International Film Festival Rotterdam presents new team line-up, structure ahead 52nd edition

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has presented a new team line-up and structure ahead of its upcoming 52nd edition which will take place January/February 2023.

“IFFR is completely unique, our team and our programme each year are testament to our commitment to bold and thought-provoking cinema, and we’re excited to be entering into a new chapter in our history,” Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, reacted.

“This year, we’ve had the challenging experience of looking at our organisation and asking difficult questions about how we become more inclusive and more sustainable for the decades to come and as a result have made some significant changes.

“Now we are looking forward to delivering IFFR 2023 and beyond through a revitalised team consisting of many of our existing programmers as well as adding new voices. We can’t wait to be back in-person with audiences next year to present a line-up of surprising, challenging and exciting cinema and visual arts.”

The selection committee for features consists of former IFFR programmers Stefan Borsos (South and South-East Asia), Michelle Carey (English speaking territories),  Evgeny Gusyatinskiy (Central and Eastern Europe, Israel),  Mercedes Martínez-Abarca (South and Central America, Mexico, Caribbeans), Olaf Möller (German speaking territories, Nordic countries, the Cinema Regained programme), Lyse Nsengiyumva (Sub-Saharan Africa), Olivier Pierre (French speaking territories), and Delly Shirazi (Middle-East, Northern Africa, Iran, Turkey), former Shorts programmer Koen de Rooij (Netherlands, Flanders), and new hires Rebecca De Pas (Italy, Spain, Portugal) and Kristína Aschenbrennerova (South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan).

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The Shorts programme will be curated by the selection committee for shorts consisting of Rebecca De Pas, Cristina Kolozsváry-Kiss, Lyse Nsengiyumva, Ivan Ramljak, Koen de Rooij and Leonie Woodfin.

The Rotterdam dedicated programme, RTM, which aims to encourage Rotterdam film talent development, becomes more central and is led by Ronny Theeuwes as Head of Year-round events, Talks & Unleashed.

The scouts for IFFR’s upcoming programme are: Hiromi Aihara (Japan), Robert Gray (French speaking territories), Wu Jueren (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), Ralph McKay (North America), Ivan Ramljak (Former Yugoslav countries) and Susana Santos Rodrigues (Latin America).

IFFR has also welcomed Bianca Taal as Head of HBF, Inke Van Loocke as Head of Pro, Charlie Vermeulen as Head of Programme Operations, Alessia Acone as Manager Pro, Sara Juricic as Manager Talent.

Other posts announced include Barbara de Heer as Chief of Funding and Business Growth, Marije Stijkel as Chief of Operations and Anne Wabeke as Head of Communications.

Overall, six permanent roles in total were made redundant across the organisation as part of the restructure.

Korrie Louwes, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board, also reacted that “in 2020, we appointed new leadership tasked with revitalising and strengthening IFFR’s position in the years to come. The impact of two years of COVID-19 has made this assignment even more urgent and we are confident in the changes which have been made and excited for the future of this organisation.”

Marjan van der Haar, Managing Director, added that “we thank all the team members who contributed to IFFR’s rich legacy. We had two years severely impacted by the pandemic after which we have aligned the future plan and restructured the organisation to create a sustainable financial future. We are very grateful for the continued support of our partners in the past 2 years and the continued collaborations in the upcoming 52nd edition.  These partnerships and the support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and Municipality of Rotterdam alongside IFFR’s new organisational structure enable us to embark on planning IFFR 2023 in the healthiest financial conditions.”

IFFR’s festival strands consist of: Tiger Competition, Big Screen Competition, Tiger Shorts Competition, Bright Future, Harbour, Limelight, Cinema Regained, Special Programmes (retrospectives/thematic programmes), Shorts and Art Directions.

Submissions open from June 1.