International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012
The 41st edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam will kick off on the 25th of January. I have a bad track record with film festivals; I usually have a look at the program, get very excited about a couple of screenings, vow to go to them, and then life gets in the way. But I won’t be able to avoid this festival, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in ten days of cinematic revelry. Here is the festival trailer:
The festival will open with the world premiere of Lucas Belvaux’s ‘38 Témoins‘, and close with Daniel Nettheim’s ‘The Hunter’, featuring Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.
The festival’s full programme will be announced on the 19th of january; there are also a lot of accompanying events and projects which you can read up on here. These include an exhibition of Michel Gondry’s interactive installation ‘Home Movie Factory’ (the IFFR will post one of his videos on their facebook page every week to facilitate a discussion about his work).
There is also a programme called Signals, with various projects focusing on different themes, such as cinematic heritage (Signals: Regained), expanded cinema (Signals: For Real), and films from around the world (Signals: Power Cut Middle East, focusing on films from Egypt and Syria, Signals: The Mouth of Garbage, a retrospective of Brazilian trash, pulp and avant-garde films, and Signals: Hidden Histories, featuring documentaries by Chinese filmmakers and films by Ai Weiwei).
Check out the IFFR’s youtube channel for a selection of trailers and shorts.
I’ll be sure to post reviews of the screenings that I get to see. Can’t wait!
