Daily Tiger #3 (English) by International Film Festival Rotterdam

At IFFR with his new film Me and You, cinema legend Bernardo Bertolucci relaxes with friends at Directors’ Drinks in de Doelen on Thursday evening.

photo: Nadine Maas

Notes from the underground Legendary Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, in Rotterdam this week to present his new feature Me and You (screening in Spectrum), was in playful and reflective mood as he looked back over his career. By Geoffrey Macnab

“I am a case of arrested development. I am still aged between 14 and 17”, Bertolucci joked when asked why Me and You (lo e te) – like its 2003 predecessor The Dreamers – is about rebellious adolescents, living apart from the adult world. “The other reason why I like very young people – the boy (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) was 14 when we shot – is that you see time passing. You see that not only young people are changing all the time. You see them growing up in front of the camera … I feel more free with adolescent characters.” Me and You is based on a novel by Niccolò Ammaniti (who also worked on the screenplay). Antinori plays Lorenzo, a truant teenager who hides out in the basement of his parents’ home when he is supposed to be on a school skiing trip. Tea Falco plays his glamorous, heroin-addicted older half-sister who joins him in his hidden, underground world. Bertolucci describes the young femme fatale as “a little Marlene Dietrich from Sicily.”

Fast and loose

The 72-year-old acknowledged that he originally intended to shoot Me and You in 3D, but reconsidered when he realized how cumbersome the equipment would be. “The process was too slow. Every time you change a lens, you have to stop because there are two cameras”, the Italian auteur sighs. “Often, my relationships with directors of photography are based on whether they are fast or not. I do a shot and that gives birth to another shot and then to another shot. Everything is like that.” Bertolucci also considered making the film digitally but thought better of that too. “The definition of digital, the focus, is so implacable that I felt shooting in digital was like killing all the art of impressionism, because of this definition.” Waking up

Me and You is Bertolucci’s first film back in Italy in many years. He describes Italian cinema as having been in “a long, long coma.” Only now, thanks to younger directors like Matteo Garrone (whose latest feature, Reality, screens in Rotterdam) and Paulo Sorrentino, is Italian film culture wakening from its slumbers. “It looks like Italian cinema is better every time there is a political constriction or something to fight against”,

he says, invoking memories of the glory days of Neo-Realism after World War II. “Paisa, or Open City, or De Sica doing Bicycle Thieves”, he lists films in which audiences began to feel, for the first time, that “the camera has been taken away from the studio and taken into the street to (film) real people.” Keep on rolling

A few years ago, Bertolucci was quoted in the press as saying that he didn’t want to make any more movies. “I never said that I don’t want to do any more movies”, he protests at the idea that he had contemplated retirement. “I couldn’t move any more. I couldn’t walk. I started to be in a wheelchair. That, maybe, was the moment I couldn’t do any more movies. I thought, ok, it is finished. Let’s do or become something else.” His attitude changed once he realised that he could still do the job from his wheelchair. “The only difference is that the bit of the camera instead of at eye height would be at chair height.” The director knew his limits – one reason why Me and You appealed so much as a project was that there were not many locations. Almost the entire movie is set in the basement where the boy is hiding out. Bertolucci relished being back at work and is even able to joke about being in a wheelchair. He tells a story

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about his friend, the late Gilbert Adair (scriptwriter of The Dreamers) seeing him give a Q&A at the BFI Southbank in London. He was cracking lots of jokes and the audience was laughing wildly. Adair told him at the end of the Q&A: “Oh, you have a new gig now – you can be a stand-up comedian!” When he picked up a lifetime achievement award at the European Film Academy Awards in Malta, Bertolucci even quipped that in his wheelchair-using state, he might feature in Untouchable: Part 2. Closing in

This isn’t Bertolucci’s first visit to Rotterdam. He remembers (“even if it is in the fog”) coming here for a screening of his 1968 film Partner starring Pierre Clementi. (The film featured a song composed by Ennio Morricone but sung by Dutch performer Peter Boom.) Having made Me and You, Bertolucci is keen to keep on working (although he won’t say much specific about future projects). The new film is again likely to be a chamber piece. After all, the Italian director says, he relishes tight spaces. “I like to be in a ‘huis clos’, as the French say, a closed location. One place. It is something that in general can create a bit of claustrophobia but, for me, claustrophobia becomes almost immediately claustrophilia … I love it!”

PHOTO: HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, ﾂｫGARTENBAUKINOﾂｻ, VIENNA 2001

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Life-savers The second CineMart Boost! initiative, which will again look to design bespoke trajectories for high-potential projects from the developing world, is itself boosted this year by its new association with NFDC India. By Nick Cunningham

From left to right, top row: Thomas Corona, Hanno Reeder, Maite Klis, Myrthe Terpstra, Louis Tisné, Hayet Benkara, Thomas Crommentuyn, Marina Kozuk, Lerato Phiri. On white chairs: Mary Davies and Nikolas Montaldi. photo: Nichon Glerum

Meet the Film Office The Film Office at IFFR is cranking up act ivities in 2013. By Nick Cunningham

These include ten expert panels (all held in the Industry Club on the 4th floor of De Doelen), ranging from how to aggregate partners to get films onto iTunes, Amazon and YouTube without a distributor to working with a creative producer and script-developer to a round table debate on the changes in film funding and another on the use of archival and found footage. Every year, the Film Office acts as a conduit between attending filmmakers and the international film trade here in Rotterdam, offering a range of services to facilitate optimum contact. These include the high-service Industry Club, which offers space to mull over and decide

upon deals, a fully digitised Video Library and a Dark Room for private screenings. Central to Film Office activity is the work of the Industry Consultants who are on hand throughout the duration of the festival to offer first-hand advice to filmmakers, whether fledgling or experienced. This year there are four consultants – experienced hands Hayet Benkara, Mary Davies and newcomers Marina Kožul and Louis Tisné. “We are drawn from different backgrounds in the film industry, with different areas of experience, and working in different parts of the world”, explains Davies. “So what we can offer filmmakers who request a meeting is the benefit of expertise in sales, distribution, production, development, festivals or applying for funding.

Lab attack The thirteenth Rotterdam Lab programme commences this afternoon in De Doelen. By Nick Cunningham

Once again, the Lab offers 70-plus fledgling producers a smorgasbord of industry panels, screenings, round-table sessions and networking opportunities with the great and the good of the international film trade. As in the past, all producers are nominated by partner institutions, which this year number 29, including the likes of ACE, the National Film Development Corporation India and the Sundance Institute. Lab activity runs to Wednesday January 30, with highlights including Monday’s MBS-hosted What a Curated VoD Can Offer You panel, Israel Film Fund’s Katriel Schory address on the creative producer and his role in the development process (also Monday) and a number of panels that grapple with the perennially tricky business of film funding. “There is this whole discussion about funding problems and I think a lot of producers have been stuck on a certain track”, stresses CineMart manager Jacobien van der Vloed. “I think it is important to offer them knowledge about other ways of financing. It’s a discussion we have to continue, because in the future I

The filmmakers who come to us can be somebody who is here with their short film, maybe a film school graduation piece, and who has maybe never been to a film festival before, or a very experienced filmmaker who is stuck on a particular problem and would appreciate some guidance … I always find these little interviews are a cross between career counselling, therapy and clairvoyance, and in this half hour we have to find out what it is they really need, and if there are resources here that we can point them towards for help.” Industry Panels 26 January 2013

How Can A Film Festival Contribute To A Lively Art-Film Scene? 11 a.m.-12.30 p.m. How To Make The Most Of Film Festivals 2 p.m.-3.30 p.m.

The partnership will entail the future selection of a project from South Asia. This year the nod went to The Fourth Direction by Gurvinder Singh. The four other Boost! projects are Days of Cannibalism (Teboho Edkins, South Africa), Silver Shadow by Pablo Stoll Ward, Extraño per verdado (Strange but True, Michel Lipkes, Uruguay) and Ognjen Glavonic’s The Load (Serbia). Boost! is partnered with Hubert Bals Fund and the Binger in Amsterdam, and is supported by the Media MUNGUS programme of the EC. “Through the Boost! Partnership, we are very happy to be able to support projects we want to help further in various stages of their development”, says CineMart chief Marit van den Elshout yesterday. “This corresponds to our wish in the future to facilitate even more in supporting projects throughout their cycle of development, and hopefully later with post-production and distribution. Boost! has become a well-known, well-integrated part of CineMart – the five projects will have many meetings during the next few days of CineMart.” Serbian Ognjen Glavonic also spoke to the Daily Tiger ahead of his co-pro market debut. His project follows a truck driver during the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia. “We are still at the beginning of our funding and we are expecting to find people and partners who are going to be our friends and co-producers for the next one or two years, until we finish the movie”, he says. “And to meet a lot of people who can help us in any way, who see something in our project. We will see how they react to the story we want to tell. Boost! saved our life. We live in a country that doesn’t have this kind of funding at the beginning, or that gives you a chance to work with the Binger, and with a script doctor and to send you to a co-production market like this.” The Binger’s Gamila Ylstra, who continues to seek new financial partners after the government pulled its subsidy at the end of 2012, adds: “With the second edition of Boost! well on its way to completion at CineMart, we now have the experience and the results to conclude that the concept works well: the synergy between parties offers added value for the projects and filmmakers. It certainly is our intension to continue this programme!”

Making a difference think filmmaking is going to be about finding private investors.” Van der Vloed and Lab producer Nienke Poelsma agree that the Lab comes at just the right time, when batteries are being charged before a packed schedule of annual events and festivals. The pair also stress that the Lab’s unscheduled sessions, when delegates are free to roam, network and pitch, are of equal (if not greater) importance. “There is enough space for them to get their projects out of their pockets, stroll around De Doelen – and attack!”, says Poelsma. Adds Van der Vloed: “They are from all over the world; people from Australia mingling with people from Latin America within an informal but very professional context – that doesn’t happen all that often. All of them have their own stories and their own backgrounds and their own difficulties in finding funding, and that is the nice thing – they share that with one another other.” Danielle Guirguis of Amsterdam-based Smarthouse Films is a Lab alumnus who will present her project La Holandesa at CineMart this year. “I had the privilege to participate in the Rotterdam Lab in 2010, taking my first steps as a young producer in an international setting”, she says. “It is highly valuable for international networking, international co-producing – and having fun! “

Shimin the Tea House Famous Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamedarya (known as Shimin), a member of this year’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition Jury, used her contacts in the Iranian film industry to find some nice additions to the Inside Iran programme. Today she presents these in the Tea House.

The Hubert Bals Fund plays an important role supporting filmmakers from the developing world. By Geoffrey Macnab

This year’s Harvest looks richer than ever – five films in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition and another 20 scattered across the programme – but there may be trouble ahead for IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund. The Fund, which provides grants to filmmakers from developing countries, is named after festival founder Huub Bals. Set up in 1988, it has long been a core part of the festival’s identity. However, as the Netherlands slashes its foreign aid budget, HBF’s long-standing contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will finally come to an end in 2014. The Fund currently operates on a budget of around €800,000. Half of this comes from the Government and the rest from NGOs and other funds. With Ministry support shortly to dry up, the Fund will have to look elsewhere for finance. IFFR representatives are already in talks with the European Union’s Media Programme, which is starting a new seven-year funding cycle from 2014 onward, about supporting the Fund. Another option is the National Lottery, to which HBF has again applied, together with sister organization The IDFA Fund. The Fund is already supporting slightly fewer projects than in previous years – around 40 a year, as opposed to 50. In spite of the cutbacks, HBF manager Iwana Chronis is upbeat about the long-term prospects for HBF.

“We will be able to continue”, Chronis says. “Even with a small budget, we can try to make a difference for some of the filmmakers and films we really believe in.” The HBF money tends to come very early in a film’s development – one reason why the Fund is considered so important. As ever, HBF-backed movies in Rotterdam come in all shapes and sizes. Among the more unusual titles the Fund has backed this year is Wadjda, the debut feature from Saudi Arabia’s first female director, Haifaa Al Mansour. (In theory, Saudi Arabia is not eligible for development aid but the Fund made an exception on the basis of the film’s subject matter and the position of its director.) Meanwhile, HBF is partnering on African Metropolis, an initiative hatched by South African producer Steven Markovitz and the Goethe Institute to support seven emerging filmmakers from seven different African cities. “Every year, we receive about 800 projects from all over the world – and only about 10% come from Africa. We are always trying to see a way to reach out to more (African) filmmakers”, Chronis says of HBF’s involvement in the new scheme. As Chronis emphasizes, the Fund is – and will continue to be – “part of the international character and position of the IFFR … part of the Festival’s profile.”

Tea House/Gallery Inside Iran, Schouwburgplein 54, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

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Personal Jesus Giovanni Columbu’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition feature Su Re sets the story of the Passion against the stark Sardinian countryside and features a disarmingly humble Jesus. By Ben Walters

Bold, dynamic and beautiful: words that could easily describe conventional depictions of Jesus Christ; words that might be less readily associated with Sardinian cinematic output. Hivos Tiger Awards competitor Su Re up-ends both sets of expectations. The second feature from filmmaker Giovanni Columbu, it’s a retelling of the Passion in which the two key components are the striking yet forbidding landscape of the director’s Sardinian birthplace and Fiorenzu Mattu’s deceptively lowkey Jesus, whose stocky frame, bulbous features and unprepossessing yet soulful manner contrast with familiar

Renaissance Europe” and how they made the Gospel story contemporary. He shot in Sardinia “for the same reason that Bruegel represented ‘The Procession to Calvary’ in a landscape dominated by a large rock on which stood a windmill. The actors speak their own language, as would the characters painted by Bruegel if they could speak. The story is universal and can be transferred anywhere. Anyone who has been brushed by injustice can find empathy and comfort in it.”

screen versions of Christ as a superhero in sandals. “I do not believe Jesus must necessarily be represented as a blond, muscular athlete”, Columbu says. “The image of Christ in this film corresponds to the only description of his appearance that precedes the Gospels, in the Book of Isaiah: ‘he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him’.” In casting Mattu, who Columbu says is “not beautiful”, the director intended to put on screen a character who “evokes the spiritual dimension that can only be perceived by the ‘pure in heart’. If we had not known how Gandhi looked, only of his sprawling enterprise and the love it aroused, probably we would have imagined him like a tall, strong man with long, curly hair. But he was small, bald and toothless.” Su Re – which translates as The King – plays out in com-

parably humble settings, mostly exteriors. Nature dominates – stark mountains, lowering clouds, rock-strewn plains, the noise of wind and birdcalls – and people’s behaviour is hardly less rough – jeering, moaning and the cracking of whips stud the soundtrack. This world of stony fields and faces is beautifully photographed, populated by amateur performers cast from the local area, speaking Sardinian dialect and wearing their own clothes under plain robes. The effect is powerful and unusual; it might be useful to think of Su Re less as the latest film about Jesus than as a work that fuses the lineages of the medieval Passion Plays, in which rural communities came together to participate in the telling of the story of Jesus’s last days, and devotional art addressing the same subject. Columbu had no cinematic precedents in mind (“except perhaps Pasolini”), thinking instead of “the painters of

woes – shopping in designer boutiques and continuing to live in a palatial apartment – until something snaps and she runs off to the pig farm. “She’s a prophet”, says Hoesl. “It’s a prophesy to say the value of money is questionable; she sacrifices that to get out of this cage money has cursed her to exist in.” Soldier Jane is filmed with crisp elegance. Its fastidious visual style grew out of a collaboration between Hoesl and his cinematographer, Gerald Kerkletz. “He’s a radical, minimalist thinker,” Hoesl says of Kerkletz. “I am Ulrich Seidl’s assistant director and we met on the set of Import/Export.” “I’m very happy to have the chance to work with this outlaw, radical, forward-thinking Austrian artist,” Hoesl says of Seidl, whose Paradise: Faith is screening at IFFR. “But I’m very happy that I’m not wearing his pants – that I’m the next generation.” Having secured Paris-based outfit Premium Films to handle sales, Hoesl is very happy to show the film at IFFR after its Sundance world premiere: “We always wanted to have the film in Rotterdam”. The film’s budget of €65,000 was drawn from various sources: “It was hard, the same amount of work if we’d wanted say €4 million – because we started without a script.”

Escaping from the shadow

Hivos Tiger Awards Competition Su Re / The King – Giovanni Columbu

Sat 26 Jan 09:15 DJZ (press & industry) Sat 26 Jan 15:45 PA5 Sun 27 Jan 21:15 PA6 Mon 28 Jan 09:30 PA7 Sat 02 Feb 15:30 CI4

Cast system Daniel Hoesl’s stylish Tiger entrant Soldier Jane was partly inspired by the biographies of his lead actresses. By Edward Lawrenson

“We start out not having a screenplay,” Daniel Hoesl says of the process behind his debut feature Soldier Jane (Soldate Jeanette), which receives its European premiere in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition: “We start with casting.” A boldly stylish drama from Austria about middle-aged Fanni who rejects a life of affluence in Vienna to live on a pig farm where she strikes up a kinship with the younger Anna, Soldier Jane grew out of the unusually imaginative approach Hoesl took to casting his leads. “We started looking at about a hundred actresses; I only scout their biographies.” It was through reading about the women’s backgrounds that Hoesl found Johanna Orsini-Rosenberg, who plays Fanni, and Christina Reichsthaler, who plays Anna. “I print out the pictures and biographies, talk to my crew, and we figure out what’s important to tell, what we can mingle into a narrative.” “Christina,” he says, “comes from a rural community. At some point she was kicked out by her parents and had to work for lodging on a farm.” These elements fed into the character of Anna, a woman who is drawn to the mysterious Fanni. Johanna Orsini-Rosenberg has “an aristocratic background: she grew up in a castle and was born into the remaining royals in Austria”. This privileged pedigree is key to her character. Facing bankruptcy, Fanni carries on her expensive habits in defiance of her financial

Hivos Tiger Awards Competition Soldate Jeanette / Soldier Jane – Daniel Hoesl

Sat 26 Jan 11:15 DJZ (press & industry) Sat 26 Jan 18:45 PA5 Sun 27 Jan 13:00 PA4 Mon 28 Jan 22:15 PA3 Sat 02 Feb 14:30 CI2

Tiger entrant Fat Shaker has its roots in its director’s family background. By Geoffrey Macnab

Iranian director Mohammad Shirvani arrives in Rotterdam fresh from the film’s screenings in Sundance’s New Frontier Section. Shirvani confides he was astonished the Sundance audiences munched their way through tubs of popcorn while watching an Iranian movie, but still seemed to appreciate it. “In between all the American hot dogs, the film did not seem lonely!” Fat Shaker’s main character, the obese patriarch (Levon Haftvan) is seen early on having leeches applied to his corpulent flesh. He is a bully who extorts money from women, passing himself off as some shadowy official figure. His ‘accomplice’ is his deaf mute son. Perhaps inevitably, Fat Shaker has been widely interpreted by Western critics as an allegory about authority and masculinity in Iran. “The movie does not portray all of this directly”, the director says of the political subtext. “It is a movie with different levels of depth.” It is also a story about a dominant father and a son struggling to escape from under his shadow. Shirvani, who grew up in a military family, has drawn on his own memories. “Yes, I think the psychological roots of this movie lie in my own family”, Shirvani reflects. Formally, Fat Shaker is in a very different register from the films of an older generation of Iranian directors, like Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Shirvani describes himself as “a very structure-breaking” director. A few months ago, when Kiarostami came to Shirvani’s studio to watch Fat Shaker, Shirvani told

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him, “You have taken naturalism as far as it can go, to its highest point” but added that he wanted to “bring something new” to Iranian cinema. He talks of the “magical” and “absurdist” elements in his storytelling. “For many years, festivals have focused on the naturalistic and realistic part of Iranian cinema. Persian cinema has to come out of the shadow of its fathers.” In recent years, many leading Iranian directors have worked in exile. Shirvani doesn’t know if he is going to follow them but notices that “there is less passion to Iranian films produced abroad.” Regardless of where a film is made, he believes the crucial factor is that “the artist will have total freedom in producing what he wants.” Here in Rotterdam, Shirvani is also presenting his installation Elephant in Darkness as part of the Festival’s Signals: Inside Iran strand. “Most of the views westerners have about Iranians are the result of the news, but the news only shows one side of the story”, Shirvani reflects. As for the constraints under which filmmakers work in Iran, he draws a comparison with the experiences of some of the filmmakers he met in Sundance. Working in the commercial system, they too face severe restrictions. “Censorship exists everywhere and from different sides.”

Hivos Tiger Awards Competition Larzanandeye charbi / Fat Shaker – Mohammad Shirvani Sat 26 Jan 13:15 DJZ (press & industry) Sun 27 Jan 15:15 DJZ (press & industry) Sun 27 Jan 19:45 PA4 Mon 28 Jan 13:15 PA3 Fri 01 Feb 13:00 PA4 Sat 02 Feb 12:15 PA6

Colofon Daily Tiger NL: Anton Damen (hoofdredactie), Kim van der Meulen (eindredactie), Joost Broeren, Paul van de Graaf, Sietse Meijer, Maricke Nieuwdorp, Nicole Santé, Veerle Snijders (redactie), Loes Evers, Rik Mertens, Pete Wu (web), Sanne de Rooij (marketing en communicatie), Marieke Berkhout (traffic) UK: Edward Lawrenson (editor-in-chief ), Nick Cunningham, Geoffrey MacNab, Mark Baker (editors), Ben Walters (web) Met medewerking van: Hariëtte Ubels, Elsbeth Jongsma, Omar Kholeif Programmainformatie: Chris Schouten, Melissa van der Schoor Coördinatie A-Z: Saskia Gravelijn (tekst), Amanda Harput (beeld) Fotografie: Felix Kalkman, Bram Belloni, Corinne de Korver, Marije van Woerden, Ruud Jonkers, Nichon Glerum, Nadine Maas Vormgeving: Sjoukje van Gool, Laurenz van Galen, Gerald Zevenboom Drukker: Veenman+ Acquisitie: Daily Productions Oplage: 10.000 per dag, Volkskrantdag 12.000

The Secret Disco Revolution

Berberian Sound Studio

Tropicalia

Good vibrations Sound Stages, a strand in this year’s Signals section, makes every screening a unique real-world experience. By Ben Walters

Cinema is often seen as the quintessential escapist experience – a chance to embrace isolated fantasy and forget our physical surroundings. Sound Stages, a strand in this year’s Signals section, aims to embrace the exact opposite: the idea that every screening is a unique real-world experience with its own environment, participants and dynamic energy. IFFR programmer Edwin Carels took his cue from the world of music and specifically from the model of the jukebox, a tool for mechanical reproduction that also activates social interaction. “Cinema can, like music, be a live event,” he says. “Even though it’s pre-recorded, the thing taking place is unique. You still want to enjoy it with people, people you don’t even know. I wanted to throw in the air lots of opportunities to consider music and sound relationships outside of the format of live cinema.” Much of the Sound Stages programme revolves around the Scopitone Café, a hub with table seating in the Kleine Zaal in the Schouwburg, hosting free documentary screenings and discussions daily at 6 p.m. “We’ll bring in people who might not have seen the film but we think will be great sounding boards, able to relate, for instance, The Secret Disco Revolution – a typical New

York phenomenon – to Holland. Was was going on here? Was it anarchy in the discotheque at the same time as it was there? And audience members will have their own knowledge and expertise and hopefully will talk too. It’s a café more than a film theatre.” Live components have been integrated into many screenings in regular venues too. Sunday’s showing of Berberian Sound Studio, a story about the creation of sound effects for a horror film, will be preceded by Rotterdam-based foley artists abusing vegetables in a manner consistent with techniques shown in the movie, while the January 31 screening will follow a vocal performance from one of the film’s voice artists. And last night’s world premiere of The International Space Orchestra – a documentary about a bold and irreverent musical experiment based on the Apollo 11 moon landings and involving staff at NASA’s Ames research centre – was scheduled to incorporate an event called Moondust Remix. “I’m getting audience members to perform the sound of Neil Armstrong’s boots on the moon”, explains director Nelly ben Hayoun. The film played as part of the Space Harmonics programme and is ben Hayoun’s cinematic debut: her background is in working with scientists to create ‘extreme entertainment projects’, from a chair that simulated the sensation of take-off on the Soyuz rocket to a domestic volcano designed “to erupt at random in your living room”. This makes her an ideal participant in Carels’s

project, emphasising the environment of the screening. “Sound makes you vibrate”, ben Hayoun notes. “With the Soyuz chair, we used a lot of speakers and low-frequency sound. But I’m interested in how it works with the theatrical element – the scene, the characters.” This is an aspect of the creative process also of interest to the Brothers Quay. The Quays were scheduled to present 2 Film Concerts at IFFR, “filmic choreographies” they created to accompany given soundtracks in a live performance context. In fact, only one will be presented tonight: a “grotesque pantomime” in the form of a digital collage, a fusion of Janáček’s music and Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ originally commissioned by Mikhail Rudy for La Cité de la Musique, which premiered in Paris 2012. “We’ve always preferred having the music first”, the Quays say. “Much like a choreographer, it’s a fertile pre-condition for shaping from within the narrative’s ‘journey’ more to musical laws than only dramaturgical ones. Certain musics have always had buried within them a secret scenario that we feel very receptive towards and that seem to liberate an image more independently.” From Sunday, Sound Stages will also include pop-up screenings in appropriate venues. “Go to a tiki bar to watch Tropicalia”, the documentary about Brazil’s cultural flowering of the 1960s and 70s, Carels suggests. “The awareness of happening to be there is part of

the experience, rather than a regular screening where you don’t want to know who’s sitting behind you.” You might just get a twist of escapism with your present-mindedness to boot. For details of the Sound Stages programme, see: www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

In memoriam

In loving memory of Léa Japel-Gray who died on January 1, 2013 after a four-year struggle with anorexia. Myriam Japel-Gray, Christa Japel, Robert Gray

PROUD PARTNER OF INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM 2013 Join Jameson on Facebook: facebook.com/JamesonNederland

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Press & Industry Screenings Saturday 26 January de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal 9:15 Su Re [ip]

•FLM•

Su Re comes from a grand cinematographic tradition. Yet the Sardinian director provides new insights into the Passion of Christ with his beautiful, sober version. Shot in a landscape untouched by the modern era, with a ditto amateur cast. The title is Sardinian for ‘The King’.

Daniel Hoesl, Austria, 2012, DCP, 79 min, German/French, e.s.

Fanni has had enough of money and leaves the city. Anna has had enough of pigs and leaves the farm. In the new game Fanni rolls the dice, while Anna does not think twice. Differences appeal to them and they move on cheerfully toward a new-found freedom. 13:15 Fat Shaker [ep]

Mohammad Shirvani, Iran, 2013, DCP, 85 min, Farsi, e.s.

Did you see the one with the fat man and the leeches? I’d rather not, some will say, but then they’ll miss one of the most unusual ﬁlms of the festival. By an Iranian artist who doesn’t like telling his dreams and prefers to show them. Dreams that speak the truth. 15:30 The Complex [wp]

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Nakata Hideo, Japan, 2013, Video, 106 min, Japanese, e.s.

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Ayse Polat, Germany/Turkey, 2013, DCP, 72 min, Turkish, e.s.

In a small Turkish mountain village, Hülya returns from Germany to write a novel about her deceased father. Her father’s voice is omnipresent, in her efforts to research and remember, in a timeline that is all at once the present, the past and the ﬁction.

Cinerama 3

20:15 Matei Child Miner [wp]

•FLM•

9:00 Die Erbin [wp]

Giovanni Columbu, Italy, 2012, DCP, 87 min, Sardinian, e.s.

11:15 Soldate Jeannette [ep]

Cinerama 2

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Conrad Clark, United Arab Emirates/ China/United Kingdom, 2013, DCP, 104 min, Mandarin/English, e.s.

Alexandra Gulea, Romania/ Germany/France, 2013, DCP, 80 min, Romanian, e.s.

22:15 Cherchez Hortense

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Damien is married to Iva who has reached an irreversible state of lassitude. Iva asks him to help Zorica who is to be deported, through his powerful father with whom he doesn’t get along. The task will turn his life upside down, and change it for good.

Cinerama 5

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Hans Heijnen, Netherlands, 2013, DCP, 93 min, Dutch, e.s.

Guido van Driel, Netherlands/Belgium, 2013, DCP, 90 min, Dutch, e.s.

Dokkum, of all places. You ﬁnd yourself there as a crook from Amsterdam. There you are in the refugee centre as an Angolan refugee. Or you live there, as a vindictive Friesian farmer. And why? Because Guido van Driel ﬁlmed his comic strip there, that’s why.

•FLM•

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DCP, 89 min, Spanish, e.s.

Cinerama 4

•FLM•

•geel•

•blauw•

Portrait of a poor and aged couple waiting for death and ﬁlling time with the rituals of routine. Picturesque and realistic documentary, with a leading role for the wild Mexican countryside under the smoke of one of the most active volcanoes on the continent. 16:00 Our Nixon [wp] Penny Lane, USA, 2013, Video, 85 min, English

No hay pan

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The Complex

Enrique Álvarez, Cuba/Colombia/ Panama, 2013, DCP, 94 min, Spanish/English, e.s.

Three young flatmates seek their footing in today’s Cuba, where you must fight for a home of your own. In a banal game of negotiation filled with sensual tension, Manuel, Lia and Tania join forces to survive.

•FLM•

Verzamelprogramma, 58 min

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Hänsel’s first film based on her own script gives the concepts of personal and anecdotal a wise and loving significance. Beautiful roles 15:45 by Canto as mother and Gourmet Las lágrimas [ip] BF as her ex. They drive to a ski resort Pablo Delgado Sánchez, Mexico, to fetch their son, a ski instructor 2012, DCP, 64 min, Spanish, e.s. with a broken leg. Gripping graduation film follows the self-destructive teenager Fer11:00 nando and his kid brother Gabriel The Dancing Soul of the on a camping trip in the woods. Walking People [ip] RG Back home they are suffocated by anger, sorrow and the unmenPaula Gladstone, USA, 2012, tioned absence of their father. DCP, 63 min, English Powerful, hopeful family drama Originally shot on Super-8, Paula with impressive acting. Gladstone abstracted the joyous beach mood of Coney Island from under a boardwalk. The soundtrack combines Duke Ellington and the Drifters with personal poems and sound effects.

21:45 Jirafas [wp]

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Moving portrait of one of Rotterdam’s musical heroes: singing crane driver Lee Towers. After a lengthy period of absence, he is back on stage for one last gala concert in Ahoy. Behind the glitter and glamour, real life goes on, and 12:00 that is above all hard work.

Marion Hänsel, Belgium/France/ Germany, 2013, DCP, 81 min, French

A girl wakes up after a car crash. Her younger brother has disappeared. As she promised him, she boards a freighter to ﬁnd a new life. Then the shady Gábor crosses her path. Hallucinogenic, surrealist trip in the twilight zone between two worlds, debut by Dutch ﬁlmmaker.

10:00 DINAMO P&I Screenings 2 SH

It Felt Like Love [ip] TG The horror master of Ring leaves 22:30 Eliza Hittman, USA, 2013, Hollywood and goes back to his DCP, 80 min, English Il futuro [ep] SP roots. Back to Japan and the now During a boring summer, the inseAlicia Scherson, Chile/Germany/ classic J-horror which he invented. cure Lila focuses her attention on Italy/Spain, 2013, DCP, 94 min, Sweet and innocent girl discovers the older Sammy, who isn’t really Italian/English, e.s. the secret of the room beside hers. interested in her at all. Powerful Bianca and her younger brother Don’t ring the bell, you would say debut film about the difficulties of lose their parents so they have - but of course she does. growing up, confusing emotions to make their own way to the and budding sexuality in a phase future. That’s how former film of life that is sometimes overly star Maciste (Rutger Hauer) enters romanticised. her life. Roberto Bolaño’s novella, situated in Rome, was intriguingly 13:45 9:15 adapted by Chilean talent Penumbra [wp] TG Scherson. Nominated for The La tendresse [wp] SP Big Screen Award. Eduardo Villanueva, Mexico, 2013,

Pathé 2

LantarenVenster 2

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De wederopstanding van een klootzak [wp]

18:00 Silent Ones [wp]

Ricky Rijneke, Netherlands/Hungary, 2013, DCP, 97 min, Hungarian, e.s.

Matei lives with his grandfather in Romania. His parents have gone to work in Italy. After arguing with his grandfather, he leaves. A poignant, beautifully shot ﬁlm on the illusions and disillusionments of childhood. Nominated for The Big Screen Award.

Young Chinese woman has started a mushroom farm in the desert of the Gulf states. Ambition, love, identity, uprooting and a clash of cultures in a visually impressive second ﬁlm by the cosmopolitan Clark, who lives in China. A report 9:30 from the New World. 11:45 Lee Towers: The Voice of Rotterdam [wp]

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Pascal Bonitzer, France, 2012, DCP, 100 min, French, e.s.

•FLM•

9:15 A Fallible Girl [wp]

ADMISSION WITH P&I ACCREDITATION ONLY

DINAMO (Distribution Network of Artists’ Moving image Organizations) distributors show recently acquired work. These titles can also be seen in the festival video library.

It Felt Like Love

Bestaat uit:

Star Light n°5 bis [ep]

Cécile Fontaine, France, 2012, DCP, 6 min, no dialogue

Variation of the kaleidoscopical short ﬁlm Star Light n°2 (full screen version). n°5 bis uses a layered version of that same short. Look Inside the Ghost Machine

Péter Lichter, Hungary, 2012, DCP, 4 min, no dialogue

The early avant-garde ﬁlmmakers believed that the cinema had the function of a machine, made to generate pure feelings. Sources

Rose Lowder, France, 2012, 16mm, 5 min, no dialogue

In the middle of making his vegetable pâté, the gardener is surrounded by the sources for his recipes: the ﬂowers and herbs from his garden.

The Dancing Soul of the Walking People

Polaroïd Versus Roman Photo [ip]

Yves-Marie Mahé, France, 2012, DCP, 3 min, no dialogue

Variations on a photograph of Charlélie Couture and his musicians. It illustratates that the magic of cinema starts from a still image. Asleep [ep]

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Filed away and forgotten until now, Super-8 movies made by Nixon’s inner circle tell the story they thought they were a part of - before Watergate changed everything. One of those crazy 1970s archival thrillers that sometimes just falls into your lap.

Paulo Abreu, Portugal, 2012, DCP, 12 min, English

An experimental and poetic documentary, shot in Super-8, about the Capelinhos volcano in the Azorean island of Faia. Disquieting Nature

Christine Meisner, Germany/USA, 2012, DCP, 28 min, English

Lee Towers: The Voice of Rotterdam

A journey through the memory of nature uncovers the way in which the landscape and the sound of the Mississippi Delta had come into being.

Cherchez Hortense

Silent Ones

Disquieting Nature

09:30

11:00

11:30

11.00 11.00

87’

12.00 12.00

Longing for the Rain Yang Lina

84’

85’

SP 70’

12:00

84’

11:45 Tunnel

13:00

13:15

13:45

91’

14.00 14.00

14:30

14:30 How to

14:30

RG 136’

F*ck for Forest Michal Marczak

Low Tide Roberto Minervini

16.00 16.00

16:30 16:30

17:00

17.00 17.00 79’

17:45

90’

91’

18.00 18.00 107’

94’

18:30

Die Welt Alex Pitstra

SP 85’

98’

81’

CC 225’

93’

99’

74’

80’

20.00 20.00

86’

19:45 Frankenstein’s TG Army

SP 110’

72’

81’

87’

11.00 11:15 Soldate Jeannette

Daniel Hoesl

12.00 79’

93’

80’

13:45

14.00 85’

Penumbra Eduardo Villanueva

Fat Shaker Mohammad Shirvani

13.00 13:15

It Felt Like Love Eliza Hittman

11:45 Lee Towers: SP The Voice of Rotterdam

12:00

Hans Heijnen

11:00 Dancing Soul RG CHANGED of the Walking People P.Gladstone 63’

BF 104’

90’

64’

15:30

89’

16.00 The Complex Nakata Hideo

Our Nixon Penny Lane

Pablo Delgado Sánchez

16:00

15:45 Las lágrimas BF

15.00

64’

85’

17.00 106’

18.00

Silent Ones Ricky Rijneke

19.00

TG 97’

20.00

Miner

21:30

123’

SP BF

80’

Two in One Kira Muratova

115’

temps

22:15

67’

75’

SP 61’

200’

91’

My Hometown

Chai Chunya

Willard

verzamelprogramma

22:00 Unveiling Avery

Gets Tough

La Playa D.C. Juan Andrés Arango

94’

83’

82’

110’

130’

129’

24.00 24.00

100’

94’

24.00

140’

90’

88’

90’

verzamelprogramma

22:30 When the Going

22:00

SH NL Int. verzamelprogramma

80’

23.00

22:00

22.00

22:30

Il futuro Alicia Scherson

Cherchez Hortense Pascal Bonitzer Jirafas Enrique Álvarez

22:15

23.00 23.00

109’ 80’

Shanghai Dibakar Banerjee

22.00 22.00 22:15

22:15

Call Girl Mikael Marcimain to Us

Ricardo Pretti

21:45 Rio Belongs

SP 94’

Me Too Alexey Balabanov

Lore 21:45 Une histoire Cate Shortland d’amour Hélène Fillières

21.00 21.00

21:15

80’

22:15 Four Ways to Die in

Lesson of the Evil Miike Takashi

Jean-Charles Fitoussi

21:45 L’ enclos du

89’

21.00

Alexandra Gulea

20:15 Matei Child

21:45

Gospel Brisseau of Kaspar Jean-Claude Hauser A.Gracia

BF Thede Fifth 21:45 22:00 La fille nulle part

21:15 DEAD BODY WELCOME

Die Welt Alex Pitstra

75’

77’

70’

98’

22:00

Kees Brienen

86’

La cinquième saison Jessica Woodworth / Peter Brosens

100’

21:00

and Other Illnesses

Kalayaan Adolfo B. Alix Jr.

Yosep Anggi Noen

20:00 Peculiar Vacation

20:00

157’

104’

90’

Les revenants Fabrice Gobert / Frédéric Mermoud

90’

Richard 79’ Raaphorst

Bruno Safadi

19:30 The Harmonica’s

Howl

David Verbeek

a Cloud

Roland Hassel Wadjda Måns Månsson Haifaa Al Mansour

Io e te Bernardo Bertolucci

19:30 Big Talk

19.00 19.00 80’

19:15 19:15

de liefde

19:45

138’

Revolution

Nahid Persson Sarvestani

20:00 My Stolen

20:00

Blancanieves Pablo Berger

Ari Deelder

Big Boy Shireen Seno Competition for Short Films 5 SH

20:00 Tiger Awards

Paradigm

verzamelprogramma 66’

19:45 Bust That

Think

BF 89’

verzamelprogramma

20:15 Do-Say-Make-

Ninomiya Ryutaro

19:45 Close Encounters: Peripheral Images and Histories of the Present 2

19:30 The Charm of Others

115’

19:15

Trois exercises d’interpretation Cristi Puiu

74’

72’

85’

100’

19:15 How to Describe

Darvag Abolfazl Jalili

Army

Richard Raaphorst

18:30 Frankenstein’s

Bruno Safadi Daniel Hoesl 72’

18:15

BF 95’

18:45 Toegetakeld door

La noche de enfrente Raúl Ruiz

18:00 Harmonica’s SP 18:45 Soldate Howl Jeannette

Lasting Jacek Borcuch

BF 99’

80’

F*ck for Forest Il futuro Michal Marczak Alicia Scherson

115’

16:15 Drug War Jeannette Johnnie To Daniel Hoesl

80’

15:45 Soldate 134’

91’

Sérgio Andrade

87’

92’

Far Away verzamelprogramma

Eliza Hittman

Star

17:00

17:15

Carne de perro Fernando Guzzoni

153’

Guido van Driel

16:30

BF 86’

17:15 The Sentimental Policeman

Futures

17:15

SH 67’

Towheads Shannon Plumb

Ghost Tracks verzamelprogramma

verzamelprogramma

17:00 Hauntological

Kira Muratova

Competition for Short Films 4

16:45

115’

Glass Self

verzamelprogramma

16:30 Looking

16:30 Tiger Awards

84’

17:15 A floresta Kern de Jonathas BF SérgioVeronika AndradeFranz / Severin Fiala

van een klootzak

Frédérick Pelletier Giovanni Columbu

16:00 It Felt Like Love

16:15

15:30 A floresta de Jonathas

85’

92’

68’

Ninah’s Dowry Victor Viyuoh

16:00 De wederopstanding TG

Spring Breakers Harmony Korine

94’

BF 15:45 16:00 Diego Su Re

69’

15:30

14:45 Space Harmonics

82’

verzamelprogramma TS

69’

86’

Going Home (Part 1-5) Kore-eda Hirokazu

The Asthenic Syndrome Kira Muratova

14:15

15.00 15.00

80’

92’

Describe BF

Reality Matteo Garrone

It Felt Like Love

14:00

119’

90’

85’

Diego Star a Cloud Frédérick Pelletier David Verbeek BF

Roland Hassel Måns Månsson

13:30 Förår

Halley Sebastián Hofmann

89’

14:00

RG 117’

Competition for Short Films 2

14:15 Tiger Awards

Beyond

88’

verzamelprogramma

14:45 Beyond the

a Dot and Ends with a Bang

14:30 It Starts with

14:30

14:15 Close Encounters: SH Peripheral Images and Histories of the Present 1

Reality Matteo Garrone

verzamelprogramma

14:00 Single Frame Snow RG

79’

96’

14:00 On Mother’s BF II Head Rhino Season Bahman Ghobadi Putu Kusuma Widjaja

SP 140’

Longing for the Rain Yang Lina

SP 122’

95’

89’

76’

94’

Claun Felipe Bragança

12:30 The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

Sophie Fiennes

12:45

72’

111 Girls N. Ghobadi / B. Zamanpira 86’

SP Inori Pedro González-Rubio

5 Jahre Stefan Schaller Hanoun, à revoir verzamelprogramma Competition for Short Films 3

verzamelprogramma

RG 62’

verzamelprogramma

12:00 Bouncing off the Walls

Eclipses

verzamelprogramma

12:00 Short Stories: Lunar

Tony Conrad

12:15 F for Fake

12:30 Light over Darkness SH

12:00 Tiger Awards

12:00

75’

For Love’s Sake Eliza Hittman Miike Takashi

13.00 13.00

96’

13:15

12:45 Rio Belongs to Us

Ricardo Pretti

Manoel de Oliveira

95’

12:00 Gebo and the Shadow

CJP Serveert

81’

86’

11:30

Big Boy Shireen Seno

Errors of the Human 12:30 LosBF salvajes Body Alejandro Fadel 101’

Eron Sheean

5 Jahre Stefan Schaller 11:15

75’

80’

Fata Morgana Après mai Peter Schreiner Olivier Assayas

81’

Touch Shelly Silver

100’

II 10:45

75’

10:45

10.00 10.00

Su Re Giovanni Columbu

Rengaine Rachid Djaïdani

Darvag

09:15

09.00 09.00

Press &Screenings Industry Screenings Friday 25 January Programmaschema zaterdag 26 januari Public Saturday 26 January de Doelen Oude Luxor Jurriaanse Zaal de Doelen Schouwburg Willem Burgerzaal Grote Zaal Pathé Pathé 6 1 Cinerama Pathé 2 2 09:00

BrunoSiegrid SafadiAlnoy

11:00

91’

64’

09:45 10:00 SP ÉdenMiroir mon amour SP

Goes Flying

diverse regisseurs

09:45 Comrade Kim

87’

II The10:00 Gardener Lukas the Strange Mohsen Makhmalbaf John Torres

97’

61’

10:00 10:15 DINAMO P&I Mai morire

Gegenwart Thomas Heise

The Radiant BF The Otolith Group

97’

Screenings 1 Enrique Rivero compilation prog.

09:45 10 09:15 Number Blues/ Towheads

09:30

Cinerama Pathé 3 3 Abolfazl Jalili Cinerama Pathé 4 4 Cinerama Pathé 5 Cinerama Pathé 6 LantarenVenster 2 Pathé 7 LantarenVenster 3 Cinerama 1

GoodbyeShannon SaigonPlumb Osada Norio

Goodbye Saigon

at Me

09:45

09:45 Living Still Life

Song Fang

09:15 Memories Look

Alberto Gracia

of Kaspar Hauser

09:30 Fifth Gospel

Osada Norio

09:00 Number 10 Blues/

Cinerama 2 LantarenVenster 5 Cinerama 3 Cinerama 4 Cinerama 5 Cinerama 6 Cinerama 7 LantarenVenster 1 LantarenVenster 2 LantarenVenster 3 LantarenVenster 4 LantarenVenster 5 LantarenVenster 6

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