Yiannis

Source: IFFR

‘Yiannis’

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has set the first world premieres for its next edition, which runs January 28-February 7.

The Harbour section for contemporary cinema sees Cypriot director Kyros Papavassiliou return to the festival with Yiannis, about a family’s search for a father’s missing body, following his 2015 Tiger competition selection with Impressions Of A Drowned Man.

Hong Kong director Rita Hui Nga Shu also comes back with The Lapse, about the reality of life for Hong Kongers, following the IFFR premiere of Decameron in 2021.

Angolan filmmaker and artist Kiluanji Kia Henda also returns with Karl Marx, Luanda, a satirical future history that imagines the nation renews itself as a Marxist state. Henda previously presented his work in a shorts profile at IFFR 2020 and his commissioned performance Resetting Birds’ Memories in 2021.

The Harbour selection has also programmed world premieres by filmmaker siblings Iskander and Feisal Azizuddin with their comedy cannibal horror Ali And Ben’s Spicy Meats, Omer Shamir’s docuportrait Waiting Room and Ali Bakhtiari’s documentary Tehran The Obscure Atelier Of Desire.

The Bright Future section for debut filmmakers has set premieres by four directors including the US-born Ben Hicks with Kids Go Free made over 15 years across three countries, Parbat Chapagai with Dostoevsky adaptation Portrait Of A Young Criminal, Lucila Las Heras with the dark fairy tale The Muglur and Mohamed El Zayat with Egyptian ensemble dramedy In The Name Of Galeela.

Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director at IFFR, said: “Cinema is at its most exciting when it challenges our expectations, when filmmakers find new ways to express experiences, contradictions and realities that resist easy answers. These first ten films already offer a glimpse of that incredible range, from the playful and provocative to the intimate and politically urgent.”

IFFR 2027 titles to date:

Harbour

Karl Marx, Luanda (Ang-Port)
Dir. Kiluanji Kia Henda

Ali And Ben’s Spicy Meats (Mal)
Dir. Feisal Azizuddin, Iskander Azizuddin

Waiting Room (Fr)
Dir. Omer Shamir

The Lapse (Tai-UK)
Dir. Rita Hui Nga Shu

Tehran The Obscure Atelier Of Desire (Iran)
Dir. Ali Bakhtiari

Yiannis (Cyp-Gr)
Dir. Kyros Papavassiliou

Bright Future

The Muglur (Mex-Arg)
Dir. Lucila Las Heras

In The Name Of Galeela (Egy)
Dir. Mohamed El Zayat

Kids Go Free (US-Taiwan-Japan)
Dir. Ben Hicks

Portrait Of A Young Criminal (US-Nepal)
Dir. Parbat Chapagai

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