The 40th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is just about to arrive at its conclusion on February 6th.
The IFFR is an annual film festival, held in the city of Rotterdam at the end of January and is considered to be in the realm of other large European film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno. However, rather than traditional red-carpet events, the International Film Festival Rotterdam takes a different approach, encouraging film makers to mingle with the visitors. This approach gives the event a unique atmosphere and a fiercely loyal following both locally and internationally. It is estimated that around 90% of tickets are sold to regular supporters. In 2010, there were 353,000 visitors to the film festival.
The first festival, then called Film International, was organized in June 1972 by Huub Bals. On the evening of July 13, 1988, Bals suddenly died of a second heart attack. After his death, a fund was initiated and named after him, the Hubert Bals Fund, and is used for supporting film makers from developing countries.
The non-competitive character of the festival changed in 1995, when the VPRO Tiger Awards were introduced, providing three yearly prizes for young film makers making their first or second film.
During the twelve festival days, film makers and other artists present their work to festival goers and film professionals at eight different venues. The festival programme includes films, short films and art installations, which fall into three different categories:
Bright Future – new work by novice makers
Spectrum – new and recent work by experienced film makers
Signals – a series of thematic programs and retrospectives
The 2011 IFFR presented a special Jubilee programme called XL. XL refers to this being the fortieth edition of the film festival, as well as the extra locations – 40 unique buildings and institutions, from the Maritime Museum to the Focuskliniek eye hospital, that were transformed into festival locations.
Individuals interested in attending the film festival do well to mark their calendars in advance. While general information about the festival itself is available on the IFFR website, the schedule and online ticket sales are not available until around six days before the start. Online ticket sales are available one day earlier for Tiger Friends. Once tickets go on sale, it is not uncommon for many showings to sell out early.
Did You Know? Since it began in 1972, the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s symbol has been the tiger.
