Action thriller Little Dixie from US director John Swab is one of four world premieres announced as part of the Harbour strand for the 52nd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR, January 25 – February 5 2023).
Little Dixie follows an ex-Special Forces Operative trying to negotiate a deal with the Mexican drug cartel while protecting his young daughter. The cast includes Frank Grillo, Eric Dane and Annabeth Gish. It is produced by Roxwell Films.
Giorgio Cugno’s Alien Food will also have its world premiere at the festival. The Italy-Denmark co-production explores the friendship between a 40-year-old man with bipolar disorder, played by Cugno himself, and the 12-year-old daughter of the foster family he moves in with.
The other world premieres are Dick Verdult’s Als Uw Gat Maar Lacht from the Netherlands and Ludwig Wüst’s I AM HERE! From Austria.
IFFR’s Harbour line-up also features Venice titles Blue Jean from Georgia Oakley and Vera from Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel. Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, which world premiered in competition at Cannes, will screen as well as Croatia’s Oscar entry Safe Place from Juraj Lerotić.
The Harbour strand was introduced last year and aims to promote films that break free from preconceived ideas of what cinema should be. Further titles for this programme are to be announced in the coming weeks.
The festival is also honouring Hungarian filmmaker Judit Elek by screening a retrospective of her work. The programme includes Maybe Tomorrow (1980), Martinovics (1981) and Elie Wiesel Goes Home (1996).
This year’s Focus programmes are dedicated to Japanese animator and filmmaker Yuasa Masaaki and US interdisciplinary artist Stanya Kahn.
In addition to screening Masaaki’s Inu-oh (2021) and Ride Your Wave (2019), the filmmaker will also be present to deliver a talk.
The first wave of titles was announced last month and includes the world premiere of Jagath Manuwarna’s satirical debut feature Whispering Mountains.
Harbour selection
*denotes world premieres
Alien Food* (It-Den)
Dir. Giorgio Cugno
Als Uw Gat Maar Lacht* (NL)
Dir. Dick Verdult, 2023, Netherlands, world premiere
Another Spring (Ser-Qat)
Dir. Mladen Kovačević
Blue Jean (UK)
Dir. Georgia Oakley
Dalva (Bel-Fr)
Dir. Emmanuelle Nicot
Demigod: The Legend Begins (Tai)
Dir. Chris Huang Wen-chang
É Noite Na América (It)
Dir. Ana Vaz
Fogo-Fátuo (Port-Fr)
Dir. João Pedro Rodrigues
Hand (Jap)
Dir. Matsui Daigo
I AM HERE!* (Aus)
Dir. Ludwig Wüst
Killing a Traitor (Iran)
Dir. Masoud Kimiai
Little Dixie* (US)
Dir. John Swab
Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A (Jap)
Dir. Kawase Naomi
Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side B (Jap)
Dir. Kawase Naomi
Pacifiction (Fr-Sp-Ger-Port)
Dir. Albert Serra
Safe Place (Cro)
Dir. Juraj Lerotić
La Tour (Fr)
Dir. Guillaume Nicloux
Vera (Austria)
Dirs. Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
We Had the Day Bonsoir (Fr)
Dir. Narimane Mari
No comments yet