Perspektive Deutsches Kino is coming of age. For the past 18 years, the Berlinale has dedicated itself with this section to supporting promising German filmmakers and talents who are self-confidently searching for their own form of artistic expression.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed the complete selection of 47 feature films from all over the world in its Bright Future section, the festival’s home for upcoming filmmakers with their own style and vision. All feature film debuts that have their world or international premiere in Bright Future are selected for the Bright Future Competition and vie for a €10,000 award.
Thirty (Dreissig) by Simona Kostova[/caption]
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed the first films for in the 2019 Bright Future program that spotlights upcoming filmmakers with their own style and vision. The Bright Future section comprises features, mid-lengths and shorts, and includes the feature film debuts competing for the Bright Future Award worth €10,000.
Among the films selected so far are the world premieres of Viktor van der Valk’s neo-noir Nocturne (the Netherlands); Argentinian actress Romina Paula’s directing debut De nuevo otra vez; Ico Costa’s debut feature Alva (from the producers of Djon África, which was in IFFR 2018’s Tiger Competition); and Dreissig by Berlin-based filmmaker Simona Kostova. The international premiere of Fabiana, Brunna Laboissière’s portrait of a transgender truck driver, also screens in the Bright Future Competition.
In addition to feature films, IFFR’s Bright Future section devotes plenty of space to mid-length and short films. Titles confirmed for Bright Future Mid-length include Derrière les volets by Messaline Raverdy and the world premiere of L’inconnu de Collegno by Maïder Fortuné. Stefano Canapa’s The Sound Drifts and Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Walled Unwalled will both world premiere in Bright Future Short.
The full Bright Future line-up will consist of approximately 50 feature films. The eight films in Tiger Competition, which is also part of the Bright Future section, will be announced early January 2019.
The Day I Lost My Shadow[/caption]
As the 48th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) fast approaches, the festival is announcing the first 26 confirmed titles, including new films by Claire Denis, Jia Zhangke and Garin Nugroho. IFFR 2019 will take place from January23 to February 3, 2019.
The confirmed titles include the world premiere of Simona Kostova’s Dreissig and the international premiere of Fabienne Godet’s Nos vies formidables. Other filmmakers on the selection list so far are Nadine Labaki with her new film Capernaum and Khalik Allah with his Black Mother, a piercing reflection on Jamaican identity which won the Yellow Robin Award at Curaçao IFFR in April 2018. BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry, a European premiere, is a remarkable documentary feature by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit chronicling the intense lives of a group of pop singers living together in Bangkok. And with I diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti Yervant Gianikian has created a moving portrait of his partner in cinema Angela Ricci Lucchi, who passed away in 2018.
Three of the films selected so far received support from IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) in previous years: The Day I Lost My Shadow by Soudade Kaadan and Rafiki by Wanuri Kahiu in 2016, The Load by Ognjen Glavonić in 2013.
IFFR celebrates film art from all over the world and presents its program within four sections, each with its own distinct character: Bright Future (including the Tiger Competition and the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition), Voices, Deep Focus and Perspectives. Short films are strongly represented throughout all sections.
Festival director Bero Beyer: “We’re delighted to present an appealing and rich first selection of titles to screen at our upcoming festival. There are names we’ve seen before in Rotterdam, and ones that are brand new. Together they exemplify the type of bold and daring cinema we like to celebrate at IFFR.”