Rotterdam's Asian Tigers
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) awarded its VPRO Tiger Awards this weekend as the festival came to a close. The three top prizes, each worth €15,000, all went to films from Asia. A broadcast slot on main sponsor VPRO’s timetable is also guaranteed.
Tiger winner Breathless is the debut feature of South Korean actor-turned-director Yang Ik-June, who also stars in a violent story inspired by true events.
The second win went to Be Calm and Count to Seven from Iranian rookie director Ramtin Lavafipour. The film was sponsored by IFFR’s own Hubert Bals Fund that supports productions from developing countries and focuses on smugglers on the southern islands.
The third Tiger winner literally straddles the border between Europe and Asia, as it is set in Istanbul. Mahmut Fazil Coskun’s Wrong Rosary is a “uniquely creative film of the most eloquent simplicity, a film built from a feeling of immediacy, moment by moment, breath by breath” according to this year’s Tiger jury. It tells the story of a muezzin and a Catholic nurse who are neighbours and both single.
This year’s Tiger Awards jury was composed of Marlene Dumas, Yesim Ustaoglu, Park Ki-Yong, Kornél Mundruczó and Kent Jones.
British film and current Oscar favourite Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
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