Editor

In its main section Spectrum, the International Film Festival Rotterdam screens films by experienced directors and maestros of artistic and experimental cinema. In total, Spectrum is made up of seventy-two features and documentaries from thirty-two countries, among which six films supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund. The full Spectrum title list is available here.
Sixteen of the Spectrum films will be world premières, including those by Pat Holden (UK); Daniel Rosenfeld (Argentina); Garin Nugroho (Indonesia); Miike Takashi (Japan); Davide Manuli (Italy); Ian Olds & James Franco (USA); Lav Diaz (the Philippines) and Damien Odoul (France). The IFFR opens January 25 with the world premiere of Lucas Belvaux’ 38 TÉMOINS (38 WITNESSES, France).
Furthermore Spectrum includes international premieres of films by Cláudio Assis (Brazil), Kobayashi Masahiro (Japan), Roh Gyeong-Tae (South Korea) and Rick Alverson (USA) and European premieres of films by Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic), Alexandru Baciu & Radu Muntean (Romania).


World premières in Spectrum 2012
The following films, in alphabetical order by country of production, will have their world premières in the Spectrum programme section at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012. See the full premiere list below.
Argentina: CORNELIA AT HER MIRROR by Daniel Rosenfeld, a meticulous and stylish film based on the story by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993). Hubert Bals Fund-supported film.
Austria: ROMAN DIARY by Michael Pilz, a meditative film featuring images of a park in Rome.
Brazil: RUA APERANA 52 by Júlio Bressane, a musical film about a street corner in Rio, edited together from old photos and the maker’s own films from the period 1957-2005.
Canada: LACAN PALESTINE by Mike Hoolboom, a found-footage essay on a complex country and its love-struck inhabitants.
Filippines: AGONISTES, THE MYTH OF NATION by Lav Diaz, a philosophical, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film in which two workers leave the city in search of treasure.
France: LE RESTE DU MONDE by Damien Odoul (a film in which a family considers issues of identity and relationships, with Marie-Eve Nadeau, Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Béart) and 38 TÉMOINS by Lucas Belvaux (the festival’s opening film, with Yves Attal, Sophie Quinton and Nicole Garcia).
Great Britain: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT by Pat Holden, a film about a family in Yorkshire tormented by an evil spirit, with Kate Ashfield and Steven Waddington.
Indonesia: THE BLINDFOLD by Garin Nugroho, a topical film that deals with religion in Indonesia, stressing that fundamentalism exists in every faith.
Italy: THE LEGEND OF KASPAR HAUSER by Davide Manuli, a post-modern Western with Vincent Gallo.
Japan: ACE ATTORNEY by Miike Takashi, a film adaptation of the Nintendo game about the legal battle between defence attorney Phoenix Wright (Narimiya Hiroki) and his rival, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth (Saitoh Takumi).
The Netherlands: NICK by Fow Pyng Hu, a character study/road movie with Merijn de Jong and Marcel Hensema; PEACE VERSUS JUSTICE by Klaartje Quirijns, a documentary about Uganda and the relationship with the International Criminal Court in The Hague; and I’M STILL ALIVE by Peter van Houten, a documentary about a poor, elderly Polish woman who has lived in many countries, including the Netherlands.
United States: FRANCOPHRENIA (OR: DON'T KILL ME, I KNOW WHERE THE BABY IS) by Ian Olds & James Franco, a humorous psycho-thriller based on a new script written for existing footage shot by Franco during the shooting of television series General Hospital; A SHAPE OF ERROR by Abigail Child, imaginary home movies filmed in Rome, from the lives of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and her husband Percy.
(End of Spectrum world premiere list)

Europe
European cinema is strongly represented in Spectrum, with Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS; Swedish film PLAY by Ruben Östlund about (the end of) multicultural society; Aki Kaurismäki’s LE HAVRE, which deals with compassion and illegal work; Bertrand Bonello’s brothel film L’APOLLONIDE – SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE; Laurent Achard’s DERNIÈRE SÉANCE, about the double life of a film projectionist; Gabriel Velázquez’ tender, wintry adolescent drama ICEBERG; Bohdan Slama’s FOUR SUNS; Yorgos Lanthimos’ ALPS, the succesful successor to DOGTOOTH; Isaki Lacuesta’s award-winning LOS PASOS DOBLES, filmed in Mali; Bouli Lanners’ LES GÉANTS, a boys’ adventure in the Ardennes and Rithy Panh’s DUCH, MASTER OF THE FORGES OF HELL, a French documentary about a Cambodian who was in charge of two notorious prisons during the Pol Pot regime.
Alongside the world premières of new films by Fow Pyng Hu, Klaartje Quirijns and Peter van Houten (see above), the Dutch contribution to Spectrum contains Simon Pummell’s SHOCK HEAD SOUL, with Hugo Koolschijn, Anniek Pfeifer, Thom Hoffman and Jochum ten Haaf. Pummell’s installation THE SPUTNIK EFFECT will also be on show during the festival.

Asia
Spectrum’s Asian section includes Ann Hui’s A SIMPLE LIFE, about the relationship between a film producer (Andy Lau) and the elderly nurse (Deanie Ip) employed by his family for decades; Kore-eda Hirokazu’s I WISH, about two brothers who live apart but want to meet by the high-speed railway; Masahiro Kobayashi’s WOMEN ON THE EDGE, filmed in the earthquake zone and dealing with three sisters who meet again after many years apart; Tsukamoto Shinya’s KOTOKO, an unsettling film about a troubled young mother; Hong Sang-Soo’s THE DAY HE ARRIVES, a film about a young filmmaker roaming around Seoul; Kim Kyung-Mook’s STATELESS THINGS, in which slowly but surely, the stories of Jun and Hyeon, two lost souls, come together in a poetic and stylish way; Eric Khoo’s animated film TATSUMI, a homage to Japanse manga author Tatsumi Yoshihiro; Lav Diaz will be presenting two films: his epic meditation CENTURY OF BIRTHING, on the role of the artist, the prophet and their followers, and the world première of his latest work, which was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, AGONISTES: THE MYTH OF NATION.

North America
From North America, Spectrum includes THE DESCENDANTS by Alexander Payne, featuring George Clooney as a family man in Hawaii facing a dilemma concerning the last piece of land owned by his family; David Cronenberg’s Freudian drama A DANGEROUS METHOD (with Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender – the latter can also be seen in Steve McQueen’s SHAME, screening in the IFFR’s Bright Future section). In addition, the international première of THE COMEDY by Rick Alverson, whose NEW JERUSALEM screened in Rotterdam last year (with Will Oldham); in THE COMEDY, a New York hipster wastes away his days in anticipation of an inheritance from his father.

Latin America
The Latin American component in Spectrum includes three films made with support from the Hubert Bals Fund: RAT FEVER by Claudio Assis, a lively portrait of a group of friends filmed in the working-class neighbourhoods of Recife; LOS ÚLTIMOS CRISTEROS by Matías Meyer, a film that balances between fiction and documentary and deals with Mexicans struggling for religious freedom in the 1920s, and VERANO by José Luis Torres Leiva, a summer mosaic of everyday goings-on in a holiday home in southern Chile.


The IFFR’s festival program consists of three main sections: Bright Future - idiosyncratic and adventurous new work by novice makers, including the Tiger Awards Competitions -, Spectrum - new and recent work by experienced film makers and artists who provide, in the opinion of the IFFR, an essential contribution to international film culture -, and Signals, a series of thematic programs and retrospectives offering insight in topical as well as timeless ideas within cinema.

Thursday January 19 the full IFFR 2012 lineup will be published as a supplement to Dutch national newspaper de Volkskrant and online on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.