IFFR 2009

Henry Bernadet

Myriam Verreault

True to life, occasionally documentary looking film portrays 24 hours in the lives of 12 teenagers in the suburbs of Québec, Canada. The language, tone and attitude of the young people, who are experiencing everything for the first time, is beautifully captured in occasionally very stylised or very coarsely shot scenes.

Bright Future: VPRO Tiger Awards Competition

À l'ouest de Pluton

Ramtin Lavafipour

Feature début film from Iran tells about people on the country's southern islands who make their living smuggling a variety of goods, on the run from the local police. Shot in a pure, realistic style reminiscent of earlier Iranian masters.

Be Calm and Count to Seven

Edwin

Original feature by a young Indonesian film maker who wonders how come he hardly feels Chinese, while he is of Chinese blood. Of course it's with a pig, but also with Stevie Wonder and stunning badminton. A film like a puzzle. And not all the pieces seem to fit.

Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly

Yang Ik-June

Extremely hard gangster-and-his-mol film is borne by masterful acting by the debutant director Yang Ik-June. He plays a frustrated extortionist who pursues the cruelties from his strong arm gang into his private life, until he meets a wayward schoolgirl.

Breathless

Naito Takatsugu

You're looking for a nice, sensitive yet not common film with a special style? Something to be surprised that and to talk about? Here it is. A fisherman looking for a wife. A small harbour so ugly it makes you cheerful. And humour as refined as sushi. The woman finally finds the fisherman.

The Dark Harbour

Simon Ellis

Self-assured feature début set in north-eastern England following several characters looking for love, intimacy and sex in public places. In a fresh, lively style, not without humour, the film sketches a picture of the morals of young English people.

Dogging: A Love Story

Peng Tao

Grim drama about an unavoidable fate is a kind of Chinese Dardennes Brothers film. The young man with the wrong connections shows an interest in a nice shop-girl. Not with honourable intentions.

Floating in Memory

Michael Imperioli

The directing début by Imperioli, who acted in The Sopranos, is filled with hungry ghosts. According to Buddhists, these are the dead who cannot bid farewell to the living, but it's also a metaphor for people who strive so fanatically for illusions that it only hurts more. A handful of narrative lines come together painfully.

The Hungry Ghosts

Leon Dai

Father lives as a tramp by the waterside. He does dangerous jobs. It's no life for a child, you would say, but he lives together with his young daughter. That all works out well, until the authorities find out and he has to fight for his fatherhood. Sensitive. Black-and-white.

No puedo vivir sin ti

Caspar Pfaundler

A free thinking portrayal of the desire to be oneself and not to be swallowed up in anonymous mediocrity that sketches the daydreams of several characters who link their desires in the Viennese underground station Schottenpassage to partly random passers-by.

Schottentor

Juliette Garcias

A girl on the verge of maturity tells her family and friends in the French countryside so many lies about her hidden relationships that they can hardly be called 'white lies' anymore. It gradually becomes clear what secret she's bearing with her. Intense small-scale character study, filled with symbolism and suspense.

Sois sage

Armagan Ballantyne

When a mysterious stranger arrives in their isolated coastal town, 10-year-old twins, Kimi and Melody are forced apart. Now, Kimi must find the strength to let go of what he loves the most. Début feauture by acclaimed short film maker Ballantyne.

The Strength of Water

Alicia Scherson

A broken relationship, a down and out pop idol, a blonde Scandinavian tourist and a collection of insects form the ingredients of Alicia Scherson's beautifully told second film about thirtysomething Carla who finds out in a Chilean nature reserve that the laws of nature can be just as confusing as those of the city.

Turistas

Mahmut Fazil Coskun

A wonderful atmosphere from Istanbul, where a peculiar love story takes place: muezzin Musa falls for his neighbour, the Catholic nurse Clara. The story gets even more exceptional when Musa meets Yakup, who turns out to be connected with Clara. Different ambiances of a multi-religious and multicultural city.

IFFR 2025
30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025