Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk coming-of-age comedy Head South will open the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Thursday 25 January 2024, with the festival running until Sunday 4 February.
New Zealand filmmaker Jonathan Ogilvie returns to IFFR with Head South, a small-town coming-of-age comedy where a private schoolboy becomes desperately enamored with all things post-punk in 1979 Christchurch. The director’s semi-autobiographical film opens the 2024 edition, after his last film Lone Wolf screened in the festival’s Big Screen Competition in 2021.
Other highlights include world premieres of Ishan Shukla’s dystopian sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, and Billy Woodberry’s Mário, a biography of Mário de Andrade, a key figure in African independence struggles; along with the European premieres of Egypt’s Oscars submission Voy! Voy! Voy! by Omar Hilal, So Unreal by Amanda Kramer and Elegies by Ann Hui
A star cast voices Ishan Shukla’s dystopian sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, which has its world premiere at IFFR 2024 in the Bright Future program of feature debuts. The paper bag-wearing citizens of the film’s ultra-regulated society attribute their voices to actors including Golshifteh Farahani and Asia Argento, as well as filmmakers Gaspar Noé and Lav Diaz.
The festival welcomes the world premiere of Mário by US filmmaker Billy Woodberry: a biographical documentary of the Angolan-born writer and nationalist leader Mário de Andrade, who was central in struggles for pan-African independence. The film screens in Harbour, the festival’s largest and broadest program.
So Unreal is the latest film from genre-expanding filmmaker Amanda Kramer following a Focus program at IFFR 2022, and screens in Harbour where it has its European premiere, as does Elegies, the latest by Hong Kong cinema legend Ann Hu.
IFFR 2024 also welcomes Egypt’s 2024 Oscars submission Voy! Voy! Voy! by Omar Hilal, screening in our Limelight program of festival favorites and international award-winners.
Vanja Kaludjercic, IFFR Festival Director: “As we near the finalizing stage of the IFFR 2024 program, we are delighted with how it is shaping up, and no more so than with our opening night. With Head South, Jonathan Ogilvie returns to the festival with an unpredictable coming-of-age story that delights in its shifting tone. Quirkiness and nostalgia become sober and thoughtful, only to turn exuberant and then something else again, in a fitting tribute to post-punk subculture. Ogilvie is the kind of filmmaker we cherish at IFFR: those for whom the art is, above all, an adventure of discovery.”
Clare Stewart, IFFR Managing Director: “The strength and courage of the Tiger have prevailed as we work to shape the 2024 edition of IFFR. Like film festivals everywhere, we face significant challenges and our focus is on continuing to rebuild resources, consolidate partnerships and diversify audiences. We are buoyed by the enormous goodwill of our vibrant, film-loving city, and hugely grateful to the funders and partners who enable IFFR to remain a fierce defender and champion of independent filmmakers and artists at a time when the world needs diverse stories more than ever.”