Facts & figures 2022–2023

Following two online editions, IFFR 2023 reunited audiences and filmmakers from far and wide for a fully in-person edition for the first time in three years from 25 January to 5 February 2023. With a wide ranging film programme, art installations, Talks and more, the festival’s 52nd edition was a true celebration of the power of cinema and everything it can be.

IFFR 2023 award winners

Both the flagship Tiger Competition and Big Screen Competition were expanded to include 16 titles each this year. A total of 24 short and mid-length films were selected for the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition – three equal prizes were awarded to the winners on Sunday 29 January 2023. Winners of the Tiger and Big Screen competitions, along with the FIPRESCI Award, KNF Award, NETPAC Award were announced during the Awards Ceremony on Friday 3 February 2023. This year’s Robby Müller Award recipient was French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, she received her award ahead of her IFFR Talk during the festival.

The festival programme IFFR 2023

The film programme for audiences of our 52nd edition consisted of 455 films. Additionally, the Art Directions programme consisted of 6 art installations (including Steve McQueen’s Sunshine State, which was commissioned by IFFR), 7 performances, and 5 immersive media projects. The IFFR Talks programme also took place in-person again, with 15 talks and panels scheduled during the festival, most of which were made freely available online for audiences worldwide after the festival.

A total of 91 countries were represented in the IFFR 2023 programme (a substantial growth compared to 2021 [66] and 2022 [61]). The Tiger Competition and Bright Future programme (both aimed at new talent), as well as the Short & Mid-length programme, reached an almost 50/50 gender balance.

Education

IFFR and LantarenVenster (LV) have been partners in education since September 2021, working together to provide learning opportunities for all Rotterdam students and pupils. This year, specific attention was paid to primary education, secondary education and MBO, as well as in-depth online educational materials for teachers, in addition to the already existing online modules. A new collaboration with Cultural Centre Islamunda was established, aimed at special and vocational education, and the culture coach trajectory was continued for primary education and MBO. To expand our reach in the Rotterdam area, we established collaborations with various cultural institutes, schools, and cinemas.

In addition to our in-person educational activities, our online modules were extensively used this past year due to the Covid regulations at the beginning of 2022. Our online courses reached 241,655 pupils and students. We look back at a very successful year of film education, which also saw an increase of 30% in visitors that were familiar with IFFR’s education programme.

The Hubert Bals Fund

The Hubert Bals Fund focuses on supporting filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe in every stage of the filmmaking process – from script development to post-production. Over more than 30 years, the fund has developed a distinguished taste for filmmakers with a forward-looking artistic vision.

This year, three different funding schemes awarded support to films. The spring and autumn rounds of the Script and Project Development Support awarded a total of 20 projects with grants of €10,000 each. The NFF+HBF Co-production scheme simultaneously awarded another 4 projects with a grant of €75,000 each. Finally, the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme supported 6 further projects with a €60,000 grant per project.

Audience engagement

Following two online editions, IFFR 2023 was our first full in-person festival since the start of the pandemic. IFFR looks back at its 52nd edition with great satisfaction; the festival registered 283,506 visits – 8,871 of these visits were registered via the in 2020 created online streaming platform (in collaboration with IDFA, Cinekid and NFF), through which 25 films from our IFFR 2023 programme were made available to Dutch audiences. We have not yet reached our pre-pandemic visitor number of 340,000, but can conclude a good recovery compared to 2022 (180,637) and 2021 (271,105, two events in February and June).

Audiences were equally satisfied with IFFR 2023. They rated the festival at a 7.9, which is higher than 2022 (7.6) and 2021 (7.7), and can therefore be considered a gradual recovery towards the 2020 rating of 8.4. There was also a noticeable increase in visitors’ satisfaction with our film programme, which registered at 84% – this is considerably higher than IFFR 2022 (+9%) and also compared to IFFR 2020 (+3%).

Industry

IFFR Pro focuses on networking, community building, and interactivity with and between professionals. Our priority this year was the organisation of an in-person gathering, but we have maintained a few online elements to increase accessibility and strengthen our existing programmes.

IFFR Pro 2023 consisted of the following core activities: the co-production market CineMart, with the new addition of the IFFR Pro Darkroom, the talent development programmes Rotterdam Lab, BoostNL, Creative Producer Indaba, the think tank Reality Check and the Pro Hub. In essence, this means the support of filmmakers and creating visibility around their films, offering a platform for industry professionals to facilitate their network, one-to-one meetings, workshops and masterclasses, debate and conversation (IFFR Pro Dialogues). The focus was on the clarity and quality of the programme, where self reflection and the shaping of a sustainable sector formed a recurring theme. During Reality Check: Film Festivals Forward, particular attention was paid to the role of film festivals, as a sector that has suffered greatly during the pandemic. In a closed setting, film festival representatives, producers, filmmakers, distributors, and institutes openly and freely discussed their worries, best practices and the importance of collaboration.

Press & PR

A total of 296 accredited members of the press, from 44 countries, attended IFFR 2023. Press produced a vast amount of quality coverage, including interviews, reviews and festival reports.

IFFR hosted a programme-focused press conference on 19 December, announcing the 2023 film programme. During the festival, Little White Lies editor David Jenkins hosted four press conferences to introduce our Tiger Competition titles, which included interviews with the filmmakers.

Reaching younger and more diverse audiences are among IFFR’s key focus points. As such, the Media Outreach & Inclusion Scheme and Ambassadors programme were introduced ahead of this year’s festival.

For the 52nd edition we again relied on the continued support of our media partners, including Screen International, Variety, de Volkskrant and VPRO.