International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will be hosting its popular industry events, CineMart and Rotterdam Lab, online due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in The Netherlands.
The festival said on Wednesday that a dedicated announcement about the Pro Days, including the CineMart selection, will be unveiled on Dec. 16. The full IFFR 2022 lineup will be announced on Jan. 7.
While professional events will take place online, as of now, the festival is set to run as an in-person festival in Rotterdam Jan 26-Feb. 6 under strict health and safety rules with the guidance of the Netherlands’ Institute for Public Health and Environment.
“We are closely monitoring the developments in the Netherlands and already anticipate that the circumstances as well as the governmental restrictions put in place to combat the current wave of COVID-19 will impact the shape of IFFR 2022,” said festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.
“How exactly our festival will be adapted is something which our entire team is working on right now and we will be able to share more at our press conference on Friday 7 January,” said Kaludjercic, who added that in spite of continuous challenges, the festival will carry on adapting an exciting program for our film loving community.”
The 51st edition of IFFR will turn the spotlight on filmmaker, musician and author Amanda Kramer, as well as Qiu Jiongjiong, one of China’s most innovative artists and filmmakers, and Yuasa Masaaki, the critically acclaimed Japanese animator and filmmaker. Visionary Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who recently worked on Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name” will also be celebrated with the third annual Robby Müller Award.
IFFR will also mark the world premiere of two feature films, “Please Baby Please” with Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling and Demi Moore; and Kramer’s “Give Me Pity!,” which presents a young performer giving the performance of her life in a VHS-style TV-special disco dream.