06/02/2006

The 35th Rotterdam International Film Festival (January 25 – February 5) awarded its three coveted Tiger Awards to two European minority co-productions and an American film, despite a strong European presence among the 14 titles in competition. Thus, Chinese, Uruguayan and US directors who were hailed by the jury, which was comprised of Pierre Audi, Paulo Branco, Martin Rejtman, Patrice Toye and presided over by the Korean director Lee Chang-Dong. The three VPRO Tiger Awards went to: Walking on the Wild Side (Lia Xiao Zi) by Han Jie a co-production between China and France (Les Petites Lumières); The Dog Pound (La perrera), the debut feature by Manuel Nieto Zas (co-produced with Spain); and Old Joy by US director Kelly Reichardt. Each of the Tiger Awards comes with a €10,000 prize and a guarantee to be broadcast on Dutch network VPRO.

Co-produced by Chinese director Jia Zhangke, Walking on the Wild Side follows three friends who flee after a settling of scores turns bad. Fearing imprisonment, they take to the roads of the province of Shanxi and cross economically devastated villages to discover that, no matter where they go, violence will always be in their path. A co-production between Uruguay (Control Zeta Films), Argentina (Rizoma Films), Canada (Xerxes Indie Films) and Spain, the tragicomic La perrera is about a young student with no manual skills who is forced by his father to build his own house in a deserted village. Through the lethargy that reigns, existential questions suffuse the story. Finally, Kelly Reichardt’s second feature, Old Joy, deals with the initiation of two old friends in the mountains near Portland.

The Tiger Awards for best shorts, however, were awarded to three European works: Beginnings by Roy Villevoye (Holland), and UK films Rabbit (an animated film by Run Wrake) and Who I am and What I Want by David Shrigley & Chris Shepherd.
The UIP Rotterdam Award, which guarantees a nomination for the 2006 European Film Awards 2006, went to Belgian short Meander by Joke Liberge.

For the Tiscali Audience Award, Rotterdam audiences chose Eden, the third feature from German filmmaker Michael Hofmann (following The Beach of Trouville (Der Strand von Trouville) and Sophiiiie!), which mixes the arts of cooking and loving. The film was co-produced by Gambit Film (Germany) and C-Films (Switzerland).

The FIPRESCI prize went to Peruvian director Claudia Llosa’s MadeInUsa, a co-production between Peru (Vela Films) and Spain’s Wanda Vision and Oberon Cinematografica. Also of note is the awarding of the Amnesty International Doen Prize to the France/Israel co-produced documentary film Avenge But One of My Two Eyes (Nekam achat mishtey eynay) by Avi Mograbi.

Last, but certainly not least, within the framework of CineMart, the two Arte France Cinéma Awards (€10,000 each) were given to A Mexican Story by Arturo Aristakisian (Mexico/Russia) and Black Iron Days by Wang Bing (China/France).

Rotterdam closes its door with very positive results. The Festival registered a total of 358,000 admissions (and a box office of €1.25m), registering over 3,000 invitees and 500 journalists, while the CineMart, a rendezvous not to be missed in the European market for international professionals, had 850 participants. In collaboration with the Holland Festival, the Rotterdam Festival will hold a summer edition, from June 15-18.

(Translated from French)