IFFR 2025 Opening and Closing Night films and competition juries announced

IFFR has unveiled the Opening and Closing Night Films for the upcoming 54^th edition of the festival, taking place from 30 January – 9 February 2025. The festival will open with Fabula, a compelling dark comedy from the award-winning Dutch director and screenwriter Michiel ten Horn, and close with the ambitious historical epic This City Is a Battlefield from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya, which was also supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund. The jury lineups across the three competition strands are also confirmed.

Fabula, co-produced in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, follows Jos, a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures. As his life spirals out of control after a disastrous drug deal, Jos is consumed by the desperate question: who or what is punishing me? The film stars Fedja van Huêt, Anniek Pheifer, upcoming stand-up comedian Sezgin Güleç, Michiel Kerbosch, Golden Bear Winner Georg Friedrich, and David Kross (War Horse, The Reader). Director Michiel ten Horn’s debut feature, The Deflowering of Eva van End, premiered in Toronto and played in Rotterdam, after which Variety listed Ten Horn as one of ‘Ten European Directors to Watch’. Michiel most recently directed the family feature Hotel Sinestra (2023).

Set during Indonesia’s fight for independence in 1946, This City Is a Battlefield stars Chicco Jerikho, Ariel Tatum, and Jerome Kurnia, and recreates life in Jakarta under colonial occupation in fastidious detail, unveiling it in all its seductive and brutal textures. Propelled by kinetic action set-pieces and elegant lead performances, This City Is a Battlefield explores timeless human sentiments against a concrete historical backdrop, painting a moving picture of individuals and a nation alike, yearning for autonomy and freedom.

Director Mouly Surya is known for her female-led Asian genre films, including Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, and most recently, the Netflix title Trigger Warning starring Jessica Alba. Her latest project, This City Is a Battlefield, is a co-production between Indonesia, the Netherlands, Singapore, France, Norway, the Philippines, and Cambodia and was three times supported by the Hubert Bals Fund – in development, by the Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund Co-production Scheme through its Dutch co-producer Volya Films, and as the final recipient of the NFF+HBF: Dutch Post-production Award. The film is produced by Cinesurya, Starvision, and Kaninga Pictures. This City Is a Battlefield showcases Surya’s artistic evolution as she transitions into ambitious historical storytelling adapted from Indonesian author Mochtar Lubis’ novel, A Road with No End.

Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, said: “With this year’s Opening and Closing films, we celebrate two filmmakers who each bring a distinctive approach to storytelling and demonstrate the capacity to effortlessly move between popular and personal. Michiel ten Horn is an acclaimed Dutch director, and we are honoured to host the world premiere of his latest work Fabula, a spirited mix of comedy, fantasy, crime, and folklore centred around a band of misfits set against the backdrop of the southern Netherlands. Mouly Surya is a powerhouse filmmaker, and This City Is a Battlefield is no less than a masterclass in filmmaking, combining the grandeur of a war epic with the intimacy of a personal drama. This Indonesian-Dutch co-production reveals the impact of war on ordinary people, carrying deep cultural and cinematic resonance.”

Tiger Competition, Tiger Short Competition and Big Screen Competition Juries

IFFR’s Tiger Competition celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world. The competition was founded in 1995 to discover, raise the profile of, and reward 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. 

For 2025, the Tiger Competition Jury includes:

• Yuki Aditya: Jakarta-based filmmaker, Forum Lenteng film collective founder and Artistic Director of ARKIPEL International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival
• Soheila Golestani: Iranian filmmaker and actress recognised for pioneering Iran’s first VR narrative short and her performance in Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024). 
• Winnie Lau: Creative producer and former executive at SK Global Entertainment, Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone Films and Fortissimo Films where she was known for projects including Winter’s Bone (2010) and In the Mood for Love (2000). 
• Peter Strickland: Acclaimed British filmmaker known for Berberian Sound Studio (2012), The Duke of Burgundy (2015), In Fabric (2019) and Flux Gourmet (2022). 
• Andrea Luka Zimmerman: Jarman Award-winning filmmaker whose experiential journey Wayfaring Stranger (2024) screened at IFFR last year. 

For The Tiger Short Competition, a jury hands out three equal awards worth €5,000 each year to selected films. Short films can be found at many places during IFFR: as part of video installations, preceding feature films and in combined programmes.

For 2025, the Tiger Short Competition line-up is: 

• Angela Haardt: Curator for film and media art and former director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. 
• Frank Sweeney: Filmmaker and artist whose Few Can See, an exploration of censorship during the conflict in Northern Ireland, won a Tiger Short Award at IFFR 2024.
• Yaoting Zhang: An acquisitions and production manager who has previously served as programmer for the Shanghai and Beijing festivals, and as production manager at Rediance has contributed to acclaimed films like Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes), The Breaking Ice (Anthony Chen), The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams). 

The Big Screen competition is multifaceted and bridges the gap between popular, classic, and arthouse cinema, and it is dedicated to supporting the distribution of nominated films in the Netherlands. For 2025, the jury represents a diverse cross-section of the Dutch film and creative industry, showcasing the competition’s ongoing commitment to celebrating exceptional cinema and fostering collaboration across the Dutch cultural sector.

The winning filmmaker(s) will be awarded the Big Screen Award along with €15,000 in prize money. Additionally, IFFR offers €15,000 to the Dutch distributor that acquires the film’s distribution rights, incentivising local distribution. The Jury includes:

• Bero Beyer: Dutch producer and former Festival Director of IFFR, from 2015 to 2020.
• Sara Rajaei: Iranian-Dutch video artist and filmmaker whose work has often been shown at IFFR, including A Composition in Blue, Red & Other Colours (IFFR 2018), 1978 the 231st Day (IFFR 2013) and Forever for a While (IFFR 2010).
• Dewi Reijs: A Dutch-Indonesian filmmaker, actress, and founder of Buddy Film Foundation, that provides a platform for refugee creatives and recent creator of the youth series I Am New. 
• Digna Sinke: Dutch filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and IFFR regular (After the Tone, IFFR 2014; BEWAREN – of hoe te leven, IFFR 2018). 
• Jia Zhao: Chinese-Dutch producer of award-winning documentaries like I Am So Sorry (Cannes 2021), Kabul, City in the Wind (IDFA Special Jury Award) and Inner Landscape, which closed IFFR in 2019.

IFFR 2025 Partners and Sponsors

IFFR is grateful to our subsidisers, foundations, and the many local, national and international partners and private donors for their long-term engagement and indispensable support of the festival.

We are especially thankful to our supporters The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap), Municipality of Rotterdam (Gemeente Rotterdam), Creative Europe MEDIA and the NL Filmfonds; our Main Partners Fonds 21, de Volkskrant and VriendenLoterij; and our Funding Partners Ammodo, Mondriaan Fonds, Rotterdam Festivals and VandenEnde Foundation.