Preview: Rotterdam Film Festival

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On Wednesday I head to the Netherlands for the 39th International

Rotterdam Film Festival, where there’s a typically huge and varied

line-up of movies 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, each vying for 3 top prizes of equal value.  Potential

highlights include the biopic of a Japanese manga artist ('Miyoko')

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 to go at here, some well

known ('Police, Adjective', 'The Ape', 'Adrift') and 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 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 my eye is firmly set on the

world premiere of John Gianvito’s 'Vapor Trail (Clark)', 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, 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 less familiar.  I’ll report back as the

week progresses to share what I find.