International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has revealed the competition line-ups for its 55th edition, running from 29 January-8 February next year. Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic hosted a live-streamed press conference this morning, where she unveiled and gave short descriptions of the 12 films each making up the Tiger and Big Screen competition slates.

The international spread of the Tiger Competition is immediately noteworthy. New Georgian cinema at A-list festivals often stands out, and the Caucasus nation is represented by Supporting Role [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ana Urushadze
scheda film], the new film by Ana Urushadze after her Locarno and Sarajevo winner Scary Mother [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Ana Urushadze
scheda film]. A meaty character study running at 139 minutes, the movie follows a faded Georgian film star (Dato Bakhtadze, in a self-reflexive role) granted a second chance after he auditions for a debut feature by an up-and-coming female director. The European contingent is rounded off by A Messy Tribute to Motherly Love [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by British filmmaker Dan Geesin, A Fading Man [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Germany’s Welf Reinhart and La belle année [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Angelica Ruffier
scheda film] by Sweden’s Angelica Ruffier, as well as co-productions Variations on a Theme [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, and Unerasable! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a work signed by a filmmaker under the pseudonym Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos.

The section boasts a large presence of films from the Global South and independent works sitting alongside co-productions covering many borders, as well as a US indie flick not fitting the market-ready Sundance mould, a genre with a great history at Rotterdam. Charlotte Glynn’s The Gymnast takes up the mantle this year: the 1993-set film stars newcomer Britney Wheeler as a young gymnast aiming to compete in the Olympics.

This year’s jury for the Tiger Award includes Iranian actress Soheila Golestani, Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes, Greek-French actress and director Ariane Labed, BFI London Film Festival director Kristy Matheson, and Croatian author and critic Jurica Pavičić.

The Big Screen Competition, focusing on more commercially appealing titles, features talent already well known to festival audiences in front of and behind the camera. Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s Butterfly [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
scheda film] stars Renate Reinsve as one of two half-sisters who grow up as the only resident children at an all-inclusive resort on Gran Canaria; 25 years later, they reunite on the island following the death of their mother. Søimer Guttormsen’s previous feature, Gritt [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
scheda film], also launched at Rotterdam in 2021, inaugurating a successful festival run. Projecto Global [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ivo M. Ferreira
scheda film], the new film by Portugal’s Ivo M Ferreira (Letters from War [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Ivo M. Ferreira
scheda film]), made the cut, as did the first directorial effort by actress Marijana Janković, Home [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marijana Jankovic
scheda film], and titles from the UK’s Sean Dunn (The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), Poland’s Łukasz Ronduda (Tell Me What You Feel [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Łukasz Ronduda
scheda film]), Belgium’s Volkan Üce (2m² [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Volkan Üce
scheda film]) and Algeria’s Malek Bensmail (The Arab [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]).

The section is rounded off by films from South America and Asia, including Isabel Sandoval’s “romantic noir” Moonglow, her follow-up to Lingua Franca, in which the Filipina director herself stars as a police officer in 1970s Manila, who when faced with the corruption around her, decides to commit a heist. The section will be judged by Sara Ishaq, Loes Luca, Chris Oosterom, Mila Schlingemann and Jan-Willem van Ewijk.

The opening-night film is the innovative literary adaptation Providence and the Guitar [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Portugal’s João Nicolau (Technoboss [+leggi anche:
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intervista: João Nicolau
scheda film]); Rémi Bezançon’s crime-comedy Murder in the Building [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] takes the closing-night slot. Kaludjercic’s announcement also highlighted the Displacement Film Fund, which the festival has been launching with some fanfare this past year, in collaboration with UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett. Mohammad Rasoulof, Mo Harawe and Maryna Er Gorbach are among the first directors to have shorts funded by the programme.

The competition titles announced so far are as follows:

Tiger Competition

A Messy Tribute to Motherly Love [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Dan Geesin (Netherlands/Germany/Belgium)
The Gymnast - Charlotte Glynn (USA)
Variations on a Theme [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar (South Africa/Netherlands/Qatar)
O profeta - Ique Langa (Mozambique/South Africa/Qatar)
Yellow Cake - Tiago Melo (Brazil)
Roid - Mejbaur Rahman Sumon (Bangladesh)
A Fading Man [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Welf Reinhart (Germany)
La belle année [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Angelica Ruffier
scheda film] - Angelica Ruffier (Sweden/Norway)
Unerasable! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos (Belgium/Thailand/Sweden)
My Semba - Hugo Salvaterra (Angola)
Nangong Cheng - Shao Pan (China)
Supporting Role [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ana Urushadze
scheda film] - Ana Urushadze (Georgia/Estonia/Turkey/Switzerland/USA)

Big Screen Competition

The Arab [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Malek Bensmail (Algeria/France/Switzerland/Saudi Arabia/Belgium)
Talking to a Stranger - Adrián García Bogliano (Mexico)
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Sean Dunn (UK)
Projecto Global [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ivo M. Ferreira
scheda film] - Ivo M. Ferreira (Portugal/Luxembourg)
Home [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marijana Jankovic
scheda film] - Marijana Janković (Denmark/Serbia)
Tell Me What You Feel [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Łukasz Ronduda
scheda film] - Łukasz Ronduda (Poland)
Moonglow - Isabel Sandoval (Philippines/Taiwan/Japan)
Master - Rezwan Shahriar Sumit (Bangladesh)
Butterfly [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
scheda film] - Itonje Søimer Guttormsen (Norway/Sweden/UK/Germany)
2m² [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Volkan Üce
scheda film] - Volkan Üce (Belgium/Germany/Turkey)
Now I Met Her - Xiao Luxi (China)
Cyclone - Philip Yung (Hong Kong)