Bubbling culture documentary wins fifth RTM Pitch
15 April 2024
Bubbling, a cultural movement fusing dance, rhythm and electronic music born out of Rotterdam’s Afro-Caribbean community in the 1990s, is the focus of a documentary project awarded a grant of €20,000 by IFFR together with the municipality of Rotterdam. Researcher and filmmaker Sharine Rijsenburg will explore Bubbling culture as having both a deep imprint on the city’s identity whilst being simultaneously undervalued.
As the winner of the RTM Pitch, the project will receive expert guidance and aims to premiere at IFFR 2025 which will take place during the newly confirmed dates: Thursday 30 January to Sunday 9 February 2025.
“Bubbling Baby is a film about how we in Rotterdam, as a multicultural metropolis, celebrate, remember and appreciate our night culture.”
Sharine Rijsenburg: “I started as a Young Selector at IFFR in 2019, and it feels like a dream to make my own film for the RTM programme now, five years later. For me, Bubbling Baby is a film about how we in Rotterdam, as a multicultural metropolis, celebrate, remember and appreciate our night culture. The Bubbling subculture shows a history that has helped shape Rotterdam’s identity, yet has remained invisible. With this film, I want to celebrate and make known the value of this cultural heritage.”
Using an Afrofuturistic aesthetic, Bubbling Baby will combine archive material from 1990s Rotterdam with scenes of Bubbling parties and the upcoming Summer Carnival.
About the filmmaker
Sharine Rijsenburg is a creative researcher and visual anthropologist based in Rotterdam, who combines explorations into socio-political issues with engaging storytelling. Her short films Paradijsvogels and Paradeis Perdí demonstrate her practice of delving into Dutch and Caribbean archives to investigate the relationship between (self)image, representation and colonial history. She has worked as assistant director on So Loud the Sky Can Hear Us (Lavinia Xausa, RTM Pitch winner 2021 & IFFR 2022) and as a researcher for, among others, VPRO Tegenlicht. At IFFR 2020 she was a Young Selector, a festival initiative giving creative and ambitious local young people the opportunity to curate their own IFFR programme.
About RTM Pitch
The €20,000 grant is financed by the municipality of Rotterdam as part of its film and media policy to encourage local film talent development. The jury consisted of filmmaker and programmer Bregje Benecke, IFFR programmer Koen de Rooij and writer, cultural programmer and organiser Simone Zeefuik.
IFFR 2025 dates confirmed
15 April 2024
IFFR 2025 will take place from Thursday 30 January to Sunday 9 February 2025.
