international film festival rotterdam12

Heartof tHetiGer

last night, the Cinemart awards were presented in the arcadiszaal in de doelen. By micheal Pattison The ARTE International Prize (€7,000) goes to the producer of the best CineMart project. New financial support comes this year from the Global Film Initi-ative, which continues its established relationship with the Hubert Bals Fund and IFFR by presenting three grants of $10,000 US each to the selected films. Susan Weeks Coulter, Chairman of the Board of the Global Film Initiative, says: “We felt that perhaps this year filmmakers would appreciate knowing they had an immediate decision about some financing and we have decided to make that a reality for the three of them today.”Italian-French co-production Happy Time Will Come Soon, directed by Alessandro Comodin and produced by Paolo Benzi (Okta Film) and Thomas Ordonneau

(Shellac Sud), took the €7,000 ARTE International Prize. According to the jury, “This very original project seems to go deep into the rich, sensitive world of the filmmaker we noticed with his excellent previ-ous film L’estate di Giacomo. The elaborate narrative of the project, nourished by family stories and rooted in the landscapes of North-eastern Italy promises a beautiful and imaginative film.” The €30,000 Eurima-ges Co-production Development Award, meanwhile, went to Tabija (Bosnia-Herzegovina), directed by Igor Drljaca and produced by Amra Bakšic Camo and Adis Djapo (SSCCA/pro.ba). The jury said: “This CineMart, the jury decided to give the Eurimages development award to a young team developing a project with great urgency.  The writer/director has found an interesting form and style to tell this impor-tant story. The fact that he lived abroad for some time may have helped him to clarify what he wants to say about the situation in his native country. This will be a film that portrays a generation of young people after a war ...  The producer is experienced and has been successful with films at international festivals. We are very much looking forward to seeing this intense, modern film from a country that hasn’t made such a film yet.”Both awards were decided by a three-person jury consisting of Annamaria Lodato (ARTE France), Dorien van de Pas (Netherlands Film Fund and Dutch Representative of Eurimages) and Pierre Menahem (MPM Film).The Global Film Initiatives Grants were awarded to Chingari – The Spark (India), directed by Rajesh Jala and produced by Rajesh Jala (The Elements) and Cedomir Kolar (A.S.A.P. Films); Nervous Translation (Philippines), directed by Shireen Seno and produ-ced by Arleen Cuevas and John Torres (Peliculas Los Otros); and Mustang (Turkey/France/Germany), directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven and produced by Charlotte Vincent (Aurora Films).

The ARTE International Prize consists of €7,000 and not €5,000 as erroneously stated in yesterday’s ‘Daily Tiger’. The Prins Claus Fund Film Grant is no longer given.

Abbas Kiarostami has been making films for fourty-three years and the innovations in his work never stop. Jafar Panahi has managed to produce and release on the festival circuit two feature films while under house arrest. Asghar Farhadi pushes classic cinematic narration to a degree of unprecedented intricacy to allow us to go deeper and deeper into the emotions of his characters. Which begs the question: How do they do it? And why is nobody in, say, Morocco as successful artistically, since hypothetically the politi-cal situation there allows for this?Despite what you might think of at first, Yassine el Idrissi’s The Iranian Film (screening for the last time today, 20:30 in LantarenVenster 3) is really about Morocco; it uses Iranian film as a quality standard – a Holy Grail, if you prefer – in the quest by two Moroc-can filmmakers who are out to make a film of their own. To bracket it within a genre, it more resem-bles the films-about-film starring New York-based bohemian filmmakers than the more old-fashioned, metaphysical search depicted in Federico Fellini’s Otto e mezzo and its many, many imitations. Produced in the Netherlands as part of a Master’s degree programme, The Iranian Film is a witty, entertaining film that’s not afraid to expose inconvenient assump-tions in the Moroccan production milieu. When the two aspiring filmmakers set out to find support for their project, one of their first advisors – presumably speaking for an entire class of local professionals – hints that what they should do with their film is paint a bad image of their country, because that is how they can attract more foreign funds. But since they refuse

to respect authority or sell their souls to get into film-making (the phrasing depends on how dramatic your worldview is), the search goes on. From a formal point of view, The Iranian Film is not as committed to ambiguity and realism as the films it ostensibly takes as models (although it occasion-ally mimics their construction, like in a theatre scene made mostly of reaction shots, reminiscent of Kiarostami’s Shirin). Composed of bite-sized encounters and revealing mishaps, featuring bit players who seem authentic and unwittingly embar-rass themselves with ridiculous speeches, it adheres pretty closely to the mockumentary format that’s become familiar to us from US movies. For a film about filmmaking, it’s refreshingly disenchanted with the magic of cinema – unlike other films that at first dismiss escapism and then end up letting it sneak in through the back door. Films can inspire youth. Films can dazzle the audience. Films can offer valid metaphors for understanding life. But these are the exceptions. El Idrissi’s next project is a fiction film about the turmoil in Syria – interestingly, it follows a docu-mentary he made on the same topic (produced by VPRO and already in the editing room). He says the two films have no footage in common, but he will be using archive material. “I’m playing with reality and trying to make something fictional of it. There will be news footage and YouTube clips. Social media played a major role in these events – it’s not the only cause behind the Arab spring, but it wouldn’t have been the same without it.”

The phrase ‘Iranian film’ has long become a buzz-word. In a country plagued by political instability and cultural oppression, filmmakers still manage to tell authentic stories – and expand the expressive possibilities of the medium of cinema, while they’re at it. By irina trocan

43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam #8 Thursday 30 January 2014

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Cinemart awards Exceptions prove the rule

Delegates enjoy a drink and the buzz at the Late Night Drinks hosted by African Metropolis and Boost! in de Doelen during CineMart.

UPC aUdienCe award As of Wednesday 14:28 hours

1. Nebraska ...........................................................4,74

2. Starred Up .........................................................4,63

3. After the Tone ...................................................4,61

4. Sorrow and Joy .................................................4,58

5. Feel My Love .....................................................4,58

6. Zombie: The Resurrection of Tim Zom ........4,58

7. The Selfish Giant ..............................................4,50

8. Papusza .............................................................4,49

9. The Creator of the Jungle ...............................4,47

10. Sexy Money .......................................................4,46

13INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

A truer love

In an interview for the ‘Daily Tiger’ last week, Danish actor Pilou Asbaek (R, Tiger Awards competition 2010 and Spies & Glistrup, screening in Signals: Grand Tour), says that “most Danes would prefer to see a fi lm by Nils Malmros than one by Von Trier. As a young actor, I found Malmros’ work incredibly inspirational. His fi lms are part of my culture and my past. Excep-tionally powerful!” In Rotterdam for the retrospective of his work screening at IFFR, the Danish maestro (modest-ly) agrees. “If you were to count audience numbers in Denmark, I think that is probably true”, he says. “My audiences there are maybe ten times bigger. But outside of Denmark, the opposite is true.” He has one explanation for this: “My fi lms are very locally based. In fact, not only do my characters speak Danish, but they speak the local dialect of Ârhus, my home-town I am the only person in Demark making fi lms outside of Copenhagen!”

Danish successOutside of Denmark, Malmros is certainly less well-known than his compatriot. (Although his fi lms have screened at major festivals, and Lars Ole 5.C and Boys were distributed in NL by Film International, the forerunner of IFFR.) However, the retrospective of his work (including his latest fi lm Sorrow and Joy) at IFFR and the remarkable success of recent Danish TV series such as The Bridge, The Killing and Borgen may go some little way to redressing this. “Yes, I feel this!” the director comments. “It’s great that these series have done so well – I am actually surprised by it. I think they are bril-liant, but I am surprised they have crossed over

so well. I don’t know what other countries are making, but the Americans have some brilliant series lately too, The Sopranos for example. But yes, maybe this will help audiences outside of Demark discover my fi lms. We’ll see!”

ReconstructionIn his work, Malmros walks a thin line between autobiography and fi ction. Situations and characters in his fi lms closely mirror his own life and past. Facing the Truth tells the story of a neurosurgeon who bears the same name as Malmros’ father, who as a neurosurgeon went through the same situation as the character in the fi lm. (Malmros – himself also a surgeon – actually performs the operations in that fi lm). Johannes, the protagonist of Sorrow and Joy, is closely modelled on Malmros himself, and the events of the fi lm are based on Malmros’ own life. Johannes is also a fi lmmaker, and the fi lms he is shooting in Sorrow and Joy are painstak-ing reconstructions of Malmros’ fi lms Tree of Knowledge (which Malmros describes as “not a documentary but a reconstruction of what happened”) and Beauty and the Beast. In one scene in Sorrow and Joy, a journalist says to fi lm-maker protagonist Johannes: “All your fi lms deal with yourself.” Johannes’ reply is, “Yes, in a way.” Malmros agrees that this could apply to himself. Asked about characters in various of his fi lms wearing almost the same costumes, he replies: “Yes, of course, they are all me.” In a way. “It wasn’t planned from the start,” the fi lm-maker says, “but very soon I realized that what I am actually doing is ‘remembering things past’ – like Marcel Proust.”

CulminationIn spite of their testing, often heart-rending subject-matter, however, there is an overarch-ing theme of love – redemption even, in his work. “All my fi lms are about love”, Malmros says. “Love, and how we develop. I have made

ten fi lms now about unrequited love – this is the best way to talk about love. Sorrow and Joy, on the other hand, is about fi nding a truer love.”In his introduction to Malmros’ oeuvre in the IFFR catalogue, Olaf Möller describes Sorrow and Joy as the culmination of the director’s work. Malmros agrees: “Yes, Sorrow and Joy is a kind of summing up of my previous work – hence it includes the scenes from Tree of Knowledge and Beauty and the Beast. And the characters talk about what happened in earlier fi lms, like Boys.”

“I got some bad reviews for Sorrow and Joy in Denmark,” Malmros says, “but these were mainly by a particular reviewer who can’t stand that I can’t change the story. He thinks it’s boring – why can’t I change reality? Why can’t Johannes in Sorrow and Joy fuck the girl in Berlin? But I can’t do that, because that is not what happened. That would be a violation of the truth. When I stick to the truth, this leads to something much stronger. Everything in the fi lm is true. Even the parents wanting the teacher back after she had killed her child.”

GoodnessIn his introduction Olaf Möller also states that: “Malmros’ fi lms can become fundamental expe-riences in our lives … if we are willing enough to believe in man’s goodness.” Does Malmros himself still believe in man’s goodness? “You know, I think Olaf is right, although actually I never thought about it. My fi lms are also about the evil in people. But take the parents who wanted the teacher back, in spite of what she had done – that is really an example of the good. Many people have said to me, ‘this would not happen today’ [Sorrow and Joy is set in the 1980s]. And yet I ask people, so how would you react today? And they say, ‘of course, in exactly the same way’. So I think in some ways we are better than we know ourselves. We are more decent than we realize. When it really comes down to it, we are decent beings.”

Nils Malmros’ retrospective at IFFR hopes to bring Denmark’s lesser-known fi lm auteur to the attention of a wider audience. By Mark Baker

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“not a documentary but a reconstruction of what happened””

“we are more decent than we realize”

10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00 22.00 23.00 24.0009.00

Stella cadenteLuis Miñarro

111’

09:00 TG Something Must BreakEster Martin Bergsmark 90’

11:30 TG Afscheid van de maanDick Tuinder

94’

13:30 TG ArwadSamer Najari, Dominique Chila

105’

16:00 TG

Kamera obskuraRaymond Red

76’

09:00 RG From Tehran to HeavenAbolfazl Saffary 75’

11:00 HS Pelo maloMariana Rondón

93’

12:30 SP

El RayoFran Araújo, Ernesto de Nova 86’

09:00 EU African Metropoliscompilation programme

98’

10:45 SH CanibalManuel Martín Cuenca

117’

12:45 SP Au revoir l’étéFukada Koji

125’

15:00 SP

Closing Film: We Are the Best!Lukas Moodysson 102’

11:30 SP

de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal

Cinerama 3

Cinerama 7MetalheadRagnar Bragason

97’

17:30 SP

Schouwburg Grote Zaal

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS THURSDAY 30 JANUARY Admission with P&I accreditation only

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS THURSDAY 30 JANUARY Admission with P&I accreditation only

de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal09:00

Stella cadente [wp] TGLuis Miñarro, Spain, 2014, DCP, 111 min, Catalan/Spanish, e.s.Colourful feature debut from experienced producer Minarro offers an almost hallucinatory look into the world of Amadeo van Savoy, who for two years was king of an ungovernable Spain around 1870. This intriguing episode is transformed into a plea for beauty, creativity and joy.

11:30Something Must Break [ip] TGEster Martin Bergsmark, Sweden, 2014, DCP, 90 min, Swedish, e.s.‘It should smell of strong emotions’, Bergsmark has said of his debut. And it does, this love story set in Stockholm in summer, between androgynous Sebastian (who likes to dress as ‘superwoman’ Ellie) and Andreas, who is not gay. Together against the smoothed-over, blunted IKEA society.

13:30Afscheid van de maan [wp] TGDick Tuinder, Netherlands, 2014, DCP, 94 min, Dutch, e.s.It’s 1972. Women wear pant suits; men experiment with beards. And with other things, like wife-swapping with the neighbours. And the Americans stop manned space fl ight. In his reconstruction, Tuinder makes a ridiculous era even more ridiculous. A hip comedy.

16:00Arwad [ip] TGSamer Najari/Dominique Chila, Canada, 2013, DCP, 105 min, French, e.s.Ali returns to Arwad in Syria after the death of his mother. One night, Ali mysteriously drowns at sea. Both his wife and mistress struggle: accident or suicide? Ali’s identity crisis as an immigrant only makes the quest more complex. Moving drama about loss, escape and exile.

Schouwburg Grote Zaal •FLM•

11:30Closing Film: We Are the Best! SP•paars01•

Lukas Moodysson, Sweden/Denmark, 2013, DCP, 102 min, Swedish, e.s.Latest fi lm by Swedish director and master provocateur Lukas Moodysson (Fucking Åmål, Mammoth) is based on a comic book by his wife Coco. About teenage girls Bobo, Klara and Hevig who start a punk band in Stockholm in 1982 without being able to play any instruments. Sweet, charming, surprisingly cheerful and real punk. Closing Film IFFR 2014.

Cinerama 3 •FLM•

09:00Kamera obskura [ep] RG•blauw•

Raymond Red, Philippines, 2012, DCP, 76 min, Tagalog, e.s.As a Filipino variation on The Artist, this is a fi ctive silent fi lm as well. A supposedly rediscovered masterpiece recounts with considerable visual fl air the story of an escaped prisoner who gets hold of a magic camera, and ends up in political skirmishes.

10:45From Tehran to Heaven [ep] HS•blauw•

Abolfazl Saffary, Iran/Germany, 2013, DCP, 75 min, Persian, e.s.A woman fi nds a note from her husband on the fridge: I have gone to a place called Heaven. But her fevered search leads her to hell, in a nightmarish pursuit from a surreal Tehran deep into the desert. But who is actually chasing whom?

12:30Pelo malo SP•paars01•

Mariana Rondón, Venezuela/Peru/Germany, 2013, DCP, 93 min, Spanish, e.s.Little curly-locks Junior thinks his hair should be straight. The school photo is looming and straight hair is a must. While his concerned mother struggles to make ends meet, Junior wanders around the tower blocks of Caracas with the girl next door. Serious, frisky drama about growing up in Venezuela.

Cinerama 7 •FLM•

09:00El Rayo EU•blauw•

Fran Araújo/Ernesto de Nova, Spain/Portugal, 2013, DCP, 86 min, Spanish/Arabic, e.s.The Straight Story in Spain. It is 2011, the crisis is at its height and there is no work. Time for illegal immigrant Hassan to buy a second-hand tractor with his savings and use it to drive back to Morocco. An exceptional road movie featuring an irrepressible optimist in the lead role.

10:45African Metropolis SH•paars02•

Compilation programme, 92 minOver half Africa’s population lives in a metropolis. Six fi lmmakers who live or work in an African (capital) city tell their urban stories: the city as a backdrop, initiator and protagonist combined.

12:45Canibal SP•paars01•

Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain/Romania/Russia/France, 2013, DCP, 117 min, Spanish, e.s.Not much blood in Cannibal. However, the upstanding tailor doesn’t like his dinner overcooked either. Meeting shy Nina creates a crisis of conscience for the elegant murderer. Picturesque Granada is the perfect backdrop for this terrifying fairy tale.

15:00Au revoir l’été SP•paars01•

Fukada Koji, Japan/USA, 2013, DCP, 125 min, Japanese, e.s.A Japanese fi lm with a French title, and just as lightfootedly psychological and en-passant intelligent as French fi lms can be. If the fi lm has a protagonist, then it’s the schoolgirl Sakuko who gets a lot wiser in a single summer vacation. It’s no coincidence that the schoolboy Takashi does too.

17:30Metalhead SP•paars01•

Ragnar Bragason, Iceland, 2013, DCP, 97 min, Icelandic, e.s.Equally dramatic as funny story about a girl who starts wearing her dead brother’s heavy metal gear, becomes the village hell raiser and says she’ll conquer the world. Latest fi lm by productive Bragason, whose double fi lm Children/Parents wowed Rotterdam in 2007.