37th International Film Festival Rotterdam

37 th International FilmFestival Rotterdam23 January - 3 February 2008

Sell your film in the Sales ClubFilm Office / Sales ClubThe many facilities and services for the professionalvisitors of the Rotterdam Film Festival include theFilm Office, the Sales Club and the Video Library.The Film Office is the first point of contact for the Press& Industry screenings, it coordinates the Video Library,and distributes all relevant film and contact data todistributors, sales agents and producers worldwide.The Film Office serves the interests of all attendingfilmmakers and industry guests. It provides informationabout the selected films, the attending professionals,local film market developments and the internationalfestival circuit.Together with the festival’s Programme Departmentand Sales Club, the Film Office ensures that distributorsand buyers are fully informed about, and able to viewthe newly completed films in the festival programme. Itstrives to enhance the potential for film acquisition byfacilitating contacts between buyers and filmmakers /producers.Film Office• Organizes one-to-one consultancy meetingsfor filmmakers and producers• Coordinates Press & Industry screenings• Is responsible for the Video Library• Publishes sales and distributor lettersSales Club• Facilitates private screenings• Provides meeting areas• Has business facilities such as Internet access,newspapers and drinks counterFestival publications• CineMart Dossier• Daily Tiger newspaper• Festival Catalogue• Industry Manual• Professionals website• Programme Guide• Tiger Topics Daily newsletterThe Sales Club is a high service platform and meetingarea for buyers and sellers. It provides a comfortableand private environment to conduct sales meetingsquietly and efficiently during the Festival. It is ameeting place for the worlds leading internationalsales agents and distributors of arthouse films.Always on the cutting edge, the International FilmFestival Rotterdam was the first to offer a fully digitizedVideo Library with 40 viewing booths. Approximately600 films (90% of the entire programme) are availableand enable professionals to view festival titles at thetouch of a button.Jared Sanford, Actor Viva and Anna Biller, Director of Viva10 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 11

Learn to navigate the festival circuit at the Rotterdam LabRotterdam Lab / Young Film Critics ProgrammeThe International Film Festival Rotterdam is givingboth young international professionals and localaudiences a range of opportunities to expand theirknowledge of film and get acquainted with filmmakingin all its aspects. To achieve this several educationalprogrammes are created by the festival.The Rotterdam Lab is a 5-day training workshop foryoung and emerging producers organized duringCineMart. Participants are given the opportunity tobroaden their international network as well as theirexperience at an international film festival and market.They take part in a programme of panel discussions,round table sessions and workshops on topics including(co)production, sales, financing and distribution ofindependent film. To discuss the financing anddevelopment of the projects they are involved in,they have access to industry consultants.The Trainee Project for Young Film Critics offers sixmotivated, talented and young (up to 30 years old)film critics from around the world a chance to getacquainted with the Rotterdam festival. The traineesattend the FIPRESCI Jury meetings, report on specificprogramme sections in the Daily Tiger and on thefestival website, and cover the festival for their ownaffiliations.Rotterdam Lab PartnersThe Rotterdam Lab is organized by CineMart in closecooperation with various partner organizationsinvolved with the training of young producers aswell as funding bodies. In order to take part in theRotterdam Lab, it is necessary to be affiliated withone of the following partnering organizations:• ACE• Australian Film Commission• EAVE• Filmstiftung NRW• Film I Väst• Flanders Image• IFP• Indigenous Branch – Australian Film Commission• KOFIC• National Film Development Corporation India• National Film and Video Foundation South Africa• New Zealand Film Commission• Rotterdam Film Fund• Telefilm Canada• UK Film Council• Wallonie Bruxelles ImagesOn a national level, during the year the InternationalFilm Festival Rotterdam organizes various educationalactivities for both school children (Meet the Maestro,Filmblik Rotterdam & Hollywood in the classroom) anduniversity students (Rotterdam Film Course). At theFestival hundreds of students and school childreninteract with filmmakers, participate in debates, andattend special screenings.MaÏwenn, Director of PARDONNEZ MOI12 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 13

Dive into the extensive programme of featuresFeatures ProgrammeA substantial part of the feature length films in thefestival is presented within the three sections thatrepresent the festival’s main strands of interest: todiscover young directors, to show committed work offilmmakers from around the globe, and to celebratethe great auteurs of cinema. Many films receive theirworld, international and European premiere. And ofcourse, there are the often much debated specialprogrammes, highlighting topical themes or subjects.Feature Film Awards & Winners 2007• KPN Audience Award(€ 7,500 for the audience favourite)The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Germany)• FIPRESCI Award(Awarded by an international film critics jury)Me (Yo) by Rafa Cortés (Spain)Cinema of the Future: Sturm und Drang brings togetherfilms by young and emerging film talent, offering themost recent developments in independent cinema.Cinema of the World: Time & Tide highlights films withan urgent social and political awareness, providing thebackground to and reflecting on the human conditionaround the world.• NETPAC Award(A jury from the Network for the Promotion of AsianCinema chooses the Best Asian Feature Film)Fourteen by Hirosue Hiromasa (Japan)• KNF Award(Awarded by the Circle of Dutch Film Journalists)Operation Filmmaker by Nina Davenport (USA)Maestros: Kings and Aces presents the cinémad’auteur for the 21 st century; idiosyncratic voices ofgreat filmmakers close to the heart of the festival.• Movies that Matter Award(€ 5,000 for a film on a human rights subject)The Mark of Cain by Marc Munden (United Kingdom)The Cinema Regained section combines (restored)prints from the endlessly rich history of Rotterdam’stype of cinema, with new productions that focus onfilm and filmmaking. In addition, specially curatedthematic and retrospective programmes focus oncutting edge or unknown developments in cinema.• MovieSquad Award(€ 2,000 awarded by a jury of young adults topromote the winning film in Dutch arthouse cinemas)Reprise by Joachim Trier (Norway)Deadline for submission: 1 st November 2007Claire Simon, Director of ÇA BRÛLE14 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 15

View a wide selection of short filmsShort: As Long As It TakesScheduled during the first five days of the festival, awide selection of brand new short films screens at theInternational Film Festival Rotterdam. It actually is oneof the largest short film festivals in the world…‘Short: As Long As It Takes’ is centred at the Lantaren/Venster cinema. This single venue, together with acustomized screening schedule, facilitates introductions,presentations, debates and industry meetings.The various (compilation) programmes include Profilesections, Master Classes, a Short Film Marathon, Startingfrom Scratch (restricted to 8 and 16 mm) and regionalprogrammes. The selection of up to 400 short films,includes essayistic and experimental work, video art,short fiction and short documentaries.Short Film Awards & Winners 2007• Tiger Awards for Short Film(Three equal prizes of€ 3,000 for the best short films)Video Game by Vipin Vijay (India)Hinterland by Geoffrey Boulangé (France)The Flag by Köken Ergun (Turkey)• Prix UIP Rotterdam(€ 2.000 and Short Film Nominee for the EuropeanFilm Awards)Amin by David Dusa (France/ Germany/Netherlands)• KPN One Take Awards (€ 500)Brother by Kerim Bersaner (Netherlands)Pathe Ballet by Adam Sekuler (USA)Twenty-five new films are selected for the Tiger AwardsCompetition for Short Films. An international jurychooses three winners of a Tiger Award for Short Film,and one Prix UIP Rotterdam winner for best Europeanshort film up to 15 minutes.Other Awards include the KPN One Take Award, fora short film made with a mobile phone during thefestival. The New Arrivals Awards are organized incooperation with NPS broadcasting. One overall winneris chosen from the monthly online winners from theprevious year.• New Arrivals Award (€ 1.000)Buutvrij by Hesdy Lonwijk (Netherlands)Deadlines for submission of short films (

Meet the Filmmakers and Artist in FocusFilmmakers and Artist in FocusSpecial attention is devoted to a few directors asFilmmaker in Focus. Typically, these are filmmakers withan exceptional new film, and a quality oeuvre that hasnot yet received thorough exposure internationally orin the Netherlands.Each festival edition, two or three filmmakers arehonoured with a programme that includes their mostrecent film(s) as well as a retrospective choice of theiroeuvre. Filmmakers in Focus aims to introduce orreintroduce these directors and their work on ainternational scale.During the 2007 edition of the Festival theFilmmakers in Focus were Abderrahmane Sissako(Mauritania/France) and Johnnie To (Hong Kong).The Festival also invites a well known visual artist,whose work is generally conceived as an importantcontribution towards the dialogue between the visualarts and the cinematographic image. The Artist in Focusdemonstrates the crossover possibilities throughinstallations and exhibitions.The video art of Artist in Focus 2007 Knut Åsdam(Norway) was on exhibition at the Museum BoijmansVan Beuningen, the Dutch Architecture Institute NAiand TENT. Centre for Contemporary Art.Past Filmmakers in Focus• Roy Andersson (Sweden)• Serik Aprymov (Kazachstan)• Stan Brakhage (USA)• Catherine Breillat (France)• Júlio Bressane (Brazil)• Jean-Claude Brisseau (France)• Alain Cavalier (France)• Daniele Ciprì & Franco Maresco (Italy)• Stephen Dwoskin (UK)• Ernie Gehr (USA)• Kamal Haasan (India)• Ken Jacobs (USA)• Benoit Jacquot (France)• Abolfazi Jalili (Iran)• Jang Sun-Woo (South-Korea)• Girish Kasaravalli (India)• Tunde Kelani (Nigeria)• Oleg Kovalov (Russia)• Zacharias Kunuk (Canada)• Guy Maddin (Canada)• Oshii Mamoru (Japan)• Goran Markovic (Yugoslavia)• Anne-Marie Miéville (Switzerland)• Rokuro Mochizuki (Japan)• Raúl Ruiz (France/Chile)• Nagasaki Shunichi (Japan)• Alexandr Sokurov (Russia)• Yevgeni Yufit (Russia)Past Artists in Focus• Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France)• Isaac Julien (UK)• Sarah Morris (USA)• Anri Sala (Albania)Johnnie To, Filmmaker in Focus 200718 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 19

Witness the crossover between Cinema and other art formsExposing Cinema / Exploding Cinema / Hot SpotsThe International Film Festival Rotterdam goes beyondthe borders of Cinema, and brings together various artdisciplines in the Exposing & Exploding Cinema sectionsand the Hot Spots programme.Exposing CinemaLike no other festival, the International Film FestivalRotterdam believes that an important impulse forinnovation can be found in the interaction betweencinema and other art disciplines, such as the visual arts,theatre and new media. Thanks to the intensivecooperation with a range of Rotterdam art institutes,festival-goers are invited to expand their horizons.Exploding CinemaThe Rotterdam festival places a spotlight on one specificaspect of film, media and video related arts and imagecultures. In past editions, Exploding Cinema has focusedon computer games, sound, electric pulse, televisionand light.Like Exposing Cinema, the Exploding Cinemaprogramme is closely organized with the participatingRotterdam cultural institutes.The Exploding Cinema 2007 edition, entitled Speed ofLight focused on light in its many forms. The transienceand intangibility of light were examined, as wereapplications of light in interior architecture.Hot SpotsThe thematic Hot Spots programme presentsadventurous and energetic evening shows, comprisinga mixture of films, visual arts, performances and livemusic from two or three cities in which a greatcreative energy can be found. In close collaborationwith representatives from their respective innovativecultural scenes, Hot Spots brings remarkable elementsto Rotterdam to introduce the audience to unknownaudiovisual landscapes.Prompted by the discovery of specific filmmakers andaudio-visual artists, Hot Spots shows the particularclimate or background from which their work hasemerged.The Hot Spots for the 2007 edition of the InternationalFilm Festival Rotterdam were Bucharest (Romania) andTehran (Iran).Previous Hot Spots• Baghdad (2005)• Bristol (2005)• Istanbul (2005)• Johannesburg (2006)• Mexico City (2006)• Vilnius (2006)Exploding Cinema – Peter Tscherkassky (Frame by Frame)20 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 21

Explore the city of RotterdamRotterdam in numbers(Based on the 36 th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007)Programme02Features 236Shorts 399Lectures, Debates, Talkshows &one off presentations 58Perfomances & installations 109Premieres Feature Films7World 44International 22European 31Premieres Short FilmsWorld 81International 68European 37Screenings33Public 1119Press & Industry 243Other 71Q&A’s 850Guests 2816International 1881National 935CineMartInternational 676National 166PressInternational 195National 292Directors / Filmmakers 390Audience 367.000Venues 37Screening Venues 27Other Venues 10Gan Xiao’er, Li Hui, Hu Shu Li (Raised From Dust), Wang Liren (Weed) and Ying Liang (The Other Half)22 International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam 23

Festival StaffDirectorSandra den HamerAssistant to the DirectorBarbara Goldmantiger@filmfestivalrotterdam.comOffice ManagementHelma Haaktiger@filmfestivalrotterdam.comProgrammeProgramme ManagerRené van der GiessenProgramme CoordinationChris SchoutenProgrammersKees BrienenEdwin CarelsLudmila CvikovaPeter van HoofErwin HoutenbrinkGerwin TamsmaGertjan ZuilhofProgramme ResearchDicky Parlevlietprogramme@filmfestivalrotterdam.comCineMartMarit van den ElshoutJacobine van der Vloedcinemart@filmfestivalrotterdam.comHubert Bals FundBianca Taalhbf@filmfestivalrotterdam.comMarketing & CommunicationsMichelle Wilderompublicity@filmfestivalrotterdam.comSponsoring & Fund RaisingHester Barkey Wolfsponsoring@filmfestivalrotterdam.comPressBert-Jan Zoetpress@filmfestivalrotterdam.comInternational PRMarnix van Wijkinternationalpr@filmfestivalrotterdam.comDistributionJuliette Jansendistribution@filmfestivalrotterdam.comEducationUlrike Söbbekeeducation@filmfestivalrotterdam.comFinanceMaikel OomensDineke Keeminkfinance@filmfestivalrotterdam.comProductionGerrit PetersJuul Veenboerproduction@filmfestivalrotterdam.comHuman ResourcesMariëlle van der Sterrenjobs@filmfestivalrotterdam.comICTCornell den BroederNico KomenVictor Verheijict@filmfestivalrotterdam.comwww.filmfestivalrotterdam.com24 International Film Festival Rotterdam