In its 53rd edition, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) once again offers a high-quality program with carefully selected feature films, documentaries and short films. In 2024, the film festival will take place from January 25 to February 4. From a German perspective, 19 productions and co-productions are represented in various sections this year - including a particularly pleasing five world premieres of major German films.
Once again this year, more than 400 feature films, medium-length films and short films from over 90 countries will be screened in Rotterdam. The German production SR (Blinkerfilm) by Lea Hartlaub is taking part in the Tiger Competition section and celebrating its world premiere there. It is Hartlaub’s third feature length Essay, an observation of cultural fragments, meandering throughout the geographic space and time.
In the second competition section for feature-length films, Big Screen Competition, MILK TEETH (Weydemann Bros.) by Sophia Bösch will be screened, also as a world premiere. The dystopian drama is about a world that has become inhospitable and about a community in which resources are scarce and which seals itself off from a deadly zone on the other side of the river.
Two further world premieres will be shown in the Harbor section. Christina Friedrich's ZONE (Madonnenwerk) is a melodrama about a girl with paranormal abilities who fights against a system that wants to calculate and completely capture people in a sealed-off area. In COSMIC MINIATURES (Kairos Film), Alexander Kluge mixes fact and fiction with historical footage and a wealth of texts, comics, charts and cabaret.
In the Art Directions section, the boundaries of cinema will be explored in Rotterdam. ASUNDER (Germany, USA, New Zealand) can be seen in the Installations sub-category. ASUNDER is a three-channel video projection by artists Tega Brain, Julian Oliver and Bengt Sjölén that combines artificial intelligence with environmental research.
Productions from Germany will also be shown in the medium-length and short film sections. In the Short & Mid-length section, 1014 by Deborah Phillips celebrates its world premiere. The artist's experimental short film is a homage to her mother. Also screening in this section as an international premiere is MAMÁNTULA (Paola Alvarez Filmproduktion) by director Ion de Sosa. The medium-length avant-garde fantasy film revolves around a coveted man who is secretly also a giant cloak in disguise and who is up to mischief in Berlin.
Katarina Jazbec's KNOW YOUR STONES (Urbane Künste Ruhr) celebrates its European premiere in the RTM section. In this short film, the artist transfers her interest in dream sharing rituals - the sharing and communication of dreams - to the Ruhr region.
German productions and co-productions in Rotterdam at a glance:
Tiger Competition
SR by Lea Hartlaub (Blinkerfilm)
ME, MARYAM, THE CHILDREN AND 26 OTHERS by Farshad Hashemi (IR/DE/CZ, Pak Film)
Big Screen Competition
MILK TEETH (MILCHZÄHNE) by Sophia Bösch (DE/CH, Weydemann Bros.)
Harbour
COSMIC MINIATURES by Alexander Kluge (Kairos Film)
ZONE by Christina Friedrich (Madonnenwerk)
DEVASTATED by Ashish Avikuntak (IN/DE)
MAIA - PORTRAIT WITH HANDS (MAIA - PORTRAIT MIT HÄNDEN) by Alexandra Gulea (RO/DE, weltfilm)
MAKBETAMAXIMUS by Khavn De La Cruz (PH/GR/IT/DE/UK/AU/ES/CA/JP/US)
Bright Future
SCHIRKOA: IN LIES WE TRUST by Ishan Shukla (IN/FR/DE, Rapid Eye Movies)
Limelight
LOST IN THE NIGHT by Amat Escalante (MX/NL/DE, The Match Factory)
FOUR DAUGHTERS by Kaouther Ben Hania (FR/TN/SA/DE, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion)
RAPITO (DIE BOLOGNA-ENTFÜHRUNG - GERAUBT IM NAMEN DES PAPSTES) by Marco Bellocchio (IT/FR/DE, The Match Factory)
Short & Mid-Length
1014 by Deborah Phillips
MAMÁNTULA by Ion de Sosa (DE/ES, PAOLA Á. FILMPRODUKTION)
THE ELECTRIC KISS by Rainer Kohlberger (AT/DE)
UNDR by Kamal Aljafari (PS/DE)
BULL’S HEART by Margaryta Bagdasaryan (UZ/UA/RU/DE, Voices Films)
RTM
KNOW YOUR STONES by Katarina Jazbec (DE/NL, Urbane Künste Ruhr)
Art Directions: Installations
ASUNDER by Tega Brain, Julian Oliver, Bengt Sjölén (DE/US/NZ)
Contact:
Sylva Häutle (Head of Festival Relations & Producers Liaison)
Angela Sonntag (Head of Press & Public Relations)
