This year the annual International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will take place from January 21st to February 1st in, you probably guessed, Rotterdam. This year’s line-up is pretty much slimmed down as opposed to the elaborate but confusing programs of previous editions. The 2009 issue has a substantive amount of Tiger Awards nominees (films co-funded by the festival’s Hubert Bals Fund), including the opening film, The Hungry Ghosts, Sopranos star Micheal Imperioli’s first job as a director. One of the highlight programs this year is also called Hungry Ghosts and consists of horror films from the orient. Since the IFFR has an (unfortunately declining) reputation of screening unknown and obscure films from southeast Asia, the relatively recent revival of the genre will have a perfect platform on this festival. Other important releases include Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married and Danny Boyle’s Golden Globe winner Slumdog Millionaire, as well as the Italian mob thriller Gomorra. As with previous editions, Choking on Popcorn will extensively report from the IFFR bringing you small reviews and impressions on a regular basis.

For more info and the full program go to www.iffr.nl

Update #1: Louise-Michel, Wendy and Lucy, Tokyo Sonata and J.C.V.D.

This year’s edition of the IFFR seems to be more sober in practically each and every sense imaginable. The line-up has been slimmed down, the poster and new tiger logo plain and simple and the press facilities are mediocre compared to the excessive facilities of previous years. Continue reading