# 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam

The 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 2020 installment of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, took place on 22 January–2 February 2020.
The Cloud In Her Room by Zheng Lu Xinyuan won the Tiger Award, the top prize.

## Juries
### Ammodo Tiger Short

* Nathanja van Dijk, filmmaker
* Safia Benhaim, filmmaker
* Greg de Cuir Jr., film curator and writer

### Bright Future

* Beatriz Navas, director of ICAA Spain
* Zsuzsanna Király, head of development at Komplizen Film
* Michel Lipkes, Mexican filmmaker and director of Festival Internacional de Cine Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

## Official selection
### Bright Future

The section highlighted work of young and emerging filmmakers, consisted of the Tiger competition, Ammodo Tiger Short competition, Bright Future competition, main, mid-length and short programmes.

#### Tiger

The following films were selected to compete for the Tiger Award. The line-up was announced on 18 December 2019.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| El año del descubrimiento | Luis López Carrasco | Spain, Switzerland |
| Beasts Clawing at Straws | Kim Yong-hoon | South Korea |
| The Cloud In Her Room | Zheng Lu Xinyuan | Hong Kong |
| Desterro | Maria Clara Escobar | Brazil, Portugal, Argentina |
| Drama Girl | Vincent Boy Kars | Netherlands |
| La fortaleza | Jorge Thielen Armand | Venezuela, France, Netherlands, Colombia |
| Kala azar | Janis Rafailidou | Netherlands, Greece |
| Nasir | Arun Karthick | India, Netherlands |
| Piedra sola | Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf | Argentina, Mexico, Qatar, United Kingdom |
| Si yo fuera el invierno mismo | Jazmín López | Argentina |

#### Ammodo Tiger Short

The following films were selected to compete for the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. The line-up was announced on 4 December 2019.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| 3 Logical Exits | Mahdi Fleifel | Denmark, United Kingdom, Lebanon |
| Aggregate States of Matters | Rosa Barba | Peru, Germany |
| Apiyemiyekî? | Ana Vaz | France, Netherlands |
| Apparition | Ismaïl Bahri | France |
| Aquí y allá | Melisa Liebenthal | France, Argentina |
| Becoming Alluvium | Thao Nguyen Phan | Vietnam, Spain |
| Beer | Erik van Lieshout | Netherlands |
| A Bright Summer Diary | Lei Lei | United States |
| A chuva acalanta a dor | Leonardo Mouramateus | Portugal, Brazil |
| Communicating Vessels | Maïder Fortuné, Annie MacDonell | Canada |
| The Eyes of Summer | Rajee Samarasinghe | Sri Lanka, United States |
| Look Then Below | Ben Rivers | United Kingdom |
| The Lost Procession | Bani Abidi | United Arab Emirates, Germany, Pakistan |
| the names have changed, including my own and truths have been altered | Onyeka Igwe | United Kingdom |
| Progressive Touch | Michael Portnoy | Austria, Netherlands, United States |
| Sayōnara | William Andreas Wivel | Denmark |
| Sun Dog | Dorian Jespers | Belgium |
| Tendre | Isabel Pagliai | France |
| They Parlaient Idéale | Laure Prouvost | France, Belgium, Italy |
| Tyrant Star | Diane Severin Nguyen | Vietnam, United States |
| Wong Ping's Fables 2 | Wong Ping | Hong Kong |

#### Bright Future

The programme highlighted first feature films by aspiring filmmakers.

##### In competition

The following films were selected to compete for the Bright Future Award. The line-up was announced on 18 December 2019.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Babai | Artem Aisagaliev | Russia, United States |
| Chaco | Diego Mondaca | Bolivia, Argentina |
| Los fantasmas | Sebastián Lojo | Guatemala, Argentina |
| Fellwechselzeit | Sabrina Mertens | Germany |
| For the Time Being | Salka Tiziana | Germany, Spain, Switzerland |
| I Blame Society | Gillian Wallace Horvat | United States |
| Moving On | Yoon Dan-bin | South Korea |
| My Mexican Bretzel | Nuria Giménez Lorang | Spain |
| Ofrenda | Juan María Mónaco Cagni | Argentina |
| Panquiaco | Ana Elena Tejera | Panama |
| A Rifle and a Bag | Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe | India |
| Sebastian springt über Geländer | Ceylan-Alejandro Ataman-Checa | Germany |
| The Trouble with Nature | Illum Jacobi | Denmark, France |
| Truth or Consequences | Hannah Jayanti | United States |
| Wisdow Teeth | Liang Ming | China |

##### Main programme

The programme highlighted cutting-edge work of contemporary filmmakers and a selection of emerging talent.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| AIDOL | Lawrence Lek | United Kingdom |
| Air Condition | Fradique | Angola |
| Cenote | Oda Kaori | Japan |
| Damp Season | Gao Ming | China |
| Death Inhabits at Night | Eduardo Morotó | Brazil |
| La dosis | Martín Kraut | Argentina |
| Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains | Gu Xiaogang | China |
| En medio del laberinto | Salomón Pérez | Peru |
| The Fever | Maya Da-Rin | Brazil |
| L'île aux oiseaux | Maya Kosa, Sérgio da Costa | Switzerland |
| The Invitation | Saurav Rai | India |
| Longa noite | Eloy Enciso | Spain |
| A Love Unknown | John Clang | Singapore |
| Lusala | Mugambi Nthiga | Kenya |
| The Magic Mountain | Eitan Efrat, Daniel Mann | Belgium |
| Make Up | Claire Oakley | United Kingdom |
| Merry Christmas, Yiwu | Mladen Kovacevic | Sweden |
| Le miracle du Saint Inconnu | Alaa Eddine Aljem | Morocco |
| My Morning Laughter | Marko Đorđević | Serbia |
| Nafi's Father | Mamadou Dia | Senegal |
| Non c'è nessuna Dark Side (atto uno 2007-2019) | Erik Negro | Italy |
| The Painter and the Thief | Benjamin Ree | Norway |
| Phases of Matter | Deniz Tortum | Turkey |
| The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin | Kim Dongryung, Park Kyoungtae | South Korea |
| Shell and Joint | Hirabayashi Isamu | Japan |
| Slow Machine | Paul Felten, Joe DeNardo | United States |
| Some Kind of Heaven | Lance Oppenheim | United States |
| Suzanne Daveau | Luísa Homem | Portugal |
| This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection | Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese | Lesotho |
| Tierra adentro | Mauro Colombo | Panama |
| Tlamess | Ala Eddine Slim | Tunisia |
| The Tree House | Truong Minh Quý | Singapore |
| VHYes | Jack Henry Robbins | United States |
| We Are From There | Wissam Tanios | Lebanon |

### Voices

The section consisted of:
* Big Screen Competition
* Voices main programme, which showcased the work of future in arthouse cinema,
* Limelight, which showcased international award-winners and festival favourites,
* Rotterdämmerung, which showcased the work in hardcore film genres,
* Scopitone, which showcased music documentaries, and
* Voices Short.

#### Big Screen Competition

The following films were selected to compete for the VPRO Big Screen Award. The line-up was announced on 18 December 2019.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| El cazador | Marco Berger | Argentina |
| Eden | Ágnes Kocsis | Hungary, Romania |
| Énorme | Sophie Letourneur | France |
| The Evening Hour | Braden King | United States |
| Fanny Lye Deliver'd | Thomas Clay | United Kingdom, Germany |
| Mosquito | João Nuno Pinto | Portugal, France, Brazil |
| A Perfectly Normal Family | Malou Reymann | Denmark |
| Synapses | Chang Tso-chi | Taiwan |
| A Yellow Animal | Felipe Bragança | Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique |

#### Voices Main Programme

The programme highlighted the work of future in arthouse cinema.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| All This Victory | Ahmad Ghossein | Lebanon |
| Antigone | Sophie Deraspe | Canada |
| BattleScar – Punk Was Invented by Girls | Nico Casavecchia, Martin Allais | France |
| Birds (Or How to Be One) | Babis Makridis | Greece |
| Bitter Chestnut | Gurvinder Singh | India |
| Black Bag | Shao Qing | China |
| Children of the Sea | Ayumu Watanabe | Japan |
| Il colpo del cane | Fulvio Risuleo | Italy |
| Cook, F**k, Kill | Mira Fornay | Czech Republic |
| A Dark, Dark Man | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Kazakhstan |
| Emilia | César Sodero | Argentina |
| Fidelity | Nigina Sayfullaeva | Russia |
| Gaadi | Prasanna Vithanage | Sri Lanka |
| Happy Old Year | Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit | Thailand |
| A linha | Ricardo Laganaro | Brazil |
| The Longest Day | Jonas Selberg Augustsén | Sweden |
| Los que vuelven | Laura Casabé | Argentina |
| The Making of [5x1] | Midi Z | Taiwan |
| Moffie | Oliver Hermanus | South Africa |
| The Moneychanger | Federico Veiroj | Uruguay |
| Mother | Kristof Bilsen | Belgium |
| Not in This World | Park Jungbum | South Korea |
| O [5x1] | Qiu Yang | Taiwan |
| Only You Alone | Zhou Zhou | China |
| The Orphanage | Shahrbanoo Sadat | Denmark |
| Parasite (B&W Version) | Bong Joon-ho | South Korea |
| Passenger | Isobel Knowles, Van Sowerwine | Australia |
| Rose Stone Star | Marcello Sannino | Italy |
| The Science of Fictions | Yosep Anggi Noen | Indonesia |
| South Terminal | Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche | France |
| Tenzo | Tomita Katsuya | Japan |
| Valley of Souls | Nicólas Rincón Gille | Colombia |
| Vendrá la muerte y tendrá tus ojos | José Luis Torres Leiva | Chile |
| White on White | Théo Court | Spain |
| A Witness Out of the Blue | Andrew Fung | Hong Kong |
| You Know Him | Ercan Kesal | Turkey |
| You Will Die at Twenty | Amjad Abu Alala | Sudan |
| Zombi Child | Bertrand Bonello | France |

#### Limelight

The programme showcased international award-winners and festival favourites.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Adam | Maryam Touzani | Morocco |
| Adoration | Fabrice Du Welz | Belgium |
| Atlantics | Mati Diop | Senegal |
| Atlantis | Valentyn Vasyanovych | Ukraine |
| Babyteeth | Shannon Murphy | Australia |
| Bacurau | Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles | Brazil |
| Balloon | Pema Tseden | China |
| The Barefoot Emperor | Jessica Woodworth, Peter Brosens | Belgium |
| Beanpole | Kantemir Balagov | Russia |
| A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | Marielle Heller | United States |
| Corpus Christi | Jan Komasa | Poland |
| Deux | Filippo Meneghetti | France |
| Ema | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| Farewell Paradise | Sonja Wyss | Netherlands |
| Fire Will Come | Oliver Laxe | Spain |
| Ghost Tropic | Bas Devos | Belgium |
| A Girl Missing | Kōji Fukada | Japan |
| Goud | Rogier Hesp | Netherlands |
| Just 6.5 | Saeed Roustayi | Iran |
| The Lighthouse | Robert Eggers | Canada |
| Little Women | Greta Gerwig | United States |
| Marona's Fantastic Tale | Anca Damian | France |
| Matthias & Maxime | Xavier Dolan | Canada |
| Les Misérables | Ladj Ly | France |
| Muidhond | Patrice Toye | Belgium |
| Paradise Drifters | Mees Peijnenburg | Netherlands |
| The Perfect Candidate | Haifaa al-Mansour | Saudi Arabia |
| Proxima | Alice Winocour | France |
| Sibyl | Justine Triet | France |
| A Son | Mehdi M. Barsaoui | Tunisia |
| Sound of Metal | Darius Marder | United States |
| True History of the Kelly Gang | Justin Kurzel | Australia |
| Uncut Gems | Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie | United States |
| The Whistlers | Corneliu Porumboiu | Romania |
| The Wild Goose Lake | Diao Yinan | China |
| Working Girls | Frédéric Fonteyne, Anne Paulicevich | Belgium |

#### Rotterdämmerung

The programme showcased the work in hardcore film genres.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Boyz in the Wood | Ninian Doff | United States |
| Bring Me Home | Kim Seung-woo | South Korea |
| ColOZio | Artemio Narro | Mexico |
| Detention | John Hsu | Taiwan |
| L'état sauvage | David Perrault | France |
| First Love | Takashi Miike | Japan |
| Gutterbee | Ulrich Thomsen | Denmark |
| Impetigore | Joko Anwar | Indonesia |
| Jallikattu | Lijo Jose Pellissery | India |
| The Long Walk | Mattie Do | Laos |
| Saint Maud | Rose Glass | United Kingdom |
| Special Actors | Ueda Shinichiro | Japan |

### Deep Focus

The section highlighted work of compilations, retrospectives and other formats in cinema. The section consisted of:
* Frameworks, which highlighted art films by emerging artists,
* Signatures, which showcased new work of established filmmakers,
* Regained, which showed restored classic films, films about filmmakers, experimental works and installations,
* Beth B: War Is Never Over, which showcased the selection of work about female identity, power and sexuality, curated by Beth B,
* Marion Hänsel, à la vie, which showcased the work of Marion Hänsel, and
* Deep Focus Short, which paid tribute to Kiluanji Kia Henda and Leonardo Mouramateus.

#### Signatures

The programme showcased new work of established filmmakers.
| Title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Bring Down the Walls | Phil Collins | United States |
| Il diario di Angela – Noi due cineasti. Capitolo secondo | Yervant Gianikian | Italy |
| Les enfants d'Isadora | Damien Manivel | France |
| Un film dramatique | Éric Baudelaire | France |
| The Halt | Lav Diaz | Philippines |
| A Hidden Life | Terrence Malick | Germany |
| How to Overthrow the US Government (Legally) | Caveh Zahedi | United States |
| Jeanne d'Arc | Bruno Dumont | France |
| Krabi, 2562 | Ben Rivers, Anocha Suwichakornpong | Thailand |
| Liberté | Albert Serra | France |
| Little Joe | Jessica Hausner | Austria |
| No.7 Cherry Lane | Yonfan | Hong Kong |
| Las poetas visitan a Juana Bignozzi | Laura Citarella, Mercedes Halfon | Argentina |
| Sandlines | Francis Alÿs | Iraq |
| Vitalina Varela | Pedro Costa | Portugal |

### Perspectives

The section presented the IFFR's thematic programme and showcased the relevant social and political issues in cinema. The section consisted of:
* The Tyger Burns, which presented the contemporary work of old filmmakers,
* Synergetic, which showcased the alternative histories of mainstream narrative in cinema,
* Ordinary Heroes: Made in Hong Kong, which presented the political, social and economic tensions in Hong Kong,
* Sacred Beings, which presented the notion of queer culture, gender fluidity and spiritualities outside the Western perspective, and
* Wait and See, which showcased the work about patience.

## Awards

The following awards were presented at the 49th edition:

### Awards and competition

* Tiger Award: The Cloud In Her Room by Zheng Lu Xinyuan
* Special Jury Award: Beasts Clawing at Straws by Kim Yong-hoon
* Ammodo Tiger Short Award:
** Apparition by Ismaïl Bahri
** Communicating Vessels by Maïder Fortuné, Annie MacDonell
** Sun Dog by Dorian Jespers
* Robby Müller Award: Diego García
* Big Screen Competition Award: A Perfectly Normal Family by Malou Reymann
* NETPAC Award: Nasir by Arun Karthick
* Found Footage Award: My Mexican Bretzel by Nuria Giménez Lorang
* IFFR Youth Jury Award: Les Misérables by Ladj Ly

### Audience Awards

* BankGiro Loterij Audience Award: Parasite (B&W Version) by Bong Joon-ho
* Voices Short Award: Tabaski by Laurence Attali

### Critics Awards

* FIPRESCI Award: Only You Alone by Zhou Zhou
* KNF Award: Kala azar by Janis Rafailidou