11/01/2007

Rock’n’Roll Never Dies [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and AFR, the directorial debuts by Finland’s Juha Koiranen and Danish director Morten Hartz Kaplers, will have their world premieres in the Tiger Awards competition programme at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (January 24-February 4).

A graduate from the Department of Film & TV at the University of Art and Design UIAH in Helsinki, 38 year-old Koiranen directed three shorts and a TV film before Rock’n’Roll Never Dies, for which he wrote the script and composed the music.

The film is the story of Tiger, a young man pushing 40 with a good guitar and a sincere nature. But dark clouds loom over Tiger’s hometown when its only industrial facility is threatened with closure.

The low budget film (€600,000) was produced by Filmtotal oy with support from YLE and the Finnish Film Foundation. It was released domestically on December 22 through FS Film Oy. It will also run for the Nordisk Film Prize at the end of January as part of the Göteborg Film Festival.

Thirty-five year-old Hartz Kaplers will present his experimental work AFR in Rotterdam, a mocumentary conceived as a drama that mixes reality and fiction. Festival programmers described it as a commentary on the international political scene and the reality of modern media: “The director has deceived not only homeland politicians but politicians the world over in this thought provoking and entertaining satire”.

The project – directed, scripted and acted by Hartz Kaplers – was produced by Zentropa’s Meta Louise Foldager for Liberty Film ApS and developed as part of the Danish Film Institute’s Film Workshop, which initiates and develops experimental projects. The film will be released in Denmark through Filmfolket.

A total of 15 films will run for the VPRO Tiger Awards for first and second feature films.