Editor

During the IFFR 2005 Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 4, 2005 in Concert and Congress Centre 'de Doelen' in Rotterdam, the winning films of the 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam were announced. The three VPRO Tiger Awards were granted to Nemmeno il Destino (Changing Destiny) by Daniele Gaglianone from Italy, El Ciero Gira (The Sky Turns) by Mercedes Alvarez from Spain and the Hubert Bals Fund supported 4 by Ilya Khrzhanovsky from Russia.
VPRO Tiger Awards Fourteen films by first or second filmmakers competed in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition 2004. The Jury consists of Lia van Leer, director of the Jerusalem Film Festival (Israël) and chair, photographer Nan Goldin (USA), producer Jan Chapman (Australia), Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (Turtles can Fly) and Argentian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso (Los Muertos).

The jury statements on the VPRO Tiger Award winning films: Nemmeno il Destino by Daniele Gaglianone (Italy, 2004). "The Tiger Jury felt strongest about the Italian film Nemmeno il Destino . We were particularly touched by how Daniele Gaglianone handled the relationships between the young rebellious boys and their highly disturbed families. The film gave us characters that resonated emotionally for us and we could care deeply about. This is a film that showed the eye of a director in control of every element of his film."

El Ciero Gira by Mercedes Alvarez (Spain, 2004). " El Ciero Gira is a richly subjective diary of a film. Mercedes Alvarez provides us access to the last inhabitants of a village with their humorous and profound commentary on the passing of time and on life and death through her simple and sincere directing. Her sense of timing and sensitivity to the light and quality of landscape was a poetic meditation, a welcome in these times of contemporary culture."

4 by Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Russia, 2004), supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. "We found 4 a devastating nightmare that forces us into the ambiguous state between lies and truth. Ilya Khrzhanovsky shows great courage in his choice of subject and how he portrays the total disintegration of a society that devours itself. His use of a disturbing sound and a disjunctive narrative shows a distinctively original vision. We especially like his radical treatment of women in his portrayal of the young prostitutes and the old traditional babushkas."

Hat Mua Roi Bao Lau (Bride of Silence) by Doan Minh Phuong & Doan Thanh Nhgia (Vietnam/Germany, 2005) and Sanctuary by Ho Yu-hang (Malaysia, 2004) received special mentions of the VPRO Tiger Awards Jury. Each VPRO Tiger Award comes with a prize of Euro 10,000 and guaranteed broadcast by Dutch public television network VPRO.