The 2023 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will witness a heavy presence of Indian films, including the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Joram and writer Varun Grover’s directorial debut All India Rank.
Films in various Indian languages feature in diverse segments of the festival, which is held in the port city of the Netherlands for the past 52 years. This year, the film gala will run from January 25 to February 5.
Manoj Bajpayee’s Joram will be screened as part of Big Screen Competition, which aims to bridge the gap between popular, classic and art house cinema. Joram, which reunites Manoj Bajpayee and filmmaker Devashish Makhija after the success of their 2019 movie Bhonsle, is a survival-thriller about a displaced indigenous man.
“The film Joram is a riveting story of a man torn between his past and present. I loved playing the intricate character, Darsu, whose past and present have a significant contrast. On the outside he looks like an ordinary man that people may not even notice, but in no way is he a common man! A brilliant story with such impactful characters,” the actor said in a statement.
Varun Grover’s All India Rank, part of the Bright Future segment that showcases feature-length debuts, is a semi-autobiographical tale and centres on a middle-class boy named Vivek, enrolled in coaching classes for the notoriously competitive entrance exams of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
All India Rank, produced by Matchbox Shots, will serve as the closing film of the festival. It is joined by Vignesh Kumulai’s Karparaa in the Bright Future segment.
Two short films — Dear Me by Suchana Saha and A Flower In A Foglight by Gaurav Puri — will be screened as part of the Short & Mid-length programme, which is a showcase of films under 63 minutes.
Santosh Sivan’s Moha, starring Jaaved Jaffrey and Shaylee Krishen, along with two Malayalam movies — Senna Hegde’s 1744 White Alto and Family by Don Palathara — will be screened in the Harbour segment. The section features a range of contemporary cinema that the festival champions.
Ladakhi-language movie Last Days of Summer, directed by Stenzin Tankong, will be competing in the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition. The segment also includes Night and Fear, an Odia movie directed by Lipika Singh Darai.
The film gala will also celebrate filmmaker Manmohan Desai’s 1977 multi-starrer classic Amar Akbar Anthony in its Cinema Regained programme. The segment offers restored classics, documentaries on film culture and explorations of cinema’s heritage. It will also screen a 10-minute documentary — Blueprint of a Pleasure Machine, directed by Amit Dutta.
The IFFR has also dedicated a segment on India, titled Focus: The Shape of Things to Come? It features a line-up films and documentaries, including Kabir Khan’s 2015 directorial Bajrangi Bhaijaan, starring Salman Khan, Anand Patwardhan’s celebrated documentary In the Name of God (Ram Ke Naam), Kali of Emergency, Election Diary – Phulpur, Encountered on Saffron Agenda?, and Final Solution.
