stanya Kahn, Herb Shellenberger and Simone Zeefuik. They will determine which three titles will receive three equal Ammodo Tiger Short Awards, each worth €5,000.

• Aqueronte, Manuel Muñoz Rivas, 2023, Spain, world premiere
• Blinded by Centuries, Parinda Mai, 2023, Thailand, United States, world premiere
• Delivery Dancer's Sphere, Kim Ayoung, 2023, South Korea, world premiere (festival)
• Fälle, Mischa Hedinger, Michela Flück, 2023, Switzerland, world premiere
• From Voice to Pulse, Zeno van den Broek, 2023, Netherlands, world premiere
• La Grande Arche, Camille Authouart, 2023, France, world premiere
• I Can See the Sun but I Can't Feel It Yet, Joseph Wilson, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere
• Last Days of Summer, Stenzin Tankong, 2023, India, France, world premiere
• Light of Light, Neritan Zinxhiria, 2023, Greece, world premiere
• Natureza humana, Mónica Lima, 2023, Portugal, Germany, world premiere
• Never Come Back, Assaf Gruber, 2023, Austria, world premiere (festival)
• Pátio do Carrasco, André Gil Mata, 2023, Portugal, world premiere
• Phalène, Sarah-Anaïs Desbenoit, 2023, France, world premiere
• Pure Land, Tenzin Phuntsog, 2022, United States, world premiere (festival)

• Night and Fear, Lipika Singh Darai, 2023, India, world premiere
• Remendo, Roger Ghil, 2023, Brazil, world premiere
• Repetitions, Morgan Alaric Quaintance, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere
• Shabnam, Reetu Sattar, 2023, Bangladesh, world premiere
• Skin in the Crosswinds, Andrew Rubin, 2023, United States, world premiere
• Square the Circle, Hanna Hovitie, 2023, Finland, world premiere (festival)
• Theta, Lawrence Lek, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere (festival)
• Tito, Kerven Jimenez, Taylor McIntosh, 2023, Haiti, world premiere
• What the Soil Remembers, José Cardoso, 2023, South Africa, Ecuador, world premiere
• Zabriskie Point, Cho Seoungho, 2023, United States, world premiere

The Ammodo Tiger Short Competition selection 2023 is now online. Click here to browse.

Clockwise, stills from the films: Square The Circle, Theta, Blinded by Centuries, Delivery Dancer's Sphere

IFFR presents Sunshine State, a Steve McQueen artwork commissioned by IFFR. The work will be presented in the Depot in collaboration with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen from January 26 to February 12 2023. Sunshine State from the Oscar-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist will be the first presentation to be hosted on the fifth floor of the Depot since it opened in November 2021. 

Click here to read more on Sunshine State.

Steve McQueen, Sunshine State, 2022© Steve McQueen. Courtesy the artist, Thomas Dane Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Agostino Osio

IFFR 2023 will open on Wednesday 25 January with Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s multi-layered essay on Edvard Munch's life and art, Munch – a surprising mix of classical cinema and formal experiment. 

Varun Grover’s All India Rank will bring the festival to a close on Sunday 5 February: a witty, well-observed portrait of middle-class India’s aspirations and the attendant pressures on its children.

Still from the film Munch Still from the film All India Rank

French cinematographer Hélène Louvart (Beach Rats, Eliza Hittman, 2017; Lazzaro felice, Alice Rohrwacher, IFFR 2019; Un petit frère, Léonor Serraille, IFFR 2023) will receive the fourth annual Robby Müller Award. Awarded in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, Robby Müller’s wife, the award annually honours an outstanding ‘image maker’ in the spirit of the late Dutch cinematographer. 

The Jury states: “Hélène Louvart's gaze unfolds as a constant becoming, a physical, instinctive process of evolving and dissolving. Her visuals are effortlessly synchronised with the rhythm of natural breathing, as if they were shot from within and cross the very line between screen and viewer.”

Read more about the Robby Müller Award 2023 here. 

Take a look at the newly confirmed lineups for Bright Future, Harbour, Limelight, Short & Mid-length and RTM. The programme of IFFR Talks and IFFR’s multi-disciplinary expanded cinema section Art Directions will be announced in the second week of January.  

Tickets for IFFR 2023 will go on general sale online on Friday 20 January 2023 at 20:00. The pre-sale for Tiger Members, Tiger Members Supreme and Tiger Members Under-23 starts Thursday 19 January 2023 at 20:00. VPRO members and their guests can already buy tickets for exclusive screenings of a selection of films from IFFR 2023

Accredited press and industry guests, as well as partners and patrons, can book their tickets from Thursday 19 January at 12:00. Applications for press and industry accreditation are still open and should be made before Friday 23 December to guarantee processing. 

Click here for the film stills.