05/02/2005 - The 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival (26th Jan. – 6th Feb. 2005) has just finished. The award ceremony took place on Friday night, a glorious night for European cinema. Half of the fourteen first or second feature films presented were European productions.

The 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival (26th Jan. – 6th Feb. 2005) has just finished. The award ceremony took place on Friday night at the De Doelen Centre, a glorious night for European cinema. Indeed, half of the fourteen first or second feature films presented were European productions, the high quality of which won them general acclaim. The three VPRO Tiger Awards were granted to Nemmeno il destino (Changing Destiny) by Daniele Gaglianone (Italy), El Cielo Gira (The Sky Turns) by Mercedes Alvarez (Spain), and 4 by Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Russia) —who also won, last Sunday, the Golden Cactus, designed for nonconformist films. Each VPRO Tiger Award goes with a prize of 10.000 euros and guaranteed broadcasting on VPRO. Hat Mua Roi Bao Lau (Bride of Silence) by Doan Minh Phuong & Doan Thanh Nhgia (Vietnam /Germany) and Sanctuary by Ho Yu-hang (Malaysia) were allowed special distinctions.
The TV5 Tiger Awards (allowing 3.000 €), created this year, selected for the first time —amongst thirty short films— its three winners: Interlude by Joost van Veen (Netherlands), Nuuk by Thomas Köner (Germany), and Veere by David Lammers (Netherlands). Christian Angeli's Fare Bene Mikles (Italy) received a special distinction.
Amongst the other prizes distributed in Rotterdam, the KNF Award (Dutch cinema critics society) went to Pascale Breton's Illumination (France), the Fipresci Prize (international press) was attributed to Frakchi (Spying Cam) by Whang Cheol-Mean (South Korea), and the MovieZone Award went to Mysterious Skin by Gregg Araki (USA), while Ho Yu-hang's Sanctuary (Malaysia) won the Netpac Award and Hassan Yektapanah's Dastaneh Natamanv (Iran) the Amnesty International Prize. Other contests were organised within CineMart to distinguish some of the projects selected. Thus, the Arte France Cinéma Prizes (10.000 € each) went to Daratt by Mahamat Saleh Haroun (France) and Five Worlds, a coproduction involving Iran, Palestine, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant brought 15.000 € to Paz Encina's project, Hamaca Paraguaya (Paraguay).

The jury for the Tiger Awards gathered the American photographer Nan Goldin, the Australian producer Jan Chapman, the Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, and the Argentinian Lisandro Alonso, under president Lia van Leer (director of the Jerusalem Film Festival in Israel). The three films chosen showed their enthusiasm for the new cinema from the Old Continent:
Nemmeno il destino, second feature film for the Italian Daniele Gaglianone, depicts two young boys lost in a society were neither school nor parents provide for reliable patterns. Gaglianone's first film, I nostri anni, had already earned him a selection for Cannes 2001 in the "Quinzaine des Réalisateurs". Before that, he had collaborated in the direction and the script of Gianni Amelio's Cosi Rivedano (1998). «We found Gaglianone's depiction of these boys' rebellion very moving, said the jury. The complexity and accuracy of the director's approach shows his complete mastery. » Nemmeno il destino was produced by Fandango and Armadillo. International sales are handled by The Works.
El Cielo gira, Mercedes Alvarez's first feature film, is about the Spanish village (La Aldea) where she was born and which is dying now, as is the main character, an increasingly blind old painter. The film's aesthetics is brilliant: it seizes the melancholy of the Celtic ruins and the American planes roaring above it on their way to Irak. « El Cielo gira is a subjective diary, the jury pointed out. Such sense of time, light, and landscape is a relief in our modern world. » The film was produced by José Maria Lara P.C. and Alokatu SL.
4, Ilya Khrzhanovsky's first feature film, was one of the most original items in the competition: a strange bar out of time, three complete strangers discussing their lives, lying maybe. Three narratives unfold, subtly intermingled with the story of contemporary Russia. « 4 is like a terrible nightmare stuck between truth and lies, explained the jury. We particularly liked its views on the female condition in a world of old babushkas and young prostitutes. » 4 was produced by Yelena Yatsura (Filmocon).
After the awards, a final ceremony took place on Saturday followed by a full day of special screenings organised by the Volkskrant.

(Translated from French)