08/06/2006

This evening will see the kick-off of the first fruits of the new collaboration between the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the stage-arts centred Holland Festival. The collaboration started in January, when the director of the Holland Festival, Pierre Audi, served on the jury of the IFFR Competition. Their joint new effort is called Rotterdam, Holland and will take place in Amsterdam, where the Holland Festival is currently underway.

The Holland Festival is the largest showcase of stage arts in the Netherlands, attracting opera, theatre and more experimental stage performers from around the world each June, focusing on crossbreeding arts and artists. Part of this year’s edition is a three-room experience at the Rijksmuseum called Nightwatching, created by Peter Greenaway as part of his Rembrandt project that also includes an as yet unreleased film.

Rotterdam, Holland is another form of cross-breeding in the form of a 4-day stretch of Dutch film premieres, including the opening night’s The Caiman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile], which takes place in the presence of actor Silvio Orlando.

Other films in the line-up include the new Chantal Akerman called Là-bas, the now complete Pervert’s Guide to Cinema from Sophie Fiennes, the Berlinale entries The Free Will, Requiem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
interview: Sandra Hueller
film profile], El custodio [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the Golden Bear Winner Grbavica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile] (the latter two were partly funded by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund).

Quite a few titles explore the relations between film and theatre, including Andres Veiel’s East German murder story Der Kick, the Franco-Cambodian Les artistes du théâtre brûlé and the two Austrian entries Immer Grün und die Moderne – The Audience from Edgar Honetschläger, and Michael Pilz’s That’s All There Is. There is also a small retrospective of the work of the Quay Brothers, including many short films and an exhibition of their miniature film sets.