Film festival
Film bonanza at Rotterdam begins
Curtains raised at Rotterdam for one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world
Sabbir Chowdhury
The annual filmfest at Rotterdam began yesterday amidst gorgeous festivity. This is the 33rd edition of the international film festival at Rotterdam. It will run till February 1, 2004. Rotterdam Film Festival was first organised in 1971. It was because of the efforts by Hubert Bals that Rotterdam Film Festival has become a matter of pride for the Dutch people.. 32 editions of the festival has been organised so far. In course of time, it has gained popularity and recognition. The festival is now considered as one of the most prestigious of its kind in the world, after the festivals at Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Many independent and alternative films and filmmakers were awarded the coveted VPRO Tiger Awards, making it a favourite festival of many.To the Bangladeshi filmmakers, the festival is a favourite too. Two films by Morshedul Islam, namely, Chaka (The Wheel) and Dukhai (The life of Dukhai) were shown in the festival. Tanvir Mokammel's Lal Salu (The Tree without Roots) were also shown in the past. Both of them were offered the Hubert Bals Fund for their films. The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2004 has selected sixteen films for the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition of its 33rd edition. The Competition line-up counts eight world premieres, five titles supported by the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund and one title previously selected as CineMart Project. Four competition titles have been acquired already for release in The Netherlands: Asshak, Tales from the Sahara; The Wooden Camera; Young Gods and Three Steps Dancing. This year's filmmaker in focus is Raul Ruiz. Ruiz was born in 1941 in Chile and since 1974, has been living in exile. Ruiz has been making films in countries like his native Chile, France, Portugal, Germany, Taiwan, Belgium, the United States, and Italy to name a few. He has made Paris his hometown. He has explored many different ways of getting films made - in cinema, television, schools, arts centres, galleries and museums. Fifteen films by Raul Ruiz will be screened. Ruiz is renowned for films like Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting, Three Crowns of a Sailor, Time Regained, an adaptation from Marcel Proust, and Ce jour-la. The sixteen films in this year's VPRO Tiger Awards Competition are: Four Shades of Brown by Tomas Alfredson (Sweden, 2004), Aaltra by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern (Belgium, 2004), Uniform by Diao Yinan (China/Japan, 2003), Somnambulance by Sulev Keedus (Estonia/Finland, 2003), Asshak, Tales From The Sahara by Ulrike Koch (Switzerland/Germany, 2004), En Route by Jan Krüger (Germany, 2003), The Missing by Lee Kang-Sheng (Taiwan, 2003), The Wooden Camera by Ntshaveni Wa Luruli (South Africa, 2004), Scent of the Lotus Pond by Satyajit Maitipe (Sri Lanka, 2004), Days of Santiago by Josue Mendez (Peru, 2004), Three Steps Dancing by Salvatore Mereu (Italy, 2003), How I Killed a Saint by by Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia, 2004), Grande École by Robert Salis (France, 2004), Young Gods by J.P. Siili (Finland, 2003), Summer in the Golden Valley by Srdjan Vuletic (Bosnia-Herzegovina/France/UK, 2003), Peep "TV" SHOW by Yutaka Tsuchiya (Japan, 2003). The three winners will be announced during IFFR 2004's Awards Ceremony on Friday January 30. Each of the three equal VPRO Tiger Award winning films will get Euro 10,000 and these films are guaranteed Dutch television screening by the Festival's main sponsor, Dutch Public Network (VPRO). Sabbir Chowdhuiry, a film activist and critic, teaches in the department of English at Jahangirnagar Universty, Dhaka.
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Simon Field's last festival as director |
