The Brutalist cinematographer Lol Crawley honoured with 2025 Robby Müller award, talk and screening at IFFR

Rotterdam – 21 November 2024 – International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)  has revealed the recipient of the 2025 Robby Müller Award, which acknowledges the artistry of an exceptional image maker, given in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, the wife of the late Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller. Lol Crawley (The Brutalist, The Childhood of a Leader, 45 Years) is the honouree for the 2025 iteration of the award, which will be accompanied by a talk from Crawley during the upcoming edition of IFFR, as well as a screening of The Brutalist which marks the Dutch premiere of the film. 

The jury for this year’s Robby Müller Award noted: “Lol Crawley’s camera is dedicated to the story and characters in a way that is both humble and ardent. It forms a close, dynamic relationship with them. His sensual cinematography embraces the environment as unpredictable and fluid and aims to align with its flow rather than confine it to a predefined frame.”

Lol Crawley, BSC is an award-winning director of photography with more than 25 years of experience in film and television. His work has been nominated for and/or won BAFTA Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, International Festival Awards, VMAs and ASC awards. His feature film work includes The Brutalist, White Noise, The Humans, The Childhood of a Leader, 45 Years, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Ballast. His television credits include “Black Mirror”, “The OA”, “The Crimson Petal and the White”, and “Utopia”. He has also shot commercials for many brands including Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, Adidas, Samsung and Dior, and his music promo work includes Bob Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom alongside promos for Arcade Fire, Nick Cave and Coldplay. Originally from the UK, Lol is currently based in Los Angeles and works internationally.

In addition to The Brutalist, a series of other highlights have been added to the programme across the Harbour, Limelight and Bright Futures strands. 

In Harbour, the festival welcomes back Jeppe Rønde with a world premiere of Acts of Love following his feature debut at IFFR in 2015 with Bridgend, Tiger Special Jury Prize-winning US filmmakers Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan (New Strains, IFFR 2023) return with Removal of the Eye, an intimate and surreal exploration of parenthood, as a couple contends with a mother-in-law’s demand for a baby exorcism. Tiger Award-competing Italian filmmaker Giovanni Columbu (Su Re, IFFR 2013) returns with the 1940s Sardinia-set Balentes, and Bhargav Saikia’s supernatural horror Bokshi has its world premiere. 

In Bright Future, the international premieres of Filipino director Dominic Bekaert’s stylish neo-noir An Errand, and Antón Álvarez, aka C. Tangana’s La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés are announced, with the world premiere of US Julian Castronovo’s detective story Debut, or Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued.

In the Limelight programme, showcasing avant-premieres and festival highlights, the international premiere of Jiang Jia-chen’s Clash tells the true, uplifting story of the Chongquing Dockers, an oddball American Football team from China, as they rise to unexpected glory. 

HARBOUR

ACTS OF LOVE (World Premiere)

Director: Jeppe Rønde

Denmark 

Following the screening of his feature debut Bridgend in the IFFR 2015 Tiger Competition, Rønde returns with Acts of Love, the story of a woman’s quiet and orderly life in a religious community in rural Denmark, which is disrupted by the arrival of her brother. Slowly his presence exposes a secret from their troubled past.

BALENTES (International premiere)

Director: Giovanni Columbu

Italy 

Almost a decade after his feature Su re (The King) screened in the IFFR 2013 Tiger Competition, Columbu brings Balentes to the festival - a sombre tale where the naïveté of youth is confronted with the brutality of war, set in Sardinia in 1940. Realising some horses on the island are to be sent into battle, two boys plan to release them before they are delivered to the army.

BOKSHI (World Premiere)

Director: Bhargav Saikia

India 

Anahita, traumatised by the brutal disappearance of her mother, finds comfort in Shalini, her history teacher. But on an unconventional school excursion to a mysterious prehistoric site, it seems this history teacher has nefarious plans for the timid teenager. A visceral high-school-set supernatural horror. 

PAST IS PRESENT (World Premiere) 

Director: Shaheen Dill-Riaz

Bangladesh, Germany

When his sister marries her cousin and takes her new husband to Australia, filmmaker Shaheen Dill-Riaz’s family begins to crack. Scattered across continents and shot over fourteen years, Past Is Present offers a sweeping domestic documentary of their attempt at reconciliation.

REMOVAL OF THE EYE (International Premiere)

Directors: Prashanth Kamalakanthan, Artemis Shaw

United States 

The lives of sleep deprived parents Kallia and Ram take a surreal turn when Kallia’s mother demands an exorcism is performed on their baby. Tiger Special Jury Prize-winning US filmmakers Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan (New Strains, IFFR 2023) lend a gentle and intimate fragment of their life to the cinema by casting their actual family.

LIMELIGHT 

CLASH (International Premiere) 

Director: Jiang Jia-chen

China 

A film about American Football from China? You better believe it. Based on the incredible true story of the Chongquing Dockers, Jiang Jia-chen’s heartwarming sports dramedy Clash tells the merry tale of a bumbling football team and their rise to sporting glory.

KAJOLREKHA (European Premiere)

Director: Giasuddin Selim

Bangladesh

Bankrupted by gambling, Dhwaneshwer receives a lifeline when he is gifted a soothsaying bird. The bird restores Dhwaneshwer’s lost glory, but also instructs him to exile his 13-year-old daughter Kajolrekha. After twelve years of hardship, Kajolrekha reclaims her destiny in this sumptuous musical fairytale.

SILENCE OF THE SEA (International Premiere)
Director: Wakamatsu Setsuro

Japan

At the vernissage of an exhibition of his works painter Tamura notices a forgery, meanwhile, the dead body of a woman is found at sea. As news of both incidents travel, an unexpected connection transpires. A deeply felt drama on authenticity, ageing and love.

BRIGHT FUTURE 

DEBUT, OR, OBJECTS OF THE FIELD OF DEBRIS AS CURRENTLY CATALOGUED (World Premiere)

Director: Julian Castronovo

United States 

Made with a very modest budget and an inventive DIY approach, Castronovo’s debut feature builds a fascinating detective story with elusive clues and traces – while, at the same time, reflecting on the art of forgery.

AN ERRAND (International Premiere)

Director: Dominic Bekaert

Philippines 

Chauffeur to a shady mogul, Moroy is dispatched by his boss on an absurd errand in the middle of the night. As he sets off, his mind pieces together memories, conversations and fantastic visions. A stylish, elliptical neo-noir set in a deeply class-riven society.

LA GUITARRA FLAMENCA DE YERAI CORTÉZ (International Premiere)

Director: Antón Álvarez

Spain

A thoughtful exploration of gypsy culture, an intimate portrait of flamenco guitar player Yerai Cortés and a healing family exorcism through music. Antón Álvarez (aka C. Tangana) makes his filmmaking debut with this moving documentary.

Contact: [email protected] 

Full programme line-up including Tiger Competition, Big Screen and Tiger Short films will be announced in the Dec 17th press conference for IFFR 2025. Box office opens 15 January for press and industry, and 16 January for the public - tickets are available at IFFR.com 

About IFFR 

International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) upcoming 54th edition of the festival will take place from 30 January – 9 February 2025, with the full programme being launched on 17th December 2024. IFFR presents a leading international film festival and year-round programme and actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through its co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam Lab and other industry activities.

IFFR seeks to expand, enrich and challenge people’s views of the world and each other through film and audiovisual arts. IFFR’s programme deepens appreciation of cinema in all its forms, broadens and diversifies audiences, and creates opportunities for independent filmmakers and artists from around the globe.

Through IFFR’s visionary programming and forward-looking  initiatives, we create a haven for the plurality of voices, audiovisual formats and diverse storytelling. We are an essential destination for film professionals and film lovers. We support filmmakers and artists with funding and development opportunities and advance the impact of their work in the world. We are accessible to everyone. Through screenings, talks, exhibitions, education, professional initiatives and funding schemes we bring people from all backgrounds together, enabling discovery, recognition dialogue, learning and development. We look where others don’t and we open a space for ideas, pushing creative boundaries that have the power to transform.

IFFR is supported by partners including Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap (OCW), Gemeente Rotterdam, Creative Europe Media, NL Film Fonds, Fonds 21, de Volkskrant and VriendenLoterij. 

Details on accreditation for IFFR 2025 can be found here.