Rotterdam International Film Festival
January 24 - February 4

Rotterdam is one of the best indie-spirited festivals on the circuit. But don't take our word for it. As Adam Langer explains in The Ultimate Film Festival Guide, "the Rotterdam festival is one of the biggest, one of the best, and one of the most creatively programmed. Over the course of the festival, the city becomes host not only to a slew of world and Dutch premieres and great focus programs, but also intriguing lectures, showings of avant garde films with live music accompaniment, a children's film festival and related exhibits in area museums." This year festival director Simon Fields and his team of festival organizers created what looks to be another innovative program with a special section on Taboos and a tribute to Swedish filmmaker Roy Anderson.

Rotterdam features a competition for first and second features from new filmmakers and awards the prestigious Tiger Awards. The year 2000 winner Suzhou River, went on to win prizes all the way through December. The 2001 festival will feature a special section called On the Waterfront, to complement the city's distinction as the Cultural Capital of Europe. In addition, the upcoming festival will feature retrospectives devoted to maverick or pioneer directors, and special tributes; the future of cinema will be explored in the Exploding Cinema section. This year once again marks the Rotterdam Film Course, which strives to encourage film and media education in universities. This year's theme is Taboo, and films shown in this category will include: Un chien andalou (1929) by Salvador Dali & Luis Buñuel of France; Nuit et brouillard (1955) by Alain Resnais also of France; and Window Water Baby Moving (1959) by Stan Brakhage of the United States.

Three awards include 10,000 Euro in cash each, as well as a guaranteed offer for both theatrical distribution and TV airing of the winning films in The Netherlands. Rotterdam also sponsors, along with Canal+, the Audience Award for the public's favourite; and hosts the FIPRESCI Prize awarded by an international jury of film critics; the KNF Prize is awarded by a jury of members of the Dutch Film Critics Circle; NETPAC Award for the Best Asian feature film shown at the festival. In addition, as part of the Hubert Bals Fund, which was founded in 1988, a selection of films from the International Film Festival Rotterdam, will be shown in 16 theaters in the Netherlands from October to January. Most of these films have received awards at foreign festivals.

The festival also attracts a large number of international acquisition executives and its Cinemart is considered to be one of the top films markets in Europe. Projects are kept to a manageable number of 40. Last year's Cinemart included works by Béla Tarr, Zhang Yang, Juanjo Giménez Peña, Marion Hänsel, Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, and Hal Hartley.

The program will be out early 2001, while The Goddess of 1967, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Platform are already confirmed.