13/03/2009

From March 14-21, the 23rd Freiburg International Film Festival (FIFF) will present productions from all four corners of the world.

Since taking over as artistic director last year, French critic Edouard Waintrop has brilliantly revamped the programme. Film now clearly takes precedence over the event’s previous charitable focus.

His demanding, diverse and bold selection highlights the dynamism and creativity of Asia, South America and Africa. This year’s line-up includes around 80 features unreleased in Switzerland.

Waintrop’s approach involves embracing all film productions. He commented with conviction: “Diversity is not measured solely by the number of nations represented; it already exists within a continent like India, from Bollywood to totally anti-Bollywood”.

Besides the international competition, the festival will host six varied and fascinating panoramas. Rather than retracing the history of Indian cinema, the Out of Bollywood section will screen recent films of all genres that reflect the cultural, social, linguistic and political diversity of the subcontinent.

The Godfather in Asia panorama focuses on the innovative trend in detective films in Mumbai, known as Mumbai Noir. The Women’s Revenge section also opts for a transversal approach: eight films reveal how directors from very different backgrounds took inspiration from the US Rape and Revenge Movies of the 1970s.

In the Fábulas da Favela sidebar, Brazilian critic José Carlos Avellar – who studies the influence of the favelas on filmmakers’ work – has chosen 12 Brazilian titles. A retrospective dedicated to Peruvian director Franscisco Lombardi completes the cinematic journey across South America.

Finally, the panorama Made in Nollywood, organised by German director Dorothee Wenner, puts the spotlight on Africa, looking at Nigeria’s abundant film production, which is the most prolific in the world and consists mainly of videos.