{"id":189751,"date":"2024-12-10T16:32:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T15:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/?p=189751"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:04:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T12:04:19","slug":"blog-iffr-2025-opening-and-closing-night-films-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/blog-iffr-2025-opening-and-closing-night-films-announced","title":{"rendered":"IFFR 2025 Opening and Closing Night films and competition juries announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IFFR has unveiled the Opening and Closing Night Films for the upcoming 54th<\/sup> edition of the festival, taking place from 30 January \u2013 9 February 2025. The festival will open with Fabula<\/strong>, a compelling dark comedy from the award-winning Dutch director and screenwriter Michiel ten Horn, and close with the ambitious historical epic <\/em>This City Is a Battlefield<\/strong> from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya, which was also supported by IFFR\u2019s Hubert Bals Fund. The jury lineups across the three competition strands are also confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Fabula<\/a><\/strong>, 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 Hu\u00eat, Anniek Pheifer, upcoming stand-up comedian Sezgin G\u00fcle\u00e7, Michiel Kerbosch, Golden Bear Winner Georg Friedrich, and David Kross (War Horse<\/strong>, The Reader<\/strong>). Director Michiel ten Horn\u2019s debut feature, The Deflowering of Eva van End<\/strong>, premiered in Toronto and played in Rotterdam, after which Variety<\/em> listed Ten Horn as one of \u2018Ten European Directors to Watch\u2019. Michiel most recently directed the family feature Hotel Sinestra<\/strong> (2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set during Indonesia\u2019s fight for independence in 1946, This City Is a Battlefield<\/a><\/strong> 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<\/strong> explores timeless human sentiments against a concrete historical backdrop, painting a moving picture of individuals and a nation alike, yearning for autonomy and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director Mouly Surya is known for her female-led Asian genre films, including Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts<\/strong>, and most recently, the Netflix title Trigger Warning<\/strong> starring Jessica Alba. Her latest project, This City Is a Battlefield<\/strong>, 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 \u2013 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<\/strong> showcases Surya\u2019s artistic evolution as she transitions into ambitious historical storytelling adapted from Indonesian author Mochtar Lubis’ novel, A Road with No End<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, said: \u201cWith this year\u2019s 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<\/strong>, 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<\/strong> 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Competition, Tiger Short Competition and Big Screen Competition Juries<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

IFFR\u2019s 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 \u20ac40,000 cash prize, to be shared between the director and producer of the winning film. Two Special Jury Awards worth \u20ac10,000 will also be presented for exceptional artistic achievement within the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(FLTR: Peter Strickland \u00a9<\/em> Daniel Gasenzer, Soheile Golestani, Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Winnie Lau, Yuki Aditya)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For 2025, the Tiger Competition Jury includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n