Fabula, a dark comedy from award-winning Dutch filmmaker Michiel ten Horn will open the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) taking place from January 30 — February 9, 2025. The festival will close with This City Is a Battlefield, the historical epic film from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya.
Fabula directed by Michiel ten Horn follows Jos, a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures. As his life spirals out of control after a disastrous drug deal, the desperate question: who or what is punishing me consumes Jos?
The film stars Fedja van Huêt, Anniek Pheifer, upcoming stand-up comedian Sezgin Güleç, Michiel Kerbosch, Golden Bear Winner Georg Friedrich, and David Kross (War Horse, The Reader).
Set during Indonesia’s fight for independence in 1946, This City Is a Battlefield stars Chicco Jerikho, Ariel Tatum, and Jerome Kurnia, and recreates life in Jakarta under colonial occupation in fastidious detail, unveiling it in all its seductive and brutal textures. Propelled by kinetic action set-pieces and elegant lead performances, This City Is a Battlefield explores timeless human sentiments against a concrete historical backdrop, painting a moving picture of individuals and a nation alike, yearning for autonomy and freedom.
Director Michiel ten Horn’s debut feature, The Deflowering of Eva van End, premiered in Toronto and played in Rotterdam. He most recently directed the family feature Hotel Sinestra (2023). Mouly Surya is known for directing female-led Asian genre films, such as *Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts*, and more recently, the Netflix film *Trigger Warning* with Jessica Alba.
Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, said: “With this year’s Opening and Closing films, we celebrate two filmmakers who each bring a distinctive approach to storytelling and demonstrate the capacity to effortlessly move between popular and personal. Michiel ten Horn is an acclaimed Dutch director, and we are honoured to host the world premiere of his latest work Fabula, a spirited mix of comedy, fantasy, crime, and folklore centred around a band of misfits set against the backdrop of the southern Netherlands. Mouly Surya is a powerhouse filmmaker, and This City Is a Battlefield is no less than a masterclass in filmmaking, combining the grandeur of a war epic with the intimacy of a personal drama. This Indonesian-Dutch co-production reveals the impact of war on ordinary people, carrying deep cultural and cinematic resonance.”
The festival also announced the jury lineups across the three competition strands -Tiger Competition, Tiger Short Competition and Big Screen Competition.
Tiger Competition, Tiger Short Competition and Big Screen Competition Juries
2025 Tiger Competition Jury
Yuki Aditya: Jakarta-based filmmaker, Forum Lenteng film collective founder and Artistic Director of ARKIPEL International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival
Soheila Golestani: Iranian filmmaker and actress recognised for pioneering Iran’s first VR narrative short and her performance in Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024).
Winnie Lau: Creative producer and former executive at SK Global Entertainment, Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone Films and Fortissimo Films where she was known for projects including Winter’s Bone (2010) and In the Mood for Love (2000).
Peter Strickland: Acclaimed British filmmaker known for Berberian Sound Studio (2012), The Duke of Burgundy (2015), In Fabric (2019) and Flux Gourmet (2022).
Andrea Luka Zimmerman: Jarman Award-winning filmmaker whose experiential journey Wayfaring Stranger (2024) screened at IFFR last year.
2025 Tiger Short Competition Line-up
Angela Haardt: Curator for film and media art and former director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
Frank Sweeney: Filmmaker and artist whose Few Can See, an exploration of censorship during the conflict in Northern Ireland, won a Tiger Short Award at IFFR 2024.
Yaoting Zhang: An acquisitions and production manager who has previously served as programmer for the Shanghai and Beijing festivals, and as production manager at Rediance has contributed to acclaimed films like Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes), The Breaking Ice (Anthony Chen), The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams).
The Big Screen Competition Jury
Bero Beyer: Dutch producer and former Festival Director of IFFR, from 2015 to 2020.
Sara Rajaei: Iranian-Dutch video artist and filmmaker whose work has often been shown at IFFR, including A Composition in Blue, Red & Other Colours (IFFR 2018), 1978 the 231st Day (IFFR 2013) and Forever for a While (IFFR 2010).
Dewi Reijs: A Dutch-Indonesian filmmaker, actress, and founder of Buddy Film Foundation, that provides a platform for refugee creatives and recent creator of the youth series I Am New.
Digna Sinke: Dutch filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and IFFR regular (After the Tone, IFFR 2014; BEWAREN – of hoe te leven, IFFR 2018).
Jia Zhao: Chinese-Dutch producer of award-winning documentaries like I Am So Sorry (Cannes 2021), Kabul, City in the Wind (IDFA Special Jury Award) and Inner Landscape, which closed IFFR in 2019.
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