IFFR 2023: Competitions, Steve McQueen, and opening and closing films

ROTTERDAM (December 19, 2022) – During today’s press conference, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed the films selected for its 2023 Tiger, Big Screen and Ammodo Tiger Short competitions. The festival also announces Sunshine State, an artwork by Steve McQueen commissioned by IFFR and presented in collaboration with Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen from January 26 to February 12 2023. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch opens the festival, with Varun Grover’s All India Rank bringing it to a close. French cinematographer Hélène Louvart is the 2023 recipient of the Robby Müller Award.

Tiger, Big Screen, and Ammodo Tiger Short competition selections confirmed along with IFFR-commissioned Steve McQueen artwork in collaboration with Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic: “In shaping this year’s programme we stay committed to the path we set out for ourselves: celebrating great cinema in all its splendour and to look where others don’t look. Our entire programme, full of surprises, is a testament to that. In addition to those film cultures which traditionally are strongly present at IFFR, this year’s Tiger Competition, Big Screen Competition and Ammodo Tiger Short Competition, expand to films from Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, Morocco and Taiwan to name just a few. From remarkable débuts, to cinematic grand masters and our specially-commissioned Steve McQueen artwork, it is our true pleasure to share IFFR 2023’s wildly varied lineup.”

Tiger Competition

IFFR’s flagship Tiger Competition is the festival’s platform for emerging film talent and features a selection of 16 titles for its 52nd edition. The jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each. The Tiger Jury consists of Sabrina Baracetti, Lav Diaz, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon and Alonso Díaz de la Vega.

Tiger Competition 2023 selection

100 årstider, Giovanni Bucchieri, 2022, Sweden, world premiere
Gagaland, Teng Yuhan, 2023, China, world premiere
Geology of Separation, Yosr Gasmi, Mauro Mazzocchi, 2023, Tunisia, Italy, France, world premiere
Indivision, Leïla Kilani, 2023, Morocco, France, world premiere
Letzter Abend, Lukas Nathrath, 2023, Germany, world premiere
Mannvirki, Gústav Geir Bollason, 2023, Iceland, France, world premiere
Munnel, Visakesa Chandrasekaram, 2023, Sri Lanka, world premiere
New Strains, Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan, 2023, United States, world premiere
Notas sobre un verano, Diego Llorente, 2023, Spain, world premiere
Numb, Amir Toodehroosta, 2023, Iran, world premiere
Nummer achttien, Guido van der Werve, 2022, Netherlands, world premiere
La Palisiada, Philip Sotnychenko, 2023, Ukraine, world premiere
Playland, Georden West, 2023, United States, world premiere
Le spectre de Boko Haram, Cyrielle Raingou, 2023, Cameroon, France, world premiere
Thiiird, Karim Kassem, 2023, Lebanon, world premiere
three sparks, Naomi Uman, 2023, Albania, Mexico, world premiere

Clockwise, stills from the films: Numb, Letzter Abend, Notas sobre un verano, Indivision / Courtesy of IFFR

Big Screen Competition

The Big Screen Competition offers a wide-ranging selection, bridging the gap between popular, classic and arthouse cinema features. 16 titles have been selected for IFFR 2023. IFFR invites an audience jury to grant the VPRO Big Screen Award. The winning film receives a guaranteed theatrical release in the Netherlands and will be broadcast on Dutch TV by VPRO and NPO. In addition, a €30,000 prize is awarded, equally shared between the filmmaker and the distributor who releases the film.

Big Screen Competition 2023 selection

Avant l’effondrement, Alice Zeniter, Benoît Volnais, 2023, France, world premiere
Before the Buzzards Arrive, Jonás N. Díaz, 2023, Mexico, world premiere
Copenhagen Does Not Exist, Martin Skovbjerg, 2023, Denmark, world premiere
Drawing Lots, Zaza Khalvashi, Tamta Khalvashi , 2023, Georgia, world premiere
Endless Borders, Abbas Amini, 2023, Czech Republic, Germany, Iran , world premiere
Le formiche di Mida, Edgar Honetschläger, 2023, Austria, Italy, world premiere
Four Little Adults, Selma Vilhunen, 2023, Finland, world premiere
La hembrita, Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde, 2023, Dominican Republic, world premiere
Joram, Devashish Makhija, 2022, India, world premiere
Luka, Jessica Woodworth, 2023, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia, world premiere
My Little Nighttime Secret, Natalya Meshchaninova, 2023, Russia, world premiere
Não Sou Nada – The Nothingness Club, Edgar Pêra, 2023, Portugal, world premiere
Okiku and the World, Sakamoto Junji, 2023, Japan, world premiere
One Win, Shin Yeon-Shick, 2023, South Korea, world premiere
La Sudestada, Daniel Casabé, Edgardo Dieleke, 2022, Argentina, world premiere
Voyages en Italie, Sophie Letourneur, 2023, France, world premiere

Clockwise, stills from the films: Drawing Lots, Copenhagen Does Not Exist, Luka, Não Sou Nada – The Nothingness Club / Courtesy of IFFR

Ammodo Tiger Short Competition

IFFR announces 24 short films selected for the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. The jury consists of Stanya Kahn, Herb Shellenberger and Simone Zeefuik. They will determine which three titles will receive three equal Ammodo Tiger Short Awards, each worth €5,000.

Ammodo Tiger Short Competition 2023 selection

Aqueronte, Manuel Muñoz Rivas, 2023, Spain, world premiere
Blinded by Centuries, Parinda Mai, 2023, Thailand, United States, world premiere
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere, Kim Ayoung, 2023, South Korea, world premiere (festival)
Fälle, Mischa Hedinger, Michela Flück, 2023, Switzerland, world premiere
From Voice to Pulse, Zeno van den Broek, 2023, Netherlands, world premiere
La Grande Arche, Camille Authouart, 2023, France, world premiere
I Can See the Sun but I Can’t Feel It Yet, Joseph Wilson, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere
Last Days of Summer, Stenzin Tankong, 2023, India, France, world premiere
Light of Light, Neritan Zinxhiria, 2023, Greece, world premiere
Natureza humana, Mónica Lima, 2023, Portugal, Germany, world premiere
Never Come Back, Assaf Gruber, 2023, Austria, world premiere (festival)
Pátio do Carrasco, André Gil Mata, 2023, Portugal, world premiere
Phalène, Sarah-Anaïs Desbenoit, 2023, France, world premiere
Pure Land, Tenzin Phuntsog, 2022, United States, world premiere (festival)
Night and Fear, Lipika Singh Darai, 2023, India, world premiere
Remendo, Roger Ghil, 2023, Brazil, world premiere
Repetitions, Morgan Alaric Quaintance, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere
Shabnam, Reetu Sattar, 2023, Bangladesh, world premiere
Skin in the Crosswinds, Andrew Rubin, 2023, United States, world premiere
Square the Circle, Hanna Hovitie, 2023, Finland, world premiere (festival)
Theta, Lawrence Lek, 2023, United Kingdom, world premiere (festival)
Tito, Kerven Jimenez, Taylor McIntosh, 2023, Haiti, world premiere
What the Soil Remembers, José Cardoso, 2023, South Africa, Ecuador, world premiere
Zabriskie Point, Cho Seoungho, 2023, United States, world premiere

Clockwise, stills from the films: Square The Circle, Theta, Blinded by Centuries, Delivery Dancer’s Sphere / Courtesy of IFFR

Steve McQueen’s Sunshine State

IFFR presents Sunshine State, a Steve McQueen artwork commissioned by IFFR. The work will be presented in the Depot in collaboration with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen from January 26 to February 12 2023. Sunshine State from the Oscar-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist will be the first presentation to be hosted on the fifth floor of the Depot since it opened in November 2021.

Opening and closing films

IFFR 2023 will open on Wednesday 25 January with Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s multi-layered essay on Edvard Munch’s life and art, Munch – a surprising mix of classical cinema and formal experiment.

Varun Grover’s All India Rank will bring the festival to a close on Sunday 5 February: a witty, well-observed portrait of middle-class India’s aspirations and the attendant pressures on its children.

Still from the film Munch / Courtesy of IFFR

Still from the film All India Rank / Courtesy of IFFR

Robby Müller Award goes to Hélène Louvart

French cinematographer Hélène Louvart (Beach Rats, Eliza Hittman, 2017; Lazzaro felice, Alice Rohrwacher, IFFR 2019; Un petit frère, Léonor Serraille, IFFR 2023) will receive the fourth annual Robby Müller Award. Awarded in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, Robby Müller’s wife, the award annually honours an outstanding ‘image maker’ in the spirit of the late Dutch cinematographer.

The Jury states: “Hélène Louvart’s gaze unfolds as a constant becoming, a physical, instinctive process of evolving and dissolving. Her visuals are effortlessly synchronised with the rhythm of natural breathing, as if they were shot from within and cross the very line between screen and viewer.”