IFFR 2017

Affonso Uchoa

João Dumans

In an old factory, a young man finds the diary of a worker who died in an accident. In the same way that in certain Westerns an anonymous drifter driven by a primitive survival instinct can become the hero, <strong>Araby</strong> focuses on the life of a marginalised worker in contemporary Brazil. Original, socially committed and poignant.

Bright Future

Hivos Tiger Competition

Arábia

Hagar Ben Asher

Yaeli lives with her mother in a village by the Dead Sea. One day, her mother disappears without any explanation. After a break-in at their apartment, Yaeli decides to turn burglar herself. Not for the money, but because she misses intimacy and this allows her to catch a glimpse of the lives of others.

The Burglar

kogonada

In the enchanting Modernist city of Columbus, Casey  and Jin have both reached a dead-end. A father in a coma brings about change.

Seldom has a crisis been presented as subtly and purely as in this American drama with an Asian flavour. In the enchanting Modernist city of Columbus, Casey – who is caring for her recovering addict mother – and Korean-American Jin have both reached a dead-end. A father in a coma brings about change.

Columbus

Pedro Aguilera

A filmmaker discovers a video featuring his younger half-sister on a sex site. He hasn’t seen her for a while and decides to pay her a visit. He quickly becomes fascinated by her. With an unflinching gaze, this new drama by Aguilera (<strong>La influencia</strong>) dissects the dark, disruptive aspects of watching and making films.

Demonios tus ojos

Konstantin Bojanov

For sixteen-year-old Pavel, painting is a matter of survival. Looking for something to hold on to, he goes to Provence to visit the artist he sees as his “spiritual father”. His unease is palpable in this reverse-chronological report on his adventurous, character-forming pilgrimage.

Light Thereafter

Daan Bakker

In a self-assured and highly satirical debut, Daan Bakker portrays a series of plodding young men and their relationships to their worried parents. Using a fresh visual style, the Dutch filmmaker seamlessly combines dry, Monty Pythonseque humour with razor-sharp graphics and real human emotions.

Quality Time

Niles Atallah

In the nineteenth century, a French adventurer established a kingdom in inhospitable southern Chile, managing to unite the feared Mapuche under him. The Chilean army’s response was devastating. Impressively designed adventure film and powerful textural experiment, including sections of half-decayed celluloid: years ago, director Atallah buried certain footage, only to dig it up and use now.

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan

Goddess or whore? Two extreme views of women intermingle in this largely improvised spine-chiller. During a nocturnal ride, a young woman and her lover encounter a cross-section of Indian male society. What starts out as an attempt to escape descends into a journey through hell – from which no escape is possible.

IFFR 2025
30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025