With its seventy-four feature length titles directed by first or second time filmmakers the main section Bright Future of the International Film Festival Rotterdam presents a large gathering of upcoming directing, script writing, film producing and acting talent.

The program includes seventeen world premieres, fifteen international premieres and ten European premieres from thirty-eight different countries. Eleven films in the section have been supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and five were launched as projects at Rotterdam’s CineMart.

Bright Future has been brought together by Rotterdam’s team of programmers, each selecting adventurous and fresh titles from their research territories. Bright Future provides the filmmakers and producers the opportunity to present their works to a dedicated festival audience and film professionals in attendance. Many of the Bright Future titles are linked to Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund, CineMart and Rotterdam Lab. The full lineup of Bright Future is available on the IFFR website here.

Bright Future’s seventeen world premieres are nominated for the Rotterdam FIPRESCI Award, chosen by a jury of the film critics including Diego Lerer (Inrockuptibles, OtrosCines, Argentina), Robert Koehler (ao. Film Comment, USA), Ronald Rovers (de Filmkrant, Netherlands), Boris Nelepo (ao. Kinote.info, Mubi.com, Russia) and Nam De-Eun (Cine21, South Korea) assisted by the five participants of IFFR’s Trainee Project for Young Film Critics.

Three films from Bright Future section are eligible for the two awards in IFFR’s new The Big Screen Award Competition, chosen by an audience jury and by a jury of Dutch film critics. The winning films will receive a guaranteed offer for distribution in the Benelux in collaboration with Amstelfilms. The ten competing films will be announced shortly.

Further to the two Dutch films in Tiger Awards competition, no less than seven Dutch films will premiere in Bright Future section. They include Die Welt, first feature of Dutch-Tunisian filmmaker Alex Pitstra; DEAD BODY WELCOME a first feature based on true events by Kees Brienen. Richard Raaphorst presents action-packed horror in his début feature Frankenstein's Army about a mad scientist that creates an unstoppable army of undead soldiers.

Other World premieres include The Delivery Guy, an impressively directed tale of the fate a pizza delivery man by Andrey Stempkovsky. A Fallible Girl, Conrad Clark’s expressive feature is set among Chinese entrepreneurs in Dubai. Our Nixon, a first feature by artist Penny Lane, is based on the Super 8-films, previously unseen, made by Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin during their years working for Nixon.

New films, making their first international appearance, include Jonathas’ Forest after its successful premiere in Rio de Janeiro; GFP Bunny, the controversial second feature by Peep “TV” Show director Tsuchiya Yutaka; Une histoire d’amour by actress / filmmaker Hélène Fillières starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Laetitia Casta; or family drama Las lágrimas by Pablo Delgado Sánchez from Mexico.

Like every year, Bright Future also includes films that have already been successful in other festivals, such as Carne de Perro, Blancanieves, Miss Lovely or the Hubert Bals Fund-supported films Los salvajes and La playa D.C. (Cannes), Wadjda and Leones (Venice), Poor Folk (Vancouver and Busan) and Mai morire (Rome).

IFFR 2013 Bright Future: list of films with premiere status, alphabetically by production country

World premieres

Fahrtwind - Aufzeichnungen einer Reisenden/Fair Wind - Notes of a Traveller, Bernadette Weigel, Austria, 2013, World premiere

Diego Star, Frédérick Pelletier, Canada/Belgium, 2013, World premiere, CineMart Project 2010

Nordvest, Michael Noer, Denmark, 2013, World premiere

Foudre/Lightning, Manuela Morgaine, France, 2013, World premiere

On Mother's Head, Putu Kusuma Widjaya, Indonesia, 2013, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Matterhorn, Diederik Ebbinge, Netherlands, 2013, World premiere

Toegetakeld door de liefde/Devastated by Love, Ari Deelder, Netherlands, 2013, World premiere

DEAD BODY WELCOME, Kees Brienen, Netherlands, 2013, World premiere

De nieuwe wereld/The New World, Jaap van Heusden, Netherlands, 2013, World premiere

Frankenstein's Army, Richard Raaphorst, Netherlands/Czech Republic/USA, 2013, World premiere

Matei copil miner/ Matei Child Miner, Alexandra Gulea, Romania/Germany/France, 2013, World premiere

Raznoschik /The Delivery Guy, Andrey Stempkovsky, Russia, 2013, World premiere

Disappearing Landscape, Vladimir Todorovic, Singapore/Serbia/Spain, 2013, World premiere

Dakujem, dobre/Fine, Thanks, Mátyás Prikler, Slovakia, 2013, World premiere

O quinto evanxeo de Gaspar Hauser/The Fifth Gospel of Kaspar Hauser, Alberto Gracia, Spain, 2013, World premiere

A Fallible Girl, Conrad Clark, United Arab Emirates/China/United Kingdom, 2013, World premiere

Towheads, Shannon Plumb, USA, 2013, World premiere

Our Nixon, Penny Lane, USA, 2013, World premiere

My Sister's Quinceañera, Aaron Douglas Johnston, USA, 2013, World premiere

International premieres

A floresta de Jonathas/Jonathas’ Forest, Sérgio Andrade, Brazil, 2012, International premiere

Ninah's Dowry, Victor Viyuoh, Cameroon/USA, 2012, International premiere

Krivina, Igor Drljaca, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2012, International premiere

Melaza/Molasses, Carlos Lechuga, Cuba/France/Panama, 2012, International premiere

Kidd Life, Andreas Johnsen, Denmark, 2012, International premiere

Une histoire d'amour/Tied, Hélène Fillières, France/Luxembourg, 2012, International premiere

Ma belle gosse/My Blue Eyed Girl, Shalimar Preuss, France, 2012, International premiere, CineMart Project 2011

5 Jahre/5 Years, Stefan Schaller, Germany, 2013, International premiere

I.D., Kamal Karamattathil Muhammed, India, 2012, International premiere

Thallium shoujo no dokusatsu nikki/GFP Bunny, Tsuchiya Yutaka, Japan, 2012, International premiere

Las lágrimas/The Tears, Pablo Delgado Sánchez, Mexico, 2012, International premiere

Big Boy, Shireen Seno, Philippines, 2012, International premiere

F*ck for Forest, Michal Marczak, Poland, 2012, International premiere

Ilgugugu, myeon hue/Sunshine Boys, Kim Tae-Gon, South Korea, 2012, International premiere

Hassel - Privatspanarna/Roland Hassel, Måns Månsson, Sweden, 2012, International premiere

European premieres

Kayan, Maryam Najafi, Canada/Iran/Lebanon, 2012, European premiere

Four Ways to Die in My Hometown, Chai Chunya, China, 2012, European premiere

Tang huang you di fu/Emperor Visits the Hell, Li Luo, China/Canada, 2012, European premiere

Yang tidak dibicarakan ketika membicarakan cinta/What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love, Mouly Surya, Indonesia, 2013, European premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Ziba, Bani Khoshnoudi, Iran/France, 2012, European premiere

Miryoku no ningen /The Charm of Others, Ninomiya Ryutaro, Japan, 2012, European premiere

Die Welt, Alex Pitstra, Netherlands, 2012, European premiere

De ontmaagding van Eva van End/The Deflowering of Eva van End, Michiel ten Horn, Netherlands, 2012, European premiere

Qiong Ren, Liu Lian, Ma Yao, Tou Du Ke/Poor Folk, Midi Z, Taiwan/Myanmar, 2012, European premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Also selected in Bright Future 2013

Los salvajes/The Wild Ones, Alejandro Fadel, Argentina, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Leones, Jazmín López, Argentina/France/Netherlands, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film, CineMart Project 2010

Kern, Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, Austria, 2012

Avanti popolo, Michael Wahrmann, Brazil, 2012

Carne de perro, Fernando Guzzoni, Chile/France/Germany, 2012

The Love Songs of Tiedan, Hao Jie, China, 2012

Ji yi wang zhe wo/Memories Look at Me, Song Fang, China, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

La Playa D.C./The Beach, Juan Andrés Arango, Colombia, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Rengaine/Hold Back, Rachid Djaïdani, France, 2012

L' étoile du jour/The Morning Star, Sophie Blondy, France, 2012

Syngué sabour/The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan/France, 2012

Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not, David Sieveking, Germany, 2012

Oh Boy, Jan Ole Gerster, Germany, 2012

Errors of the Human Body, Eron Sheean, Germany/Australia, 2012, CineMart Project 2008

To agori troi to fagito tou pouliou/Boy Eating the Bird's Food, Ektoras Lygizos, Greece, 2012

Ship of Theseus, Anand Gandhi, India, 2012

Miss Lovely, Ashim Ahluwalia, India, 2012

Vakansiy yang janggal dan penyakit lainnya/Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses, Yosep Anggi Noen, Indonesia, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Nairobi Half Life, David 'Tosh' Gitonga, Kenya/Germany, 2012

Mai morire, Enrique Rivero, Mexico, 2012

90 Minutter/90 Minutes, Eva Sørhaug, Norway, 2012

Ixjana, Józef Skolimowski & Michal Skolimowski, Poland, 2013

Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia/Germany, 2012, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film

Tall as the Baobab Tree, Jeremy Teicher, Senegal, 2012

Jam mot deuneun bam/Sleepless Night, Jang Kun-Jae, South Korea, 2012

Blancanieves/Snow White, Pablo Berger, Spain/France, 2012

Callgirl/Call Girl, Mikael Marcimain, Sweden/Ireland/Norway/Finland, 2012, CineMart Project 2008

The Radiant, The Otolith Group, United Kingdom, 2012

Wasteland, Rowan Athale, United Kingdom, 2012

Simon Killer, Antonio Campos, USA, 2012

Bassa marea/Low Tide, Roberto Minervini, USA/Italy/Belgium, 2012