Variety, CA
Dec 13 2008
Rotterdam unveils nominees
‘Dogging’ will premiere in competition
By IAN MUNDELL
The Rotterdam Film Festival, one of the world’s leading events for
avant-garde pics, on Friday unveiled five of the 15 films that will
compete for its VPRO Tiger Awards plus the 35 projects selected for
co-production market CineMart.
Preeming in competition is Brit Simon Ellis’ feature debut, "Dogging:
A Love Story," about a boy obsessed with casual sex in parking lots.
It is joined by Ramtin Lavafipour’s "Be Calm and Count to Seven,"
about smugglers on an Iranian island, while Naito Takatsugu’s "Dark
Harbor" shows life in a Japanese fishing village.
"Breathless," by Yang Ik-june, unfolds the relationship between a
South Korean gangster and a precocious schoolgirl; from Taiwan, Leon
Dai’s "No puedo vivir sin ti" concerns a father whose vagrant
lifestyle endangers his family.
The Tiger jury includes South African artist Marlene Dumas, helmers
Yesim Ustaoglu from Turkey and Kornel Mundruczo from Hungary, and Park
Ki-yong, director of the Film Academy in Seoul.
Other world preems at the fest include U.S. docu "Fixer: The Taking of
Ajmal Naqshbandi" by Ian Olds, which recounts the tragic fate of a
guide and translator hired by journalists reporting in Afghanistan.
New films have been commissioned from Guy Maddin, Carlos Reygadas and
Nanouk Leopold. All three will create work for extra-large screens
mounted on three Rotterdam office blocks.
Also bowing in Rotterdam are "Dazzling," by Dutch helmer Cyrus Frisch,
featuring Rutger Hauer; "FILM IST. a girl & a gun" by Austrian Gustav
Deutsch; and "Border," by Armenian Harutyun Khachatryan.
The full competition lineup will be unveiled in early January.
Notable CineMart projects include oil industry tale "Pioneer" from
Norwegian helmer Erik Skjoldbjaerg, best known Stateside for his 1997
thriller "Insomnia," remade in 2002 by Christopher Nolan; and New
Zealand helmer Taika Waititi’s "Tama." Waititi’s debut, "Eagle vs
Shark" played at Sundance in 2007.
Fest unspools Jan. 21-Feb. 1, with the 26th CineMart running
Jan. 25-29.
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