Tiger Competition
IFFR’s trade mark competition celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world.
The competition was founded in 1995 with the aim of discovering, raising the profile of and rewarding up-and-coming international film talent. The Tiger Award is accompanied by a €40,000 cash prize, to be shared between the director and producer of the winning film. Two Special Jury Awards worth €10,000 will also be presented for exceptional artistic achievement within the competition. Equally important is the international recognition for the nominees and their works that a Tiger Competition nomination brings with it. The Tiger Awards are an indispensable backdrop for many filmmakers: it can be the final step to convince financiers to allow a next project.
Tiger Competition 2025
Tiger Award winner:
- Fiume o morte! by Igor Bezinović (Croatia, Italy, Slovenia)
Special Jury Awards:
- L’arbre de l’authenticité by Sammy Baloji (Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium)
- Im Haus meiner Eltern by Tim Ellrich (Germany)
The films selected for the 2025 Tiger Competition:
- L’arbre de l’authenticité, Sammy Baloji, Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium
- Bad Girl, Varsha Bharath, India
- Blind Love, Julian Chou, Taiwan
- Fiume o morte!, Igor Bezinović, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia
- La gran historia de la filosofía occidental, Aria Covamonas, Mexico
- Guo Ran, Li Dongmei, China
- Im Haus meiner Eltern, Tim Ellrich, Germany
- Perla, Alexandra Makarová, Austria, Slovakia
- Primeira pessoa do plural, Sandro Aguilar, Portugal, Italy
- Sunshine Express, Amirali Navaee, Iran
- Tears in Kuala Lumpur, Ridhwan Saidi, Malaysia
- Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village in the World, Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert, Belgium
- Wind, Talk to Me, Stefan Djordjevic, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia
- Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master, Ivan Salatić, Montenegro
Jury 2025
Yuki Aditya
Yuki Aditya was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is part of Forum Lenteng, a film collective founded in 2003 in Jakarta, focused on talking about socio-political issues through alternative education with the audio-visual medium. He is now the Artistic Director of ARKIPEL International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, a filmmaker, the producer of numerous films and a regular jury member for several international film festivals.
Winnie Lau
From 2018 to September 2023, Winnie Lau was Head of International Local Productions – East and South East Asia at SK Global entertainment. Her work there included producing the Indonesian hit series The Talent Agency (the Indonesian version of Call my Agent) with Disney+. Before SK Global, she was Head of International Productions and Distribution at Jet Tone Films, Wong Kar Wai’s production company, and Executive Vice President at Fortissimo Films in New York and Hong Kong. For Fortissimo, she brought award-winning films such as Winter’s Bone, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, In the Mood for Love and Borgman to global audiences. Winnie is a member of the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is currently shooting the feature film Mothernet, a co-production between Indonesia and Singapore, from her hometown of Hanoi.
Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Andrea Luka Zimmerman is a Jarman Award-winning artist and filmmaker whose multi-layered practice explores fragile refusals and counter memories, itinerant lives, human and otherwise, in relation to structural and political injustice.
Andrea films include: Taskafa, Stories of the Street (2013) written and voiced by the late John Berger, Estate, a Reverie (2015), Erase and Forget (2017), Artangel-produced Here for Life (2019) and The Wapping Project-produced Wayfaring Stranger (2024) featuring Eileen Myles, which have screened widely including at Locarno, IDFA, Istanbul, Berlinale, BAFICI and IFFR festivals, as well as in cinemas, galleries and DIY and community spaces.
Peter Strickland
Peter Strickland’s self-financed first feature film, Katalin Varga, was shot and edited on a budget of £25,000. The Carpathian tragedy’s opening at the 2009 Berlinale led to funding from the British film industry, and the Milano-Dorking sonic anguish of Berberian Sound Studio followed in 2012 along with the bondage romance, The Duke of Burgundy in 2014. Several radio plays and more short films were made in recent years along with a concert film for Björk, co-directed with Nick Fenton. His fourth feature, the Thames Valley retail nightmare, In Fabric was released in 2019 and his latest, the gastrointestinal drama Flux Gourmet, appeared in early 2022.
The Jury also initially included Soheila Golestani (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), however she was unable to attend and thus participate due to a travel ban which prevented her leaving Iran.
Past winners
2024
Rei by Tanaka Toshihiko
Special Jury Award: Flathead by Jaydon Martin
Special Jury Award: Kiss Wagon by Midhun Murali
2023
Le spectre de Boko Haram by Cyrielle Raingou
Special Jury Award: Munnel by Visakesa Chandrasekaram
Special Jury Award: New Strains by Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan
2022
EAMI by Paz Encina
Special Jury Award: Excess Will Save Us by Morgane Dziurla-Petit
Special Jury Award: To Love Again by Gao Linyang
2021
Pebbles by Vinothraj P.S.
Special Jury Award: I Comete – A Corsican Summer by Pascal Tagnati
Special Jury Award: Looking for Venera by Norika Sefa
2020
The Cloud in Her Room by Zheng Lu Xinyuan
Special Jury Award: Beasts Clawing at Straws by Kim Yonghoon
2019
Present.Perfect. by Zhu Shengze
Special Jury Award: Take Me Somewhere Nice by Ena Sendijarević
2018
The Widowed Witch by Cai Chengjie
Special Jury Award: the screenplay of The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, written by Rami Alayan
2017
Sexy Durga by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Special Jury Award: Rey by Niles Atallah
2016
Radio Dreams by Babak Jalali
Special Jury Award: La última tierra by Pablo Lamar, for exceptional artistic achievement in sound design
2015
La obra del siglo by Carlos M. Quintela
Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) by Juan Daniel F. Molero
Vanishing Point by Jakrawal Nilthamrong
2014
Anatomy of a Paper Clip by Ikeda Akira
Han Gong-Ju by Lee Su-Jin
Something Must Break by Ester Martin Bergsmark
2013
Fat Shaker by Mohammad Shirvani
My Dog Killer by Mira Fornay
Soldate Jeannette by Daniel Hoesl
2012
Clip by Maja Miloš
De jueves a domingo by Dominga Sotomayor
Egg and Stone by Huang Ji
2011
Tee-rak / Eternity by Sivaroj Kongsakul
Musan il-gy / The Journals of Musan by Park Jung-Bum
Finisterrae by Sergio Caballero
2010
Mundane History by Anocha Suwichakornpong
Alamar by Pedro González-Rubio
Agua fría de mar by Paz Fábrega
2009
Be Calm and Count to Seven by Ramtin Ravafipour
Breathless by Yang Ik-June
Wrong Rosary by Mahmut Fazil Coskun
2008
Flower in the Pocket by Liew Seng Tat
Go with Peace Jamil by Omar Shargawi
Wonderful Town by Aditya Assarat
2007
Love Conquers All by Tan Chui Mui
Die Unerzogenen by Pia Marais
Ex aequo:
AFR by Morten Hartz Kaplers
Bog Of Beasts by Claudio Assis
2006
Old Joy by Kelly Reichardt
La Perrera by Manuel Nieto Zas
Walking On the Wild Side by Han Jie
2005
4 by Ilya Khrzhanovsky
El cielo gira by Mercedes Alvarez
Nemmeno il destino by Daniele Gaglianone
Special mentions:
Bride of Silence by Doan Minh Phuong & Doan Thanh Nhgia
Sanctuary by Ho Yuhang
2004
The Missing by Lee Kang-sheng
Summer in the Golden Valley by Srdjan Vuletic
Unterwegs by Jan Krueger
2003
Extraño by Santiago Loza
Jealousy Is My Middle Name by Park Chan-Ok
With Love. Lilya by Larisa Sadilova
2002
Everyday God Kisses Us On The Mouth by Sinisa Dragin
Tussenland by Eugenie Jansen
Wild Bees by Bohhdan Slama
2001
25 Watts by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll
Bad Company by Furumaya Tomoyuki
In den Tag hinein by Maria Speth
2000
Bye Bye Blue Bird by Katrin Ottarsdottír
Mundo grúa by Pablo Trapero
Suzhou River by Lou Ye
1999
Following by Christopher Nolan
The Iron Heel of Oligarchy by Alexander Bashirov
Plus qu’hier, moins que demain by Laurent Achard
1998
Die Siebtelbauern by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Giro di Lune tra terra e mare by Giuseppe Gaudino
Knoflíkari by Petr Zelenka
1997
The Day a Pig Fell into the Well by Hung Sang-Soo
Last Holiday by Amir Karakulov
Robinson in Space by Patrick Keiller
1996
Erzi by Zhang Yuan
Like Grains of Sand by Hasiguchi Ryosuke
Small Faces by Gillies MacKinnon
1995
Fuyu no kappa by Kazama Shiori
Postman by He Jianjun
Thalassa, Thalassa, Rückkehr zum Meer by Bogdan Dumitrescu