Rotterdam Bestows VPRO Tiger Awards

During the closing ceremony on Saturday night in the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal the winning films of the 30th International Film Festival were announced. The winners in the VPRO Tiger Award Competition for first or second features are Bad Company (Mabudachi) by Furumaya Tomoyuki - Japan (also won the FIPRESCI prize), In Den Tag Hinein (The Days Between) by Maria Speth - Germany, and 25 Watts by Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll - Uruguay. The festival films were shown to consistently full house theatres, with an increase in the number of visitors over last year: 345,000 (2000: 320,000).

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Background Info and Jury

Launched in 1995, it did not take long for the competition to become an inseparable part of the festival. Attached to all three (equal) awards is a 10,000 Euro prize, as well as the guaranteed theatrical distribution of the winning films in The Netherlands and airing on Dutch television.

VPRO Tiger Awards Competition Jury is composed of:

*Emile Fallaux, one of Holland's most respected documentary filmmakers
*Jens Christian Grondahl, one of Denmark's leading authors
*Alison MacLean, Canadian filmmakers whose latest film, Jesus'son, was a big festival success
*Don McKellar, actor/scriptwriter/filmmaker presenting his short film A Word from the Management at the Festival
*Kirsi Tykkylainen, Finnish actress and Russian literature teacher
*Wang Xiaoshuai, one of China's so-called "sixth-generation" filmmakers who has presented all of his works at the Rotterdam Festival.

Confirming the role of the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition as a divining rod for the discovery of emerging film-making talent from around the world, this year's 30th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam also finds several Tigers roaring back with new works.

Winning last year were Katrin Ottarsdóttir for Bye Bye Blue Bird (Denmark), Pablo Trapero for Mundo Grua (Argentina) and Lou Ye for Suzhou (China). Among the Tiger-winning film-makers that return to this year Rotterdam Main Programme with new material are Christopher Nolan (Following, new: Memento), Kawase Naomi (Suzaku, new: Hotaru), Petr Zelenka (Knoflikari, new: Powers), Hong Sang Su (The Day a Pig Fell into a Well, new: The Virgin Stripped Bare by her Bachelors), as well as two of last year's winners, Lou Ye (Suzhou) and Pablo Trapero (Mundo Grua) who are both presenting a digital video diary within the "On the Waterfront" program.

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; and a NETPAC Award for the Best Asian feature film shown at the festival.

The FIPRESCI Jury awards a prize to a film in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition and was comprised of:

Gerald M. Peary, "Boston Phoenix" (USA, president)
Li Cheuk-to, "Hong Kong Economic Times" (Hong Kong)
Ludvig Hertzberg, "Svenska Dagbladet" (Sweden)
Juri Gladilchtchikov, "Itogy (Summary Magazine)" (Russia)
Dana Linssen, "NRC Handelsblad", "De Filmkrant" (The Netherlands)