26 January - 6 February

The VPRO Tiger Awards went to the following directors:

* Lou Ye - Suzhou River (China)
'For its experimentations in narrative forms and its successful evocation of loss and wonder in the modern city.'
* Pablo Trapero - Mundo grúa (Argentina)
'For its strong sense of reality and humanity and its remarkable restraint for a first- time director.'
* Katrin Ottarsd¢ttir - Bye Bye Blue Bird (Denmark) 'For the heart-warming characterization and extraordinary use of colours and locations that make the film a joy to watch.'

The three Tiger Awards are accompanied by a prize of 10,000 Euros each, provided by VPRO TV. This broadcasting company has announced that the three winning films will be acquired for broadcast. Suzhou River and Mundo grúa were supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Contact Film will release Suzhou River in the fall. Mundo grúa (Crane World) and Bye Bye Blue Bird will be released in April.

The Canal+ Audience Award (the favorite film of the audience), was given to Shower by Zhang Yang.

Fipresci awarded the prize for the best film in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition to:
* Mundo grúa - Pablo Trapero (Argentina)
'For the sober and coherent realism with which it portrays the main character's humanity.'

The MovieZone Award wnet to :
* Fucking Åmål - Lukas Moodysson (Sweden)
' Fucking Åmål is a convincing portrait, the situations and dialogues are realistic and striking.'

In closing:
The CineMart, the coproduction market of the festival, was very successful this year. There were more guests than ever and about 5700 meetings were arranged. Guests were complimentary about the informal character of the market and acknowledge that the Cinemart is now an essential meetingplace for the international film industry.
The festival had a total number of attendances this year of 320,.000.

Noted for its intimate and friendly atmosphere, it is both an enormously successful public festival and a festival for filmmakers and professionals, drawing 300,000 to the event. For 12 days, Rotterdam will continue its support of the new international cinema with more than 200 film and digital features plus many shorts. The VPRO Tiger Awards Competition is meant to encourage and draw attention to the work of new, groundbreaking filmmakers and is open to first or second features (14 for this edition), receiving their world, international or European premieres in Rotterdam. An international jury consisting of filmmakers Ann Hui and Abderrahmane Sissako, internationally recognized photographer Rineke Dijkstra, distribution veteran Bingham Ray and director of the Forum des Images and Fonds Sud, Michel Reilhac, will announce the three Tiger Award winners on Saturday 5 February. Among the world premieres in competition are the hip Siuzhou He by Lou Ye (China), the witty and stylish Banqueroute by the French Antoine Desrosières and the funky Eating Air by Kelvin Tong Weng Kian and Jasmine Ng Kin Kia from Singapore.

Some 130 world, international and European premieres figure in the selection of independent features and short films. Michael Mann's The Insider is set to open the festival. Other highlights among the world and international premieres are Dutch documentary master Johan van de Keuken's The Long Holiday, Irit Batsry's These Are Not My Images, Edgar Honetschläger's L+R, Doris Dörrie's Erleuchtung Garantiert, Tony Gatlif's Je suis né d'une cigogne and Dead Dogs by Clay Eide (USA).

One of the main elements for the 29th edition is a focus on Japanese Cinema to mark the 400th anniversary of Japanese - Dutch trade relations. Exploding Cinema is the section of the film festival which explores crossovers between animation, online, art, design, video games and the moving image and will center on Pop.Tech.Japan as part of the Japanese focus.
Other festival features include the Hubert Bals Fund, which provides financial support to filmmakers from developing countries, and Meet The Cinema Of The World, a trainee project for young film critics. CineMart, the annual co-production market of the festival, will take place from 30 January to 3 February, expecting 500 guests. Besides the presentation of the projects, panel discussions will delve into digital technologies such as distribution through the Internet.