06/02/2017 - For Bero Beyer, “It’s a joy to see how the films at this edition expand our horizons and show new visions of cinema”

The winners of the 2017 IFFR, with Bero Beyer (far left)

Indian film Sexy Durga by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan won the Hivos Tiger Award at the awards ceremony of the 46^th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), held on Friday evening – two days before the official closure of the gathering.

The jury for the coveted €40,000 prize (to be split between the director and the producer) underlined the film’s “daring and resourceful approach to creating a mood of constant tension”. The same jury – comprising Michael Almereyda, Diana Bustamante Escobar, Amir Muhammad, Fien Troch and Newsha Tavakolian – also handed the Special Jury Award to Rey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a co-production between Chile, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Qatar directed by California-born, Chile-based director Niles Atallah. In the jury’s words, Rey “is a visionary, ambitious and playful chronicle that has the intensity of a fever dream”. The Warsteiner Audience Award went to Barry Jenkins’ US coming-of-age drama Moonlight – one of the features competing at the imminent Academy Awards.

Congratulating all the winners, festival director Bero Beyer expressed his joy at this year’s edition, whose films “expand our horizons and show new visions of cinema. With outspoken and uncompromising work, the filmmakers at the festival emphasised the unique empathic strength of cinema in all its hues with films that struck a chord with the audience,” stated Beyer, who headed up the festival for the second year in a row. Besides the competition awards, the IFFR also announced the winners of the latest CineMart and the first Propellor Film Tech Hub initiative (read more).

Here is the full list of award winners:

Hivos Tiger Award
Sexy Durga – Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (India)

Special Jury Award
Rey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Niles Atallah (Chile/France/Netherlands/Germany/Qatar)

Warsteiner Audience Award 
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins (USA)

Hubert Bals Fund Audience Award
La Flor (Part 1) – Mariano LIinás (Argentina)

Impact Cinema Bright Future Award 
Mes nuits feront écho – Sophie Goyette (Canada/Mexico)

VPRO Big Screen Award
Pop Aye – Kirsten Tan (Thailand/Singapore)

FIPRESCI Award
Pela janela – Caroline Leone (Brazil/Argentina)

NETPAC Award
Children Are Not Afraid of Death, Children Are Afraid of Ghosts – Rong Guang Rong (China)

KNF Award
King of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Woodworth, Peter Br…
film profile] – Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (Belgium/Netherlands/Bulgaria)

MovieZone Award
Quality Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daan Bakker
film profile] – Daan Bakker (Netherlands/Norway)