At the Awards Ceremony on Friday 1 February 2013 in de Doelen (Rotterdam), the winners of IFFR’s eighteenth Hivos Tiger Awards Competition, of the first Big Screen Award Competition and of the NETPAC, FIPRESCI and KNF prizes were announced. Two winners were supported by the Hubert Bals Fund; one winner was a CineMart Project.

During the Ceremony, Hivos Tiger Awards Jury member Ai Weiwei commented on his jury duty in a prerecorded video message played before the attendants.

The UPC Audience Award and the Dioraphte Award will be handed out Saturday evening 2 February.

Hivos Tiger Awards

Sixteen first or second films competed in the 2013 Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. The Jury consisted of distinguished Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamedarya; Russian script writer and filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa; Dutch filmmaker Kees Hin; José Luis Cienfuegos, artistic director of the Seville European Film Festival (Spain) and Chinese visual artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei, who was not be able to attend the festival and judged the competition films at home in Beijing. Each Hivos Tiger Award comes with a prize of Euro 15,000 for the filmmaker.

The three winners of the equal Hivos Tiger Awards 2013 are:

Môj pes Killer (My Dog Killer) by Mira Fornay (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2013)

‘The challenge for showing a very strong subject from the inside reveals the difficulty of life and a sense of violence.’

Mira Fornay’s Foxes (2009), her feature film début, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was also shown in Rotterdam. My Dog Killer, her second feature saw its world premiere in the IFFR’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2013.

Soldate Jeannette (Soldier Jane) by Daniel Hoesl (Austria, 2012)

‘The breaking out of two women is realized with strong imagery and visual power. Each shot is minimal but gives a high construction of forms and shapes; a very formalistic approach.’

Daniel Hoesl is interested in radical concepts, in a narrative and aesthetic way. He is founder of the production company/film collective A European Film Conspiracy, with which he made Soldier Jane, his feature début that saw its European premiere in IFFR’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2013.

Larzanandeye charbi (Fat Shaker) by Mohammad Shirvani (Iran, 2013)

‘The film introduces the audience to a very different world. It is a fascinating story with superb characters. The cinematography really draws out the story, the paranoia and the characters.’

Mohammad Shirvani’s short films have been screened and awarded at many festivals. His feature début Navel (2004) was also screened in Rotterdam. Fat Shaker was supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and saw its European premiere in IFFR’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2013. Additionally, Shirvani made the arts installation Elephant in Darkness for IFFR 2013’s Tea House/Gallery Inside Iran.

NETPAC Award

The NETPAC Jury (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) awards the best Asian film in IFFR 2013 Official Selection. The Jury consisted of Eduardo Lejano Jr., Director of the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI), filmmaker and critic; Jo Ji-Hoon, Programme Coordinator of the Jeonju International Film Festival, South Korea; and Massoud Bakhshi, filmmaker, Iran.

The winner of the NETPAC Award 2013 is:

Yang tidak dibicarakan ketika membicarakan cinta (What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love) by Mouly Surya (Indonesia, 2013)

‘For its delicate portrayal of the desires and fantasies of its visually-impaired characters in a Jakarta school of the blind that appeals to the senses in evoking the textures and rhythms of the emerging southeast Asian cinema.’

Besides making films, Mouly Surya teaches a directing class in Jakarta. Her début film, Fiksi, won several awards at JIFFEST 2008 and premiered internationally at the Busan International Film Festival. What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love, her second feature, was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and saw its European premiere in IFFR’s Bright Future 2013.

FIPRESCI Award

The Jury of the international association of film critics FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) awards the best film among the nineteen world premieres in Bright Future 2013. The Jury consisted of Diego Lerer, Argentina (Inrockuptibles, OstrosCines), Robert Koehler, USA (Film Comment), Ronald Rovers, the Netherlands (de Filmkrant, VPRO Gids), Boris Nelepo, Russia (Séance.ru, Kinote.info, Mubi.com) and Nam Da-Eun, South Korea (Cine21).

The winner of the Rotterdam FIPRESCI Award 2013 is:

O quinto evanxeo de Gaspar Hauser (The Fifth Gospel of Kaspar Hauser) by Alberto Gracia  (Spain, 2013)

‘For Alberto Gracia’s radical and audacious desire to capture the world as seen through the eyes of a legendary, rebel madman. Mysterious and bravely resisting any amount of words to precisely describe what he’s achieved on screen, Gracia’s work is both meticulously structured and yet as untamed as a dream in the deepest dark of night. We celebrate the film’s achievement to convey Kaspar’s divided selves, identities and visions through purely cinematic means, and to also question the very purpose of cinema itself.’

Alberto Gracia’s work spans a variety of forms including painting, drawing, performance, video and installations. Microfugas, a short film shot on 16mm in 2008, was his first venture into cinema. The Fifth Gospel of Kaspar Hauser, his first feature film, saw its world premiere in IFFR’s Bright Future 2013.

The Big Screen Award

IFFR introduced a new competition in 2013: The Big Screen Award Competition, aimed at supporting the distribution of films in Dutch cinemas. Nominated for this prize were ten very recent films with no Benelux distributor confirmed, and an audience jury chose its winner. The Big Screen Award comes with a guaranteed distribution offer for the Benelux in collaboration with Dutch distributor Amstelfilm.

The winner of The Big Screen Award 2013:

Bellas mariposas (Pretty Butterflies) by Salvatore Mereu (Italy, 2012)

‘Representing the audience, we felt the duty to watch out for a refreshing movie. One that would be an addition to what is on offer in Dutch cinemas; one that we don’t want others to miss. We found this voice in a movie with a young perspective that frolics from characters to plotlines and is just a celebration of life all together.’

After making a series of short films, in 2003 Salvatore Mereu directed his first feature film, Three Steps Dancing (selected for Rotterdam's Hivos Tiger Awards Competition), which earned him several awards. Pretty Butterflies, his third feature, saws its international premiere in IFFR’s Spectrum 2013.

KNF Award

For the KNF Award, The Dutch Circle of Film Critics (KNF) Jury chose the winner out of the ten films in The Big Screen Award Competition 2013. The KNF Award comes with a guaranteed distribution offer for the Benelux in collaboration with Dutch distributor Amstelfilm and additionally includes a subtitled DCP, sponsored by digital film lab NCP Holland. The KNF Jury consisted of Fritz de Jong (Wegener Dagbladen), Joost Broeren (de Filmkrant), Dineke de Zwaan (Uitagenda Rotterdam), Sven Gerrets (VPRO Cinema.nl) and Pim Wijers (Preview). 

The winner of the KNF Award 2013 is:

Il futuro (The Future) by Alicia Scherson (Chile/Germany/Italy/Spain, 2013)

‘In a solid competition, a number of titles distinguished themselves by taking more risks. One film caught the jury's eye with its distinct tone of voice. The film plays with light and darkness on many levels; perhaps surprisingly, this is reflected most effectively in the inventive and atmospheric soundtrack. The intriguing central relationship, which calls back memories to Last Tango in Paris, is intimately portrayed by Manuella Martelli and Rutger Hauer.’

Chilean filmmaker Alicia Scherson’s first film Play and her second film Turistas were supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Turistas was selected for the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2009. Il futuro was launched internationally as film project at CineMart 2007 and saw its European premiere in IFFR’s Spectrum 2013.

Earlier in IFFR 2013, the following awards were handed out:

Canon Tiger Awards for Short Films:

The Tiger’s Mind by Beatrice Gibson, UK, 2012

Unsupported Transit by Zachary Formwalt, Netherlands, 2011

Janus by Erik van Lieshout, Netherlands, 2012

Rotterdam Short Film Nominee European Film Awards 2013:

Though I Know the River Is Dry by Omar Robert Hamilton, Egypt/Palestine/UK, 2013

Moviezone Award of the young people’s jury:

Les chevaux de Dieu (God’s Horses) by Nabil Ayouch (Morocco/France/Belgium, 2012)

MovieSquad IFFR is an initiative of EYE Film Institute Netherlands in cooperation with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and is sponsored by SNS REAAL Fonds.

Lions Film Award of the Rotterdam Lions Club L’Esprit du Temps:

Penumbra by Eduardo Villanueva (Mexico), Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Eurimages Award, best European CineMart Project 2013:

Jätten (The Giant) by Johannes Nyholm (Sweden)

ARTE International Prize for best CineMart Project 2013:

The Lobster by Yorgos Lanthimos (Ireland/UK/Greece)

WorldView New Genres Fund Development Award, best CineMart Project 2013:

Zama by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina/Spain)