Rotterdam Heads On The Importance Of Supporting Marginalized Films

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) got underway on Thursday evening with Providence and the Guitar, the latest feature from Portuguese filmmaker João Nicolau. 

Freely inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s eponymous novel, the film follows Leon and Elvira, two struggling 19th-century itinerant performers trying to keep their stage careers afloat. 

As they travel across Portugal, delighting peasants with their acting and singing, we discover that the husband and wife are seemingly connected by time and space across centuries. In the present, Léon is a rock band frontman, and Elvira is a political activist and his devoted fan. 

The synopsis reads: Caught between moody police officers, rival performers, and small and cheeky demons, with a little help from new friends found on their way, Leon and Elvira must find the strength to keep believing in their art.

Competition titles screening at Rotterdam include U.S. director Charlotte Glynn’s The Gymnast, Georgian director Ana Urushadze’s Supporting Role, and Yellow Cake by Brazilian filmmaker Tiago Melo, who is best known internationally as a producer, with credits including Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius and Bacurau. The jury features The Seed of the Sacred Fig star Soheila Golestani, Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes, Greek-French actress and director Ariane Labed, London Film Festival head Kristy Matheson, and Croatian writer Jurica Pavičić.

Below, Rotterdam Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic and Managing Director Clare Stewart discuss this year’s edition, Rotterdam’s position on the festival calendar, and how the festival works to develop a curious and dedicated audience. 

Rotterdam ends on February 8.

DEADLINE: Vanja, when do you begin programming the festival? I imagine you’re freer to explore because you can skip the awards cycle?

VANJA KALUDJERCIC: Indeed, with special programmes, we sometimes start two years in advance. They’re always one of a kind, looking at a perspective, a theme, or a topic that hasn’t been explored before. So we have to mull them over and see if it’s even possible to put them together. So it does take more time than just a one-year cycle. But we start regular selection in May, so just before the Cannes Film Festival, around the first of May, the submissions open, and then we start selecting. A large part of the program is done in June and July. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to go through so many films, discuss them, and understand what balance we want to achieve. 

DEADLINE: The festival circuit is shifting and changing so much, along with the wider industry. Where do you feel Rotterdam sits? What’s the festival’s role?

KALUDJERCIC: We are really lucky. The festival has existed for 55 years now, and it has grown to its current size thanks to a loyal audience. It’s still one of those thankful places for films that may be somewhere on the margin in terms of how they’re shown. At IFFR, the most avant-garde stands next to the most popular, and they’re equal. We have the privilege of being able to do that because we have an audience that embraces such concepts. 

CLARE STEWART: That curiosity is a really good thing to focus on because there have been years of nurturing an audience that is responsive to risk-taking. That is very fundamental to the fabric of the festival. But also the character of the city itself. 

KALUDJERCIC: And from the programme side, nurturing voices is just as important. One very good example is Lav Diaz. He was a filmmaker whom IFFR was one of the first festivals to show interest in, consistently showing his works, which at that time were 11 to 12 hours long.

DEADLINE: Looking at the Limelight section this year is interesting. I know that it was originally started as a spotlight section for festival favorites and distribution titles. But then I look at films this year, like Carla Simón’s Romeria, Two Prosecutors, or even Father Mother Sister Brother. They will barely receive a release in the UK, where I live. 

KALUDJERCIC: Those films are all distribution titles in Holland. And I think this is largely thanks to what the festival has achieved over the decades. When Hubert Bals founded the festival, he argued that IFFR needed to exist because arthouse cinema was nowhere to be found on the distribution map. And now you can say that even in the 80s and 90s, this dream of his has come true. When you look at the Dutch distribution landscape, the majority of arthouse films from bigger festivals are getting distribution. 

STEWART: Knowing the UK market very well, one of the things that I really like about the function of the big screen competition is that there is a structural incentive within the program that connects films without distributors to audiences in such a way that it’s certainly hoped that distributors then look at that section, which is judged by audience rather than professional jury, as a guide for what they should also be thinking about for the distribution market.

DEADLINE: Over the years, as filmmakers have been increasingly embraced in the gallery space, have you guys felt pressure trying to attract them? 

KALUDJERCIC: This year, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of our art program, Art Direction. We are marking that anniversary with several filmmakers and artists displaying their works across both spaces. And this is what I prefer. I never want to make a distinction between the two. Cinematic work can happen in many shapes and forms, which can mean leaving the film theater and moving into another space, whether it’s the white cube, an installation, or an immersive experience. Artists’ moving image has also always been a strong part of our short film programmes, offering a very rich platform for filmmakers and artists who can work across both mediums. So for us, this is historical, and we don’t believe one jeopardizes the other.

STEWART:  One thing I’ll add is that I’m old enough to know that IFFR was totally the pioneer festival in this space. The first time I came to IFFR in 1998 was because it was the only film festival in the world at that moment that was in this space.