Rotterdam confirms Bright Future, Spectrum selections

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).

Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.

Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.

Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.

Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another Year, will compete for the Big Screen Award Competition.

China’s Ai Weiwei premieres his latest documentary Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50, reconstructing and rebuting his arrest for tax evasion by the Chinese authorities.

South America is also strong in Spectrum this year, with selections including Reimon from Argentina’s Rodrigo Moreno.

The premieres announced today in each section are:

Bright Future, World premieres

• About Sarah, Elisa Miller (Mexico, UK)
• Bella Vista, Vera Brunner-Sung (US)
• Creator of the Jungle , Jordi Morató (Spain)
• La distancia, Sergio Caballero (Spain)
• Dzma/Brother, Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade (France, Georgia)
• L’éclat furtif de l’ombre, Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne (Belgium, Germany)
• Edén, Elise DuRant (US, Mexico)
• Helium, Eché Janga (Netherlands)
• History of Eternity, Camilo Cavalcante (Brazil)
• Hotel Nueva Isla, Irene Gutiérrez &Javier Labrador (Cuba, Spain)
• The Iranian Film, Yassine el Idrissi (Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)
• Jacky au royaume des filles, Riad Sattouf (France)
• L for Leisure, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn (US, Mexico, France, Iceland)
• Little Crushes, Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb (Poland)
• Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory, Ismail Fahmi Lubish (Indonesia)
• Oilfields Mines Hurricanes, Fabian Altenried (Germany, Iceland)
• The Pinkie, Lisa Takeba (Japan)
• The Quiet Roar, Henrik Hellström (Sweden, Norway)
• Sitzfleisch, Lisa Weber (Austria)
• The Songs of Rice, Uruphong Raksasad (Thailand)
• Tres D , Rosendo Ruiz (Argentina)
• Las voces, Carlos Armella (Mexico, Argentina)

Bright Future, International premieres

• After the Rain, Cláudio Marques & Marília Hughes (Brazil)
• Cherry Pie, Lorenz Merz (Switzerland)
• The Driver, Jarkko T. Laine & J-P Passi (Finland)
• Die Frau hinter der Wand, Grzegorz Muskala (Germany)
• Leave It for Tomorrow, for Night Has Fallen, Jet Leyco (Philippines)
• Mejima, Izutani Tomonori (Japan)
• Not at Home, Shahrbanoo Sadat & Katja Adomeit (Denmark, Afghanistan, Germany)
• Obvious Child, Gillian Robespierre (US)
• Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Jeff Barnaby (Canada)
• Tonight and the People, Neil Beloufa (France, US)

Bright Future, European Premieres

• Darkness by Day, Martín Desalvo (Argentina)
• The Disobedient, Mina Djukic (Serbia)
• Fantail, Curtis Vowell (New Zealand)
• Intruders, Noh Young-Seok (South Korea)
• It’s Us, Nick Reding (Kenya)
• Liar’s Dice, Geethu Mohan Das (India)
• The Militant, Manolo Nieto (Uruguay, Argentina)
• Qissa, Anup Singh (Germany, India, Netherlands, France)
• Remote Control, Byamba Sakhya (Mongolia, Germany)
• Swim Little Fish Swim, Lola Bessis & Ruben Amar (US, France)

Spectrum, World premieres

• 28, Prasanna Jayakody (Sri Lanka)
• After the Tone, Digna Sinke (Netherlands)
• Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50, Ai Weiwei (China)
• Another Year, Oxana Bychkova (Russia)
• Back to the Temple of the Sun, Marco Pando (Netherlands, Peru)
• Blood in Bahia’s Hot , Aurelio Grimaldi (Italy, Brazil)
• Chaotic Memories: Selected Works 2010-2013, Paul Agusta (Indonesia)
• D’où je viens, Claude Demers (Canada)
• EDSA XXX: Nothing Ever Changes in the Ever-Changing Republic of Ek-Ek-Ek, Khavn De La Cruz (Philippines)
• Lake August, Yang Heng (China, Hong Kong)
• Mancanza-Inferno, Stefano Odoardi (Italy, Netherlands)
• On the Edge, Christian E. Christiansen (Denmark)
• Reimon, Rodrigo Moreno (Argentina, Germany)
• See No Evil, Jos de Putter (Netherlands, Belgium)
• Supernatural, Thunska Pansittivorakul (Thailand, Germany)

Spectrum, International premieres

• De la musique ou La jota de Rosset , Jean-Charles Fitoussi (France)
• Legend of China Doll , Adolfo B. Alix Jr. (Philippines)
• Lettera al presidente, Marco Santarelli (Italy)
• Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, Wong Ching Po (Hong Kong)
• Perfect Garden, Mara Mattuschka & Chris Haring (Austria)
• Piccola patria , Alessandro Rossetto (Italy)
• Ping Pong Summer, Michael Tully (US)

Spectrum, European premieres

• Coming to Terms, Jon Jost (US)
• Costa Dulce, Enrique Collar (Paraguay, Netherlands)
• Letters from the South, Aditya Assarat, Royston Tan, Midi Z, Tan Chui Mui, Tsai Ming-liang & Sun Koh (China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar)
• Periscópio, Kiko Goifman (Brazil)
• R100, Matsumoto Hitoshi (Japan)
• Tamako in Moratorium, Yamashita Nobuhiro (Japan)
• To Kill a Man, Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile, France)