Cannibals, Dostoevsky in Nepal and a Dark Fairy Tale: Rotterdam Fest Sets First 10 World Premieres

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first wave of world premieres for its 56th edition, taking place Jan. 28- Feb. 7. Screening in the fest’s Bright Future and Harbour sections, the 10 first titles revealed on Thursday underline IFFR’s “commitment to singular cinematic voices, from emerging filmmakers to established artists returning to Rotterdam,” organizers said. IFFR’s Bright Future program focuses on debut films. The first four movies selected are “characterized by original subjects, from claustrophobic fairy tales to tragic personal experiences and an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, representing the breadth of cutting-edge contemporary filmmaking,” organizers said. U.S.-born Ben Hicks will bring Kids Go Free, made over 15 years across three countries, to Rotterdam, while Parbat Chapagai’s stylized Dostoevsky adaptation Portrait of a Young Criminal has also been selected for the fest. Further debuting at IFFR will be Lucila Las Heras’ dark fairy tale The Muglur and Mohamed El Zayat’s Egyptian ensemble dramedy In the Name of Galeela. Given Rotterdam’s identity as a port city, IFFR’s Harbour program is designed to be “a safe haven to the full range of contemporary cinema.” Its first wave of selected titles digs into themes of surrealism, divided identities and personal resilience.The Harbour strand will welcome back to IFFR Kiluanji Kia Henda, who will bring Karl Marx, Luanda, “following the presentation of his work in a Short Profile at IFFR 2020 and his commissioned performance Resetting Birds’ Memories (2021), and Kyros Papavassiliou with Yiannis, following his 2015 IFFR Tiger Competition film Impressions of a Drowned Man. Rita Hui Nga Shu also returns to IFFR, following the premiere of Decameron in 2021, with The Lapse. In addition, Ali Bakhtiari brings his debut feature, the documentary Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire, to the Harbour program, while siblings Iskander and Feisal Azizuddin will premiere their comedic cannibal horror movie Ali and Ben’s Spicy Meats, and Omer Shamir will debut the intimate docu-portrait Waiting Room.“Cinema is at its most exciting when it challenges our expectations, when filmmakers find new ways to express experiences, contradictions and realities that resist easy answers,” said Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director at IFFR. “These first 10 films already offer a glimpse of that incredible range, from the playful and provocative to the intimate and politically urgent. The fest on Thursday also shared details on its 2027 campaign, developed in collaboration with Rotterdam design studio 75B, and echoing IFFR’s focus on shining a spotlight on “artists finding new forms to express the experience of the world around them.”Check out all the first titles selected across IFFR’s 2027 Bright Future and Harbour sections below.BRIGHT FUTUREThe Muglur (World Premiere)Director: Lucila Las HerasMexico, ArgentinaStruggling to write a fantasy novel under the thumb of her alcoholic father, Aurora makes a Faustian bargain with a strange creature: the Muglur. But what price will it ask of her? The answer will be found at the dark heart of this claustrophobic fairy tale.In the Name of Galeela (World Premiere)Director: Mohamed El ZayatEgyptWhen money for a pilgrimage to Mecca is stolen, a young man’s community comes together to convince his blind grandmother that she’s still going. Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed El Zayat asks us how far we’ll go for someone we love in his endlessly creative debut feature.Kids Go Free (World Premiere)Director: Ben HicksUnited States, Taiwan, JapanA taste for worldly adventures can bring passionate love and the thrill of the unknown, as well as niggling questions about economic security and one’s future. Told through a kaleidoscopic structure and a humanist lens over 15 years, Ben Hicks’ debut feature tackles these concerns in a miraculous manner.Portrait of a Young Criminal (World Premiere)Director: Parbat ChapagaiUnited States, NepalDavid, a destitute tutor, develops an attachment to teenage sex worker Sonya. Wishing to save her from the spiritual squalor of their surroundings, David resolves to kill his rich employer. A stark, psychologically vivid adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment set in small-town Nepal.HARBOURKarl Marx, Luanda (World Premiere) Director: Kiluanji Kia HendaAngola, PortugalKiluanji Kia Henda’s satirical future history of Angola imagines that the nation renews itself as a Marxist state. Via a time-traveling love story and bold Afro-sci-fi-spaghetti-Western, we are reminded of a rare basic truth: in the forest, political doctrines do not help the rain fall.Ali and Ben’s Spicy Meats (World Premiere)Director: Feisal Azizuddin, Iskander AzizuddinMalaysiaAli and Ben, broke buddies running a failing pickle business, stumble upon a magic recipe made from human meat. When their overnight success attracts the suspicion of a local politician, the friends must do what it takes to protect their nascent empire in this zany horror-comedy.Waiting Room (World Premiere)Director: Omer ShamirFranceFleeing from Khan Younis, award-winning Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Zaanoun moves his immediate family to safety in Egypt, unsure of what’s to come. Filmmaker and activist Omer Shamir paints a moving documentary portrait of this family, in their exile home, across one year.The Lapse (World Premiere)Director: Rita Hui Nga ShuTaiwan, United KingdomHong Kong filmmaker and artist Rita Hui Nga Shu layers life, declassified governmental documents and her AI-cloned voice to open a dialogue between the promises on paper and the reality of life for Hong Kongers. An uncompromising, impactful and radically human film-essay.Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire (World Premiere)Director: Ali BakhtiariIranA contemporary documentary portrait of artists in their studios across Tehran. They return to unfinished canvases, abandoned experiments and sketches of future projects. They scrape, paint, sculpt and listen intently to music, while outside, the threat of war looms.Yiannis (World Premiere)Director: Kyros PapavassiliouCyprus, GreeceWhen his father’s body vanishes from the morgue, a Cypriot teenager and his mother cross into the occupied north to find Yiannis, a bird psychologist from his father’s past. Kyros Papavassiliou turns a missing-body mystery into a dreamlike journey through grief on a divided island rarely seen on screen.