International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, led by founder Huub Bals. IFFR also hosts CineMart and BoostNL for film producers to seek funding.
History The first festival, then called Film International, was organized in June 1972 under the leadership of Huub Bals. The festival profiled itself as a promoter of alternative, innovative, and non-commercial films, with an emphasis on the Far East and developing countries. Around 1983, the festival founded CineMart to serve as a "regular film market", and later modified the business model to serve instead as a "co-production market","CineMart History" . International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 24 September 2011.Mundell, Ian (13 January 2009) "CineMart thriving in tough times" . Variety. Retrieved 24 September 2011. which helps a selected number of film producers connect with possible co-producers and funders for their film projects.Smith, Nigel M. (17 December 2010). "Rotterdam's CineMart Selects 33 Projects for 2011" . IndieWire
After the festival founder's sudden death in 1988, a fund was initiated and named after him (Hubert Bals Fund), used for supporting filmmakers from developing countries.
The non-competitive character of the festival changed in 1995, when the VPRO Tiger Awards were introduced—three yearly prizes for young filmmakers making their first or second film.
Directors In 1996 Simon Field, formerly cinema director at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, became director of the festival. In 2004 Sandra den Hamer took over as director of the festival, and from 2007 to 2015 the director was Rutger Wolfson. Film producer Bero Beyer was the next director.
In 2020, Vanja Kaludjercic was appointed as the new director.
Description
Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental filmmaking by showcasing emerging talents and established auteurs. The festival also places a focus on presenting cutting edge media art and arthouse film, with most of the participants in the short film program identified as artists or experimental filmmakers. IFFR also hosts CineMart and BoostNL, for film producers to seek funding.
, Vanja Kaludjercic is director of the festival.
The IFFR logo is a stylized image of a tiger that is loosely based on Leo, the lion in the MGM logo.Heijs, Jan Heijs & Westra, Frans (1996). Que le tigre danse. Huub Bals: a biography. Otto Cramwinckel: Amsterdam.
Festival screening locations The IFFR screens films at multiple locations, including the Pathé cinema at Schouwburgplein, De Doelen, Cinerama, WORM, Oude Luxor Theater, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, KINO, and LantarenVenster.
Tiger Award winners The Tiger Award has had various sponsors over the years. In the years leading up to and including 2010, it was sponsored by the VPRO. In 2011, the award was presented by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and since 2012 by Hivos.Hivos Tiger Awards Competition . IFFR.
Year Film Original title Director Country 1995 Postman YouchaiJianjun He How Old Is the River? Fuyu no kappa Kazama Shiori Thalassa, Thalassa, Ruckkehr Zum Mmer Thalassa, ThalassaBogdan Dumitrescu 1996 Sons ErziZhang Yuan Like Grains of Sand Nagisa no Shindobaddo Ryōsuke Hashiguchi Small Faces Gillies MacKinnon 1997 Last Holiday Posledniye kanikuly Amir Karakulov The Day a Pig Fell into the WellDaijiga umule pajinnal Hong Sang-soo Robinson in Space Patrick Keiller 1998 Buttoners Knoflíkári Petr Zelenka Round the Moons Between Earth and SeaGiro di lune tra terra e mare Giuseppe Gaudino The Inheritors Die Siebtelbauern Stefan Ruzowitzky 1999 The Iron Heel of Oligarchy Zheleznaya pyata oligarkhii Alexander Bashirov More Than YesterdayPlus qu'hier moins que demain Laurent Achard Following Christopher Nolan 2000 Suzhou RiverSuzhou he Ye Lou Crane World Mundo Grúa Pablo Trapero Bye Bye Blue Bird Katrin Ottarsdottír 2001 Bad CompanyMabudachi Furumaya Tomoyuki The Days BetweenIn den Tag hinein Maria Speth 25 Watts Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll 2002 Sleeping RoughTussenland Eugenie Jansen Everyday God Kisses Us on the MouthÎn fiecare zi Dumnezeu ne saruta pe gura Sinişa Dragin Wild BeesDivoké vcely Bohdan Sláma 2003 With Love. LilyaS lyubovyu. Lilya Larisa Sadilova StrangeExtraño Santiago Loza Jealousy Is My Middle NameJiltuneun naui him Park Chan-ok 2004 The MissingBu jian Kang-sheng Lee Summer in the Golden ValleyLjeto u zlatnoj dolini Srđan Vuletić En RouteUnterwegs Jan Krüger 2005 Changing DestinyNemmeno il destino Daniele Gaglianone 4Chetyre Ilya Khrzhanovsky The Sky TurnsEl cielo gira Mercedes Álvarez 2006 Walking on the Wild SideLai xiao zi Han Jie The Dog PoundLa perrera Manuel Nieto Zas Old Joy Kelly Reichardt 2007 Love Conquers All Tan Chui Mui The UnpolishedDie Unerzogenen Pia Marais Bog of BeastsBaixio das BestasClaudio Assis AFR Morten Hartz Kaplers 2008 Go With Peace JamilGå med fred Jamil - Ma salama Jamil Omar Shargawi Wonderful Town(เมืองเหงาซ่อนรัก) Aditya Assarat Flower in the Pocket Liew Seng Tat 2009 Be Calm and Count to SevenAram bash va ta hatf beshmar Ramtin Lavafipour BreathlessDdongpari Yang Ik-june Wrong RosaryUzak ihtimalMahmut Fazil Coskun 2010 Cold Water of the SeaAgua fría de marPaz Fábrega AlamarTo the SeaPedro González-Rubio Mundane HistoryJao nok krajok (เจ้านกกระจอก)Anocha Suwichakornpong 2011 The Journals of MusanMusanilgi Park Jung-bum Finisterrae Sergio Caballero EternityTee rak (ที่รัก)Sivaroj Kongsakul 2012 KlipClip Maja Miloš Thursday Till SundayDe jueves a domingo Dominga Sotomayor Castillo Egg and StoneJidan he shitouJi Huang 2013 My Dog KillerMôj pes Killer Mira Fornay Soldier Jane Soldate Jeannette Daniel Hoesl Fat ShakerLarzanandeye charbiMohammad Shirvani 2014 Anatomy of a Paper ClipYamamori clip koujo no atari Ikeda Akira Something Must Break Nånting måste gå sönder Ester Martin Bergsmark Han Gong-juHan Gong-ju Lee Su-jin 2015 The Project of the Century La obra del siglo Carlos M. Quintela Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) Videofilia: y otros síndromes virales Juan Daniel F. Molero Vanishing Point Jakrawal Nilthamrong 2016 Radio Dreams Babak Jalali 2017 Sexy Durga Sanal Kumar Sasidharan 2018 The Widowed Witch Xiao gua fu cheng xian ji Cai Chengjie 2019 Present.Perfect. Wan mei jin xing shi Shengze Zhu 2020 The Cloud In Her Room Ta fang jian li de yun Zheng Lu Xinyuan 2021 Pebbles Koozhaangal Vinothraj P.S. 2022 EAMI Paz Encina 2023 Le spectre de Boko Haram Cyrielle Raingou 2024 Rei Tanaka Toshihiko 2025 Fiume o morte! Igor Bezinović , , 2026 Variations on a Theme! Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar , ,
Tiger Short Award Winners The short films have their own competition at IFFR. What differentiates it from the Tiger Competition for feature-length films is the fact that it's not just for young and upcoming talents; all filmmakers have a chance at winning. Since 2005, The Tiger Short Competition has had various sponsors over the years including Ammodo, an institution in the Netherlands that supports the development of arts, architecture and science. In 2023, 24 shorts competed for three equal Tiger Short Awards, each worth €5,000. +YearFilmOriginal titleDirectorsCountry 2025 A Metamorphosisအသွင်ပြောင်းလဲမှုတစ်ခု Lin Htet Aung Temo Re თემო რე Anka Gujabidze Merging Bodies Adrian Paci 2024 Crazy Lotus Naween Noppakun, Few Can See Frank Sweeney Workers' Wings Ilir Hasanaj 2023 Human NatureNatureza HumanaMónica LimaTitoTitoKervens Jimenez & Taylor McIntoshWhat the Soil RemembersWhat the Soil RemembersJosé Cardoso2022Becoming Male in the Middle AgesTornar-se Homem na Idade MédiaPedro Neves MarquesNazarbaziNazarbaziMaryam TafakoryNosferasta: First BiteNosferasta: First BiteBayley Sweitzer & Adam Khalil2021MaatMaatFoxy MaxySunsets, everyday Sunsets, everyday Basir MahmoodTerranovaTerranovaAlejandro Pérez Serrano & Alejandro Alonso Estrella2020ApparitionApparitionIsmaïl Bahri Communicating VesselsCommunicating Vessels Maïder Fortuné & Annie MacDonell Sun DogSun Dog Dorian Jespers2019Wong Ping's Fables 1Wong Ping's Fables 1Wong Ping Ultramarine Ultramarine Vincent MeessenFreedom of MovementFreedom of MovementNina Fischer & Maroan el Sani2018Mountain Plain MountainMountain Plain MountainAraki Yu & Daniel JacobyRose Gold Rose Gold Sara CwynarWith History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 4With History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 4Korakrit Arunanondchai
Special Jury Award
Year Film Original title Director Country 2021 Pebbles PS Vinothraj I Comete: A Corsican Summer Pascal Tagnati Looking for Venera Norika Sefa 2022 Excess Will Save Us Morgane Dziurla-Petit To Love Again Gao Linyang 2023 Munnel மணல் Visakesa Chandrasekaram New Strains Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan 2024 Kiss Wagon Midhun Murali Flathead Jaydon Martin 2025 L'arbre de l'authenticité Sammy Baloji Im Haus meiner Eltern Tim Ellrich
Audience Award
Year Film Original title Director Country 2021 Quo Vadis, Aida? Jasmila Žbanić 2022 Freaks Out Gabriele Mainetti 2023 Love According to Dalva Emmanuelle Nicot 2024 Green Border Agnieszka Holland 2025 I'm Still Here Ainda Estou Aqui Walter Salles , 2026 I Swear Kirk Jones
Robby Müller Award This award given since 2020, is a collaborative award between IFFR, the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, Robby Müller's wife.
2020 – Diego García, Cinematographer, Mexico 2021 – Kelly Reichardt, American film director and screenwriter. 2022 – Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Thai cinematographer. 2023 – Hélène Louvart, French cinematographer 2024 – Grimm Vandekerckhove, Belgian cinematographer 2025 – Lol Crawley, English cinematographer 2026 – Yorick Le Saux, French cinematographer
See also 75B, Netherlands design studio
References
External links
Epiloog IFFR 2014 (Indebioskoop)