53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam
25 January – 4 February 2024

Rotterdam, 5 February 2024

M. Raihan Halim’s progressive and provocative Malaysian comedy La Luna brought the 2024 edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) to a close, receiving a resounding ovation at packed screens for its European premiere.

The festival recorded 253,500 visits across its programme of 424 films, including 183 world premieres, complemented with a variety of multi-disciplinary programmes including Art Directions, IFFR Talks and more. Highlights from the Talks programme included Sandra Hüller, Marco Bellocchio, Billy Woodberry and Amanda Kramer with Debbie Harry who stated that “film festivals are such an important part for directors and filmmakers, especially for independence”, chiming strongly with IFFR’s mission of championing independent filmmakers and artists, creating space for dialogue and expanding people’s views of the world and each other.

The festival also presented its final prize with Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border winning the Audience Award. As previously announced, Tanaka Toshihiko’s Rei won IFFR’s coveted Tiger Award, while the Iranian drama The Old Bachelor (dir. Oktay Baraheni) won the VPRO Big Screen Award.

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Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic: “This edition we saw with great pleasure how our discoveries found their audiences. From the joy of our opening night, to the excitement of welcoming superstars and cinematic giants, to witnessing the blossoming of future greats like the Tiger Award winner, there was a special atmosphere at the festival this edition. We take pride in making a programme that foregrounds the unexpected and unique – and that challenges and enriches. Our Focus programmes, like the first-of-their kind retrospectives on Chilean cinema in exile, Italian genre masters Manetti Bros. and Hong Kong provocateur Scud stand as a testament to that and the spaces we create. As we look ahead, we see that our ideas and aspirations connect strongly with the audience, strengthening us for the years to come.”

Managing Director Clare Stewart: “We are thrilled that, despite a reduction in scale to match our resources, the 53rd edition of IFFR has maintained its public reach, exceeded ticket sales targets and increased our overall occupancy rate to 75%. This affirms our strategic focus on ‘impact over scale’ and puts us in a great position to continue the recalibration of IFFR for future years. 

As part of our impact focus, we are also working to amplify the connections between our programmes and talent initiatives, and it was terrific to see increased interest in the Darkroom work-in-progress programme – now in its second year – where industry guests get a first look at  projects supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart. Our focus on developing younger audiences for the festival’s public programme is also underpinned by our essential work in the field of film and audiovisual education where we continue to host a multitude of school groups during the festival, delivering important social value including classes and workshops for children in hospitals and for young refugees.” 

IFFR 2024 programme

• 211 feature films (83 world premieres, 20 international premieres and 17 European premieres, 53 Dutch premieres)
• 213 short and mid-length films (100 world premieres, 31 international premieres, 10 European premieres)
• 61 out of 162 films eligible for the Audience Award scored an audience rating of four out of five or higher
• 26 films on demand
  
• 5 Focus programmes
• 14 IFFR Talks open to the public
• 19 Art Directions works (9 art installations, 4 sound//vision performances and 6 immersive media) at 7 galleries and spaces across Rotterdam
  
• 20 projects presented at CineMart
• 6 work-in-progress projects presented in Darkroom
• 9 IFFR Pro Dialogues industry panels
• 5 Hubert Bals Fund titles screened in the programme (2 world premieres)
• 54 education events hosted during the festival with 9 public Kids & Family events
  

Further facts and figures will be made available in the Annual Report published later this year.