Acts of Love_Film Still 1

Source: IFFR

‘Acts Of Love’

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has added 11 titles to its Harbour, Limelight and Bright Futures strands ahead of its 54th edition, which runs January 30-February 9.

In Harbour, the festival world premieres Jeppe Rønde’ Acts of Love following his feature debut at IFFR in 2015 with Bridgend. It’s the story of a woman’s quiet and orderly life in a religious community in rural Denmark which is disrupted by the arrival of her brother.

Tiger Special Jury Prize-winning US filmmakers Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan (New Strains) return with Removal of the Eye about a couple contending with a mother-in-law’s demand for a baby exorcism.

Italian filmmaker Giovanni Columbu, whose 2013 film Su Re played in Competition at Rottermam, returns with the 1940s Sardinia-set Balentes, and India’s Bhargav Saikia’s supernatural horror Bokshi has its world premiere.

Bright Future adds the international premieres of Filipino director Dominic Bekaert’s neo-noir An Errand, and Antón Álvarez, aka C. Tangana’s La Guitarra Flamenca de Yerai Cortés, a portrait of flamenco guitar player. The strand is also world premiering of US director Julian Castronovo’s detective story Debut, Or Objects Of The Field Of Debris As Currently Catalogued.

In the Limelight programme, showcasing avant-premieres and festival highlights, the international premiere of Jiang Jia-chen’s Clash tells the true story of the Chongquing Dockers, an oddball American Football team from China, as they rise to unexpected glory.

Rotterdam announced its first titles for the Bright Future and Habour strands in October.

IFFR has also named The Brutalist cinematographer Lol Crawley as the recipient of the 2025 Robby Müller Award, given in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, the wife of the late Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller.

The festival’s full programme line-up including Tiger Competition, Big Screen and Tiger Short films will be announced on December 17.

Harbour

Acts Of Love (Den)
Dir: Jeppe Rønde

Balentes (It)
Dir: Giovanni Columbu

Bokshi (India)
Dir: Bhargav Saikia

Past Is Present (Bang-Ger)
Dir: Shaheen Dill-Riaz

Removal Of The Eye (US)
Dirs: Prashanth Kamalakanthan, Artemis Shaw

Limelight

Clash (China)
Dir: Jiang Jia-Chen

Kajolrekha (Bang)
Dir: Giasuddin Selim

Silence Of The Sea (Jap)
Dir: Wakamatsu Setsuro

Bright Future

Debut, Or, Objects Of The Field Of Debris As Currently Catalogued (US)
Dir: Julian Castronovo

An Errand (Phil)
Dir: Dominic Bekaert

La Guitarra Flamenca De Yerai Cortéz (Sp)
Dir: Antón Álvarez