Film support year-round
Throughout the year, IFFR engages its audiences with film by organising special screenings and events outside of the festival days and hosting its online streaming service IFFR Unleashed. The festival also presents a varied educational programme to engage younger audiences in collaboration with LantarenVenster. For IFFR’s 50th edition, this included a wide range of events connecting the February and June festival days.
Read more about IFFR’s educational programme
Global film festival for Covid-19 relief funds
Together with over twenty other major film festivals, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, IFFR jointly organised We Are One: A Global Film Festival (29 May to 7 June 2020). IFFR contributed a selection of films to this freely accessible YouTube event to raise money for Covid-19 relief funds, including Tapi! by Jim Chuchu, Kmêdeus by Nuno Miranda and Air Conditioner by Fradique.
IFFR’s streaming platform
The festival’s streaming platform IFFR Unleashed offers audiences a curated selection of films, special collections and masterclasses year-round. To celebrate our 50th edition, IFFR launched IFFR Unleashed 50/50, a special collection made up of 50 memorable films and classics, each selected from one of the 50 previous editions of IFFR.
IFFR’s curatorial fund Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) revealed new releases of HBF-supported films on IFFR Unleashed in June, including Nafi’s Father by Mamadou Dia and The Fever by Maya Da-Rin.
Due to the global pandemic, the ninth edition of IFFR’s sister festival in Curaçao, CIFFR, could unfortunately not take place. As an alternative, IFFR made the six previous Yellow Robin Award winners available to stream online in Benelux and Curaçao on IFFR Unleashed.
“When Tierra Adentro participated in CIFFR, its history was recently beginning. Both experiences, being part of the festival and having won the Yellow Robin Award, gave a fresh wind in its sail that supported a great film festival trajectory.”
– Mauro Colombo, Yellow Robin Award winner of CIFFR 2019
Rotterdam in the spotlight
With a focus on Rotterdam-based makers and artists, RTM is an annual event which takes place during the festival. Part of the programme is the presentation of RTM Pitch, a collaboration between IFFR and the Rotterdam municipality. Katarina Jazbec won the first-ever RTM Pitch this year, receiving €20,000 and coaching to produce her short film You Can't Automate Me – which screened at IFFR 2021 as part of RTM.
IFFR KINO, the longstanding collaboration with local cinema KINO Rotterdam, was due to launch Season 5 of monthly screenings. IFFR KINO #29 in March was the last physical screening to take place, with Season 5 – for which KINO Rotterdam programmers selected their favourite IFFR films of all time – unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19 regulations.
Critical filmmaker support
IFFR is strongly invested in supporting filmmakers – whether through structural funding opportunities or advocating for filmmakers at risk.
Together with International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the European Film Academy (EFA), IFFR founded the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR). The organisation’s mission is to advocate for and to act in solidarity with filmmakers facing political persecution for their work.
In response to the 2020 Beirut explosion, IFFR, WORM Rotterdam and AWL_ organised a call for solidarity and fundraising screening event. The screening was part of an international touring programme of short films from and about Beirut, with the aim to raise funds for those affected by the explosion.