Japanese filmmaker Tanaka Toshihiko’s Rei won the Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), while The Old Bachelor from Iran’s Oktay Baraheni was presented with the VPRO Big Screen Award 2024.
Rei follows a young woman, with a stable but unfulfilling life, who embarks on a trip to Hokkaido where she embarks on a friendship with a deaf landscape photographer. The Tiger Award comes with a cash prize of €40,000.
Two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each, where awarded to Kiss Wagon directed by India’s Midhun Murali and Flathead from Australia’s Jaydon Martin. Kiss Wagon also won the FIPRESCI Award. The Tiger Competition Jury included Marco Müller, Ena Sendijarević, Nadia Turincev, Billy Woodberry and Herman Yau.
The Old Bachelor, which is Baraheni’s second feature following Bridge Of Sleep, revolves around two middle-aged brothers and their bullying father, who exacerbates the tense situation in their home when he rents a room to a young woman with the intention of marrying her.
The winner of the VPRO Big Screen Award receives a guaranteed theatrical release in the Netherlands, broadcast on Dutch TV by VPRO and NPO and a €30,000 prize, shared between the filmmaker and the distributor. The VPRO Big Screen jury consisted of Samina Khan, Sylvie de Leeuwe, Lisa van der Loos, Marcos Silva and Ella de Bruijn.
Among other winners, the NETPAC Award was presented to Ishan Shukla’s Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, a co-production between India, France and Germany, while the Youth Jury Award, selected by a panel of young local film lovers, went to Lillah Halla’s Levante, co-produced by Brazil, France and Uruguay.
Meanwhile, IFFR also awarded seven projects in the Cinemart projects market of IFFR Pro 2024:
4DR Studios Award: The World Came Flooding In (Australia)
Dir: Isobel Knowles & Van Sowerwine
Prod co: Film Camp
ArteKino International Award: A Distant House Smokes On The Horizon (China, US)
Dir: Shengze Zhu
Prod co: Burn The Film, supported by Hubert Bals Fund for development
Eurimages New Lab Awards:
Eurimages New Lab Award – Outreach: Duchampiana (France, Germany)
Dir: Lilian Hess
Prod co: Tchikiboum
Eurimages New Lab Award – Innovation: Cherub (Poland)
Dir: Barbara Rupik
Prod co: Madants
Filmmore Post-production Award: Les Diplomates (Switzerland, UK)
Dir: Andreas Fontana
Prod co: Alina Film
Wouter Barendrecht Award: Cherub (Poland)
Dir: Barbara Rupik
Prod co: Madants
VIPO Award: Alumbre (Spain)
Dir: Alejandro Telémaco Tarraf
Prod co: Zeitun Films