Andor von Barsy was a Hungarian filmmaker. [1] He was born on March 14, 1899 in Budapest and died on December 24, 1965 in Munich. [2] [3] He worked for many years as a cameraman and photographer before working on his own documentaries and is often referred to as an influential avant-garde filmmaker because of his experimental documentary films. [4] He went to school in Germany, but most of his work is centered around The Netherlands, or most specifically the city of Rotterdam. [5] Hoogstraat (or "High Street"), his 1930 film is set in Rotterdam and takes the form of a city symphony film. [6] He won the 1957 German Film Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Jonas . [7]
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, led by founder Huub Bals. IFFR also hosts CineMart and BoostNL, for film producers to seek funding.
Cinema of the Netherlands refers to the film industry based in the Netherlands. Because the Dutch film industry is relatively small, and there is little or no international market for Dutch films, almost all films rely on state funding. This funding can be achieved through several sources, for instance through the Netherlands Film Fund or the public broadcast networks. In recent years the Dutch Government has established several tax shelters for private investments in Dutch films.
Otar Iosseliani was a Georgian film director, known for movies such as Falling Leaves, Pastorale and Favorites of the Moon. Iosseliani received a lifetime achievement honor – the CineMerit Award at the Munich International Film Festival in 2011 for his career accomplishments.
Binger Filmlab, formerly the Maurits Binger Film Institute, is an Amsterdam-based international feature-film and documentary development centre where screenwriters, directors, producers and script editors from around the world can be coached and supported by mentors and advisors.
Mubi is a global over-the-top service streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available on its platform. The catalogue consists of world cinema films, such as arthouse, documentary and independent films. Additionally, it publishes Notebook, a film criticism and news publication, and provides weekly cinema tickets to selected new-release films through MUBI GO.
Experimental filmmakers ask whether things could not be done differently. Underground films analyse and critique the mainstream film industry. They step back and reflect. Simultaneously, they take forward leaps to assess new options. Sometimes the makers are self-taught visual artists who make innovative work thanks to their original point of view. Other filmmakers primarily play with the medium film and seek an alternative to the dominant visual culture.
Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his best-known works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
Amit Dutta is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted in field-research and personal symbolism resulting in images that are visually rich and acoustically stimulating. His works mostly deal with subjects of art history, ethno-anthropology, and cultural inheritance through cinema.
Alexis Dos Santos is an Argentine film director and producer, screenwriter and editor. He has also shot a number of short and directed music videos. He is considered part of the New Queer Cinema movement.
Night and Fog in Zona is a 2015 South Korean documentary film directed by Jung Sung-il. The cine-essay follows the Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing as he works on two of his projects, 'Til Madness Do Us Part (2013) and Alone (2013). Night and Fog in Zona made its world premiere at the 20th Busan International Film Festival in 2015.
Rostov-Luanda is a 1997 Mauritanian documentary film directed by Abderrahmane Sissako and co-produced by Christian Baute, Pierre Hanau, and Dominique Andreani.
Beny Wagner is an artist, filmmaker and author. He is known for his films Constant and A Demonstration.
Leonardo Pirondi is a Brazilian film director from São Paulo. Pirondi's work explores the intersection between fiction and non-fiction filmmaking using non-conventional structures of documentary, experimental, and narrative modes. In his films he explores contemporary sociopolitical issues and collective anxieties as a lens to look into history, imagination, myth, and technology.
Ashish Avikunthak is an Indian avant-garde filmmaker, film theorist, archaeologist and cultural anthropologist. His works have been screened at art galleries and private screenings, including Tate Modern, Centre George Pompidou, Pacific Film Archive; along with Rotterdam, Locarno, London film festivals, among others. He is a professor of film media at Harrington School of Communication, University of Rhode Island.
Melanie Spitta was a German Sinti film-maker.
Wilhelmine Sandrock was a German actress, active in theatre, silent and early sound films.
Shaheen Dill-Riaz is a Bangladeshi-German documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and writer based in Berlin. His works focus on human stories and social issues, often highlighting marginalized communities and underreported struggles. His personal life driven documentary film Past is Present (2025) is selected in the Harbour section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025.
Neer Mel Neruppu, also known as Fire on Water, is a 2024 Malaysian Tamil-language romantic drama directed by Sun-J Perumal and written by Sivanantham Perianan. The film stars Karnan Kanapathy as Karthi and Rubini Sambanthan in the pivotal roles. In January 2024, the film had its world premiere in the Harbour section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film was also premiered at Osaka Asian Film Festival in March 2024. The film opened to positive reviews from critics, especially praising the screenplay, direction of the film, cinematography and the performance of the protagonist.
Rei is a 2024 Japanese drama film directed by Toshihiko Tanaka. The film had its world premiere in the Tiger Competition section at the 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film also won the Tiger Award at the 53rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film opened to generally positive reviews from critics while the direction, screenplay and Ikeda Akio's cinematography were praised.
The 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, is the 2025 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which will begin on 30 January 2025. The festival will open with Fabula, a Dutch film by Michiel ten Horn. The complete line-up of films competing in the festival was revealed on 17 December 2024. The festival will close on 9 February 2025 with This City Is a Battlefield, an Indonesian war drama film written and directed by Mouly Surya.