IFFR 2010 – Report #5

This is the day after… Yesterday, I got back from a thoroughly pleasant IFFR experience that went by way too fast. I was planning to do a final update earlier, but due to network problems (that occurred quite often the past ten days), I wasn’t able to post anything sooner.

Traditionally, yesterday the Tiger Award and Audience Award were handed out. Both went to films I have not seen (this seem to happen nearly every year). The Audience Award went to the Spanish drama Yo, también by directors Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro. I heard very positive signals about this film and all I can hope is it will get a release here in the Netherlands.

The Tiger Award for films (co)funded by the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund this year went to three films (which seems to become common practice): Costa Rican Agua fría de mar, Mexican Alamar and Thai Mundane History.

This concludes my contribution for Choking on Popcorn for this year’s IFFR (I also wrote for another, Dutch medium). Next year will be the 40th edition of the festival, which demands a proper celebration. Hopefully, the people in charge will succeed in attracting some bigger names, to reinstall or reconfirm the IFFR’s reputation, as well as book some larger titles to provide a better mix of popular arthouse, more commercial titles and hidden Asian gems.

This said, I think the 2010 edition has been extremely fruitful and definitely worth a visit. The amount of sold tickets was 10,000 higher compared to 2009. There are still so many films I have not been able to watch, which leaves me in utter frustration and eager anticipation for future DVD or cinema release.

As a final thought I now provide you with my top five of IFFR 2010 (from what I have attended that is).

TOP 10 IFFR 2010:

1. Un prophète – I consider the odds this French take of ‘The Godfather in the slammer’ for an Oscar in the Foreign Language Film category are very high.

2. A Single Man – Fashion designer Tom Ford’s first feature, or in fact, first film ever, is lush, emotional and simply gorgeous. I made me want to propose to Julianne Moore.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox – Wes Anderson seems comfortable in the animated field also, even when it is a Roald Dahl fable set on American soil. The top-motion animation is classic and not pixel-perfect which adds to the charm.

4. Symbol – Those who have seen Dai-Nipponjin, that was shown on the IFFR in 2008 may be aware of director Matsumoto Histoshi’s creative and twisted brain will definitely enjoy this film about a man trapped in a white room where there seems no way out.

5. Dial M for Murder – the oldie by Hitchcock was shown in 3-D, which provided a unique experience. All of sudden it became obvious why there were so many vases, lamps and bottles placed in front of Grace Kelly.

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