In an undesirable bit of déjà vu, a new variant has scotched plans for an in-person IFFR, and the industry will again view one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated arrays of films from their couch or office chair, maybe with a cat curled up by their side. Last Friday saw the main announcement of the festival’s 51st edition, running from 26 January-6 February, where the 14 films in the main Tiger Competition were unveiled, along with those in the Big Screen Competition and Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. All of these will be exclusively made available to press and industry badge holders in collaboration with Festival Scope Pro, with the selection to be viewable for an extra week after the festival’s close, giving an opportunity for prize winners and the like to be caught up with.

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During Friday’s press conference, delivered from a quirky, multi-coloured set lit with glow sticks, festival director Vanja Kaludjercic enthusiastically showcased the programme and further clarified the decision to change the festival format, with the decision dictated by the Netherlands’ pre-Christmas COVID measures. In a further statement, she said, “The announcement of our full festival programme is always an exciting moment, and this year is no exception. After the tough decision to move our event online, we've curated a wonderful online selection for our audiences here in the Netherlands, whilst also ensuring that our competition line-ups and the filmmakers who trusted us with their premieres will be given a platform within our Press & Industry Selection. When cinemas are allowed to open again, we will present competition titles on the big screen to our audiences later in the year.”

This year’s Tiger Competition continues its mandate of discovery, celebrating the “innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world”. The jury, composed of Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki, will hand out the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each. European highlights from this year’s very globally representative selection include A criança [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois e …
scheda film] from Portugal, directed by Marguerite de Hillerin and Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois, and Sweden’s Excess Will Save Us [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Morgane Dziurla-Petit
scheda film], by Morgane Dziurla-Petit.

The Big Screen Competition has a broader remit, traversing the gap “between popular, classic and arthouse cinema”. Ten titles will go before an “expert audience jury”, who will pick the winner of the VPRO Big Screen Award, offering €10,000 in prize money, and a guaranteed theatrical and TV broadcast release. Films to look out for amongst these are Splendid Isolation [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Urszula Antoniak
scheda film], a Dutch production by Ursula Antoniak – a post-catastrophe drama that had been rumoured for other major festivals. French filmmakers Jacques Doillon and Mabrouk El Mechri are two of the more established names in the section, with the films Third Grade [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mabrouk El Mechri
scheda film], respectively.

Sixteen short films will make up the Ammodo Tiger Short competition, many of them acclaimed at festivals last year. Three equal awards worth €5,000 will be given out by a jury made up of Tim Leyendekker, Nduka Mntambo and Rieke Vos.

The online selection for public audiences will be composed of 52 films, compared to over 200 for the industry section. The former’s crop comes from titles in the Harbour, Bright Future, Cinema Regained, Focus and RTM sections, including the opening-night film Please Baby Please by US director Amanda Kramer. British Oscar winner and Amsterdam resident Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated new installation Sunshine State has been cancelled, however, with no rescheduling news as yet.

Below is a complete list of the newly announced titles in the feature competitions:

Tiger Competition

Achrome - Maria Ignatenko (Russia)
The Cloud Messenger - Rahat Mahajan (India)
A criança [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois e …
scheda film] - Marguerite de Hillerin and Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois (Portugal)
EAMI [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Paz Encina (Paraguay/Germany/Argentina/Netherlands/France/USA)
Excess Will Save Us [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Morgane Dziurla-Petit
scheda film] - Morgane Dziurla-Petit (Sweden)
Kafka for Kids - Roee Rosen (Israel)
Malintzin 17 - Mara Polgovsky and Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico)
Met mes [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sam de Jong
scheda film] - Sam de Jong (Netherlands)
The Plains - David Easteal (Australia)
Proyecto Fantasma - Roberto Doveris (Chile)
Le rêve et la radio - Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk (Canada)
Silver Bird and Rainbow Fish [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Lei Lei (USA/Netherlands)
To Love Again - Gao Linyang (China)
Yamabuki [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Yamasaki Juichiro (Japan/France)

Big Screen Competition

Assault - Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Kazakhstan/Russia)
Broadway [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Christos Massalas (Greece/France/Romania)
Third Grade [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Jacques Doillon (France)
Daryn’s Gym - Brett Michael Innes (South Africa)
Drifting Petals - Clare Law (Australia)
The Harbour - Rajeev Ravi (India)
The Island [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Anca Damian (Romania)
Kung Fu Zohra [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mabrouk El Mechri
scheda film] - Mabrouk El Mechri (France)
My Emptiness and I [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Adrián Silvestre
scheda film] - Adrián Silvestre (Spain)
Splendid Isolation [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Urszula Antoniak
scheda film] - Urszula Antoniak (Netherlands)