On Wednesday I head to the Netherlands for the 39th Rotterdam International Film Festival – which runs until February 7 – where there’s a typically generous and varied line-up of film on offer. Here’s a brief glimpse at the separate strands that make up this year’s festival:
VPRO Tiger Awards Competition
The competition consists of a selection of 15 films by first or second-time directors, with each vying for three top prizes of equal value. Potential highlights include the biopic of a Japanese manga artist, Miyoko Asagaya kibun and Ben Russell’s formalist study of two Saramaccan brothers journeying up the Suriname River, Let Each One Go Where He May.
Bright Future
This is the platform for newer filmmakers who aren’t selected in the main competition. There are countless films of merit here; some well known (Police, Adjective, The Ape, Adrift) and a host of others receiving their first screening in Rotterdam.
Spectrum
Spectrum shows work from more experienced filmmakers, and I’m beyond excited at the prospect of seeing new films by Luc Moullet, Pedro Costa, James Benning and Tsai Ming-Liang. There are also movies I didn’t get the chance to see at the London Film Festival last year such as Claire Denis’ White Material and Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch that I’m hoping I can find the time for.
Signals
The rest of the line up for the festival (aside from 200 short films which I haven’t even glanced at yet) consists of a series of sidebars each organised around a theme, showing films both old and new. There’s a focus on war films that includes Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon and Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death, although for the moment my eye is firmly set on the world premiere of John Gianvito’s Vapor Trail, a four and a half hour epic that investigates the ecological disaster caused by a US military base in the Philippines. If this is anything like his previous two features it promises to be one of the real highlights of the festival. In the other areas of the Signals strand there’s a huge spotlight on African cinema, with Sai Yoichi and Kiju Yoshida retrospectives, and various screenings associated with the Pompeu Fabra documentary movement.
I’m hoping I have the courage to forego some of the more familiar names that will most likely find their way into the UK soon enough in order to shine light on those lesser known gems. I’ll be reporting from the festvial as the week progresses to share what I find, so check back for updates.
