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IFFR 2020

Rotterdam reveals full lineup of 49th edition

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- The titles span countries and cultures, ranging from traditional to experimental approaches, all encompassing urgency and cinematic relevance

Rotterdam reveals full lineup of 49th edition
Drama Girl by Vincent Boy Kars

At its press conference on 18 December, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) unveiled the full lineup of its 49th edition. The announcement includes the 10 titles running in the Tiger competition, as well as the 9 picks for the Big Screen Competition and the 15 feature-length debuts in the Bright Future Competition. The festival, which will be held from 22 January to 2 February, will open with a screening of Mosquito [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Nunes Monteiro
film profile
]
. The film, by Portuguese director João Nuno Pinto, tells a World War I story from an unexpected angle, following a Portuguese soldier through the African wilderness.

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This years’ Tiger Competition counts no less than 10 titles. Several of the filmmakers have a history with the festival, such as Luis López Carrasco, who presented his feature-length debut El Futuro [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
there in 2014. Festival director Bero Beyer is very pleased with the selection: “From experimental millennial autofiction to Spanish class consciousness, from hard-boiled Korean crime to life in Hindu-nationalist Tamil Nadu, from the jungles of Venezuela to the streets of Greece – all films in the Tiger Competition radiate a strong sense of personal urgency and cinematic relevance, fuelled by boundary-pushing directorial visions.” An important edition for Beyer, as this is the year he will pass the torch to Croatian-born Vanja Kaludjercic. She will start as her job as the festival’s artistic voice next year, celebrating the 50th edition.

The Tiger jury for the 2020 edition is formed by Dutch-Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, artistic director of Visions du Réel Emilie Bujès, South Korean-born American filmmaker Kogonada, Dutch filmmaker Sacha Polak, whose film Dirty God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sacha Polak
film profile
]
 opened the 48th IFFR, and Indonesian artist, curator and filmmaker Hafiz Rancajale. The prestigious Tiger Award comes with a €40,000 prize, while the Special Jury Award is worth €10,000.

The Big Screen Competition consists of 9 titles which, according to the festival programmers, deserve theatrical distribution after their festival premiere. The selection includes Eden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the third feature by Hungarian filmmaker Ágnes Kocsis, whose earlier works Fresh Air [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and Adrienn Pál [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnes Kocsis, director of P…
film profile
]
screened at IFFR in 2007 and 2011 respectively. An audience jury will award the winner with the VPRO Big Screen Award, which guarantees local theatrical release and airtime on Dutch public television. The Bright Future Competition this year is made up of 15 titles, offering a refreshing approach to the trade, with an equal balance between male and female directors. The award grants one of the feature-length debuts a financial prize of €10,000.

Here is the complete selection:

Tiger Competition

The Year of the Discovery [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Luis López Carrasco (Spain/Switzerland) 
Beasts Clawing at Straws - Kim Yonghoon (South Korea)
The Cloud in Her Room - Zheng Lu Xinyuan (China)
Desterro [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Maria Clara Escobar (Brazil/Portugal/Argentina)
Drama Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Vincent Boy Kars (Netherlands)
La fortaleza [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Jorge Thielen Armand (Venezuela/France/Netherlands/Colombia)
Kala azar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janis Rafa
film profile
]
- Janis Rafa (Netherlands/Greece)
Nasir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Arun Karthick (India/Netherlands)
Lonely Rock [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf (Argentina/Mexico/Qatar/UK)
Si yo fuera el invierno mismo - Jazmín López (Argentina)

Big Screen Competition

El cazador - Marco Berger (Argentina)
Eden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Ágnes Kocsis (Hungary/Romania)
Enormous [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Sophie Letourneur (France)
The Evening Hour - Braden King (USA)
Fanny Lye Deliver'd [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
- Thomas Clay (UK/Germany)
Mosquito [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Nunes Monteiro
film profile
]
- João Nuno Pinto (Portugal/France/Brazil)
A Perfectly Normal Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Malou Reymann (Denmark)
Synapses - Chang Tso-chi (Taiwan)
A Yellow Animal [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Felipe Bragança (Brazil/Portugal/Mozambique)

Bright Future Competition

Babai - Artem Aisagaliev (Russia/USA)
Chaco - Diego Mondaca (Bolivia/Argentina)
Los fantasmas - Sebastián Lojo (Guatemala/Argentina)
Time of Moulting [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Sabrina Mertens (Germany)
For the Time Being [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Salka Tiziana (Germany/Spain/Switzerland)
I Blame Society - Gillian Wallace Horvat (USA)
Moving On - Yoon Dan-bi (South Korea)
My Mexican Bretzel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuria Giménez
film profile
]
- Nuria Giménez Lorang (Spain)
Ofrenda - Juan María Mónaco Cagni (Argentina)
Panquiaco - Ana Elena Tejera (Panama)
A Rifle and a Bag [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Isabella Rinaldi, Cristina Hanes, Arya Rothe (India, Romania, Italy, Qatar)
Sebastian Jumping Fences [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Ceylan-Alejandro Ataman-Checa (Germany)
The Trouble with Nature [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Illum Jacobi (Denmark/France)
Truth or Consequences - Hannah Jayanti (USA)
Wisdom Tooth - Liang Ming (China)

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