Breaking house records at its new main venue, the recently-opened Pathé multiplex, Rotterdam's 26th International Film Festival wrapping last week made an early jump into the 21st century, for the first time under the direction of Simon Field, who was equally excited about the transition.'
Beforehand I was slightly anxious whether it would be possible to maintain the traditional Rotterdam spirit in the new premises. But when on the first day I visited the Pathé cinema which was already bursting with festival attendants, it was like in the old days, walking about in the Lataren Venster,' said Field, a former cinema director at London's ICA.
At the festival's 12th CineMart, featuring 42 works-in-progress, a record number of 485 professionals - with an increasing representation of European broadcasters - left the chairs in the Hilton's Jardin Room red-hot, sharing close to 2,500 meetings. At least two projects got out of the heat with the financing in place, Irish director Ger Philpott's first feature, the US$1.3 million Purgatory, and Belgian director Marion Hänsel's The Quarry.
After several years of Asian dominance in the Tiger Award Competition, European Cinema struck back, bagging two of the three VPRO US$10,000 cash prizes. Among the 15 entries, the jury preferred UK director Patrick Keiller's Robinson in Space, Kazakhstan director Amir Karakulov's Poslednie kanikuli (Last Holiday) and South Korean director Hong San-Soo's Daijaha umule pajinna (The Day a Pig Fell into the Well). The Circle of Dutch Film Journalists awarded French director Oliver Assayas' Irma Vep, and the NETPAC jury chose Japanese director Suwa Nobuhiro's 2 Duo as Best Asian Film in the programme. French car manufacturer, Citroën, let the audiences speak, bestowing DFL15,000 on the Australian director Scott Hicks' Shine, as the best-rated film of the festival.
On the financial bottom line the festival's box office revenue was up 20% from last year, mainly attributed to the Pathé effect. 215,000 paid admissions, against 188,000 in 1996, induced a DFL1.2 million cash (1996: DFL1 million) to the festival budget. The showcase received 1,400 guests (1996: 1,255), with the majority - 1,100 - coming from abroad. Dutch media accounted for 310 of the 480 representatives of the press covering the showcase. Having received DFL150,000 from the Dutch Culture Ministry for film acquisitions, the festival purchased Japanese director Kitano Takeshi's Kids Return and Olivier Assayas' Irma Vep. Jørn Rossing Jensen
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