International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the Tiger and Big Screen competition line-ups for its 54th edition which takes place fr
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the Tiger and Big Screen competition line-ups for its 54th edition which takes place from January 30 – February 9.
The Tiger Competition, which showcases emerging voices from across the globe, has 14 world premieres spanning Montenegro to Malaysia and Congo to India. IFFR said one of the Tiger titles will be revealed closer to the festival due to sensitivities surrounding its release. Another 20 titles play in IFFR’s Tiger Short Competition.
The competition includes Julian Chou’s Blind Love, which recently won the Screenplay Award at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (FPP) project market. A drama about a high-school boy who falls in love with his mother’s ex-girlfriend, it stars Ariel Lin, recently named best actress at Busan’s Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards. Director Chou is a talent agent who has produced TV series I Will Never Let You Go and made her directorial feature debut, 2022’s Girls, Be Ambitious.
Also selected is Stefan Djordjevic’s feature debut Wind, Talk To Me, about a man who goes on an introspective journey when reuniting with his family after his mother’s death. Heretic has just boarded world sales on the project.
The 14 titles in the Big Screen Competition, which aims to bridge the gap between arthouse and popular cinema, cover territories from Lithuania to Japan, Netherlands and Argentina.
Among guests confirmed for the IFFR’s 2025 Talks line-up are Cate Blanchett and Guy Maddin, who recently collaborated on political satire Rumours. Cinematographer Lol Crawley will also discuss his career, including his work on The Brutalist.
As previously announced, the festival will open with murky comedy Fabula from Dutch director and screenwriter Michiel ten Horn, and close with the historical epic This City Is a Battlefield from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya.
Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director at IFFR, said: “Since our very first festival in 1972, IFFR has been a space for bold creativity, where the unexpected finds a home, and where cinema in all its splendour is celebrated. As we step into this next chapter, we remain steadfast in our belief that cinema flourishes when it is free – free to experiment, cross boundaries, and voice truths that often go untold.”
Tiger Competition 2025
- L’arbre De l’Authenticité dir. Sammy Baloji (DR Congo-Bel)
- Bad Girl dir. Varsha Bharath (India)
- Blind Love dir. Julian Chou (Tai)
- Fiume O Morte! dir. Igor Bezinović (Cro-It-Slovenia)
- La Gran Historia De La Filosofía Occidental dir. Aria Covamonas (Mex)
- Guo Ran dir. Li Dongmei (China)
- Im Haus Meiner Eltern dir. Tim Ellrich (Ger)
- Perla dir. Alexandra Makarová (Austria-Slovakia)
- Primeira Pessoa Do Plural dir. Sandro Aguilar (Port-It)
- Tears in Kuala Lumpur dir. Ridhwan Saidi (Mal)
- Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village in the World dir. Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert (Bel)
- Wind, Talk to Me dir. Stefan Djordjevic (Ser-Slovenia-Cro)
- Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master dir. Ivan Salatić (Mont)
Big Screen Competition
- The Assistant dir. Wilhelm Sasnal, Anka Sasnal (Pol-UK)
- Back to the Family dir. Sharunas Bartas (Lith)Bad Painter dir. Albert Oehlen (Ger-US)
- ¡Caigan Las Rosas Blancas! dir. Albertina Carri (Arg-Bra-Sp)
- Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra dir. Hanung Bramantyo (Indo)
- De idylle dir. Aaron Rookus (Neth-Bel-Est)
- Macai dir. Sun-J Perumal (Mal)
- Orenda dir. Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Est-Swe)
- L’oro del Reno dir. Lorenzo Pullega (It)
- Our Father – The Last Days of a Dictator dir. José Filipe Costa (Port)
- The Puppet’s Tale dir. Suman Mukhopadhyay (India)
- Raptures dir. Jon Blåhed (Swe-Fin)
- Soft Leaves dir. Miwako Van Weyenberg (Belg)
- Yasuko, Songs of Days Past dir. Negishi Kichitaro (Japan)
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