2023 IFFR: First Wave Titles Include Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” & Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer”

As per usual, IFFR likes to drop a sampling of confirmed titles just before the official line-up unveiling (namely the Tiger Competition on December 19th) and Artistic Director Vanja Kaludjercic has front-loaded the 52nd edition with some bonafide quality film items. For the Limelight section we have Cannes gems in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun and Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland while from Venice we have Alice Diop’s Saint Omer and Jafar Panahi’s No Bears. The first titles in the Bright Future programme are mostly international premieres with Umut Subasi’s Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster and Jagath Manuwarna’s Whispering Mountains. receiving world premiere status. The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) takes place between January 25th to February 5th. Here are the first selected titles:

Bright Future
Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster, Umut Subasi, 2023, Turkey, world premiere
La amiga de mi amiga, Zaida Carmona, 2022, Spain, international premiere
Amiko, Morii Yusuke, 2022, Japan, international premiere
Clementina, Agustín Mendilaharzu, Constanza Feldman, 2022, Argentina
A los libros y a las mujeres canto, María Elorza, 2022, Spain, international premiere
La mala familia, Nacho A. Villar, Luis Rojo, 2022, Spain, France, international premiere
Shimoni, Angela Wanjiku Wamai, 2022, Kenya, European premiere
Whispering Mountains, Jagath Manuwarna, 2023, Sri Lanka, world premiere

Limelight
Aftersun, Charlotte Wells, 2022, United States, United Kingdom
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Pierre Földes, France, Canada, Luxembourg, Netherlands
The Blue Caftan, Maryam Touzani, 2022, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, France
Boy from Heaven, Tarik Saleh, 2022, Sweden, Finland, France
Eo, Jerzy Skolimowski, 2022, Poland, Italy
Godland, Hlynur Pálmason, 2022, Denmark, Iceland
Mediterranean Fever, Maha Haj, 2022, Palestine, Germany, France, Cyprus, Qatar
Medusa Deluxe, Thomas Hardiman, 2022, United Kingdom
No Bears, Jafar Panahi, 2022, Iran
Nostalgia, Mario Martone, 2022, Italy
Un petit frère, Léonor Serraille, 2022, France
Saint Omer, Alice Diop, 2022, France
War Pony, Riley Keough, Gina Gammell, 2022, United States