The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) announces the launch of a program of new industry and sales services. These will include the creation of a Sales Club; extension of the Rotterdam Film Office’s role as mediator throughout the year; an improved industry accreditation system and more regular industry newsletters (TigerTopics).

Rotterdam festival director Sandra den Hamer is proud to announce that Marnix van Wijk, former Fortissimo Films VP of Marketing & Festivals, has joined the festival staff as Head of International PR to manage, coordinate and produce the program of new industry initiatives.

From the very start, the International Film Festival Rotterdam played an active role in supporting independent cinema worldwide. Already during its early editions, the festival has been much more then just a showcase of films. Rotterdam’s CineMart and Hubert Bals Fund have become strong - and internationally widely copied - tools that serve the independent and creative filmmaking industry in many effective ways. The IFFR is known as ‘the supportive festival’.

CineMart is the largest market of its kind and the Hubert Bals Fund supported over 600 films of which 80% has been realised or is currently in production. Each edition, the festival welcomes 3,000 industry guests and media representatives. The festival attracts a large audience to its official selection of independent cinema, additionally offering the professional attendants easy access to its Film Office, press & industry screenings and videotheque. With 25 years of expertise in initiating film projects and supporting them in their subsequent careers, the International Film Festival Rotterdam now intends to take its industry service program to a higher level.

Taking this next step, the International Film Festival Rotterdam aims to extend its industry services. The new initiatives include the launch, during the festival’s upcoming edition (January 24 - February 4, 2007), of the Sales Club, a high service platform and meeting area; a new system of Industry accreditations that better serves the needs of attending sellers and buyers specialized in independent arthouse cinema; further extension of the IFFR's Film Office services initiated already during the past IFFR edition and an upgrade of the IFFR's Industry newsletter TigerTopics, distributed to the very large network of Rotterdam’s industry contacts. All new initiatives will be customized to match the Rotterdam trademark ‘informal yet effective’.

Marnix van Wijk was VP of Marketing & Festivals at Fortissimo Films, where he started as an intern in September 1997. During his nine-year stint at this leading sales agency, he was responsible for festival bookings, market preparations, marketing and publicity.

Over the years Marnix gained a wide knowledge of the industry and built a network of festivals directors/programmers, distributors, producers and directors. At Fortissimo Films he worked on the international launch of such films as CANDY by Neil Armfield (Berlin), THE TULSE LUPER SUITCASES by Peter Greenaway (Cannes, Venice & Berlin), KEN PARK by Larry Clark & Ed Lachman (Venice), MYSTERIOUS SKIN by Gregg Araki (Venice), IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and 2046 by Wong Kar Wai (Cannes), COFFEE AND CIGARETTES by Jim Jarmusch (Venice).

Marnix has attended Cannes, Berlin and Venice for the past eight years. He was on the panel 'Film Festivals: A User's Guide' at the London Film Festival in 2003, and traveled to various festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Valladolid, Films from the South (Oslo), Chicago and Filmart (Hong Kong).