IFFR UNVEILS FIRST SELECTIONS FOR 2025 EDITION’S FILM PROGRAMME

The 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first wave programming selections for its upcoming event, taking place from 30 January – 9 February, 2025. These 13 titles span the Bright Future and Harbour programming strands and will each have their world premiere at IFFR.

Vanja Kaludjercic, IFFR Festival Director (pictured, below), said: “One of the biggest joys of curating IFFR is working with our team of programmers to create a line-up that showcases the breadth of cinematic experiences and a multitude of perspectives – and our first selection of titles demonstrates our commitment to this ambition.”

IFFR’s Bright Future selection of feature-length debuts is characterised by original subject matter and an individual style, representing the cutting edge of contemporary filmmaking: The 2025 Bright Future selected titles are:

1 GIRL INFINITE - Dir: Lilly Hu (United States, Latvia, Singapore) Two teenage girls, Yin Jia and Tong Tong, live together in this colour-drenched vision of Changsha, China. When Tong Tong drifts away and falls in with a drug dealer, Yin Jia’s love for her means she’ll risk everything to keep Tong Tong by her side.

CAMP D'ÉTÉ - Dir: Mateo Ybarra (Switzerland, France) In Switzerland, the Scout Movement is not a nostalgic fantasy but a vibrant social reality. This bubbly documentary captures the communal cycle of activities during a 14-day camp for youth. No reality TV-style contrived scenes here, this is a moving, joyful glimpse into life-changing experiences.

LATER IN THE CLEARING - Dir: Márton Tarkövi (Hungary, Spain; pictured, left) In a small Hungarian town painter Péter Molnár leads filmmaker Márton Tarkövi on a journey through meadows, clearings and Molnár’s drawings. The viewer joins them, as they discuss art, time and life itself. 

INVISIBLE FLAME - Dir: Oskar Weimar (Kenya) When fish begin to vanish, community members are quick to blame Dani, the elderly woman rumoured to be a witch. Daisy, a fisherman’s daughter, must decide whether to stand by her friend or heed the warnings of those around her.

YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE - Dir: Rajee Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka, United States) As many as 100,000 people, predominantly members of the minority Tamil community, are estimated to have disappeared during the 26-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War. Through a unique synthesis of interviews, news clips and re-enactments this docufiction feature reflects on this harrowing history as families search for loved ones that disappeared without a trace.

Echoing Rotterdam’s port city identity, Harbour offers a safe haven to the full range of contemporary cinema that the festival champions. The Harbour strand’s first wave of selected titles digs into themes of self-discovery, societal norms and the human condition:

AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW - Dir: Pelin Esmer (Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania; pictured, left) Dreamy housekeeper Aliye spends her days between hotel rooms, escaping into the lives of the guests. But after a brief encounter with a famous filmmaker, Aliye decides that she has a story to tell, which leads to an entanglement of lives and fictions. 

DEAD DOG - Dir: Sarah Francis (Lebanon) Walid and Aida, husband and wife, are reunited after Walid’s many years spent living abroad. Answers to long-hidden secrets are sought in Sarah Francis’ dissection of an estranged marriage.

FINDING RAMLEE - Dir: Megat Sharizal (Malaysia) An endearing retro dramedy set in swinging seventies Kuala Lumpur. Destitute and deep in debt, Zakaria is offered a lifeline by his loan shark: impersonate the Malaysian screen icon P. Ramlee in order to entertain his homebound, time-warped sister.

NO DEJES A LOS NIÑOS SOLOS - Dir: Emilio Portes (Mexico) A mother moves into a new house with her two children. One night she must leave the siblings home alone. What begins as a blast of carefree play soon turns into a claustrophobic horror story. 

PRIMITIVE DIVERSITY - Dir: Alexander Kluge (Germany; pictured right) Filmmaker Alexander Kluge loves to use the expression ‘primitive diversity’ in relation to the origins of his art: the first films that were made, their genres, motives and moods. With the development of AI, Kluge asks, what could its primitive diversity look like?

THANK YOU SATAN - Dir: Hicham Lasri (Morocco, France) In this dark comedy set in the early 1990s, all Serge wants to do is write his Fucking Best Seller! When his publisher nags him to shake things up and bring out his ‘mainstream potential’, he gives it all he has and, with a killer edge.

THE NIGHT IS DARK AND BRIGHTER THAN THE DAY - Dir: Christina Friedrich (Germany) Filmmaker Christina Friedrich asks 33 primary school children about their fears, taking us on a long night-journey through a magic world of their creation. What can the ‘real world’ learn from the games and rituals of children? 

UN GRAN CASINO - Dir: Daniel Hoesl (Austria; pictured, left) The largest casino in Europe but is it just a big mess? Daniel Hoesl presents Un gran casino as an angry musing on a building, an Italian village and all that is done in the name of the unfettered creation of wealth. 

The complete programme for IFFR’s 54th edition will be launched on the 17th December 2024.