INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM (IFFR)
30 January – 9 February, 2025
Art Directions Programme
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is partnering with Katoenhuis on the 2025 edition of its Art Directions programme - a space dedicated to immersive media where the festival steps out of the screening room and pushes the limits of what cinema can be, with immersive works from multidisciplinary creators.
Katoenhuis will feature four installations on its ground floor, including world premieres, alongside the majority of the IFFR’s immersive works.
This collaboration represents the start of a long-term partnership, establishing the venue as the new home for Art Directions and further expanding the festival's vision of storytelling beyond the screening room.
Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director at IFFR, said: “Art Directions is a distinctive programme within IFFR which allows audiences to explore the possibilities of cinema and the moving image outside the bounds of a film theatre – creating an accessible interaction between artist, artwork, and audience. Katoenhuis shares our excitement about the future of storytelling and the potential of new media as a tool for creators – and partnering with them both brings IFFR physically into a new neighbourhood and widens the possibilities for this programme both in the upcoming edition and years to come.”
For more information click here.
Katoenhuis will host four installations showcasing IFFR’s commitment to visual and sensory exploration. The works include:
Francisco Baquerizo Racines
La Quema by Francisco Baquerizo Racines, reflecting on colonial history and contemporary capitalism through the ritual burning of año viejo dolls, inviting audiences to reflect on the past and the future.
Basir Mahmood
Brown Bodies in an Open Landscape are Often Migrating by Basir Mahmood, exploring the gap between migrant experience and media representation through film.
Victor Timofeev
Alice, Bob, Carol and David by Victor Timofeev, combining film, gaming and choreography to reflect on arbitrariness and control.
Jessica Sarah Rinland
Extramission: The Capture of Glowing Eyes by Jessica Sarah Rinland presented in collaboration with Tabakalera, considering the aesthetics and politics of surveillance technologies used on animals through moving images, sound recordings and archive material.
The Immersive Media programme at IFFR 2025 invites audiences to step into transformative experiences that merge tradition, technology, and storytelling in groundbreaking ways. Together, these works redefine immersive art as a medium for cultural reflection and personal transformation. Immersive media works that will be hosted in Katoenhuis include:
Sophia Bulgakova
OTHERWORLDS by Sophia Bulgakova (Ukraine, Netherlands), which offers a sensory journey that blends Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) with Ukrainian traditions and pre-Christian pagan rituals. This participatory performance fuses ancient symbols, ritual songs, and modern XR technologies to explore cultural heritage and reconnect participants with nature’s cycles and the passage of time.
Luke Conroy and Anne Fehres
Revival Roadshow by Luke Conroy and Anne Fehres (Netherlands), takes viewers on an absurd and playful exploration of colonial history and its modern and speculative legacies. Inspired by 17th-century Dutch coloniser Abel Tasman, this surreal roadshow combines cinema, theatre, and visual art to present a humorous yet reflective take on complex historical narratives.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) upcoming 54th edition of the festival will take place from 30 January – 9 February 2025, with the full programme being launched on 17th December 2024. IFFR presents a leading international film festival and year-round programme and actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through its co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam Lab and other industry activities.
IFFR seeks to expand, enrich and challenge people’s views of the world and each other through film and audiovisual arts. IFFR’s programme deepens appreciation of cinema in all its forms, broadens and diversifies audiences, and creates opportunities for independent filmmakers and artists from around the globe.
Through IFFR’s visionary programming and forward-looking initiatives, we create a haven for the plurality of voices, audiovisual formats and diverse storytelling. We are an essential destination for film professionals and film lovers. We support filmmakers and artists with funding and development opportunities and advance the impact of their work in the world. We are accessible to everyone. Through screenings, talks, exhibitions, education, professional initiatives and funding schemes we bring people from all backgrounds together, enabling discovery, recognition dialogue, learning and development. We look where others don’t and we open a space for ideas, pushing creative boundaries that have the power to transform.
Concrete Culture
Concrete Culture uses the generative power of art, culture, and technology within (historic) real estate and area developments to make a social impact, drive economic growth, strengthen communities, and combat gentrification. Concrete Culture’s flagship initiatives include Koelhuis Eindhoven (former Campina Vrieshuis) and Katoenhuis Rotterdam. Both initiatives focus on Immersive Experiences (IX), offering communal workspaces, studios, and presentation spaces that actively support creative and technical talent. By bringing diverse artists, technologists, and makers under one roof, Concrete Culture initiatives create a space for research, experimentation, and presentation of immersive experiences and contribute to the growth of the immersive technology sector in the Netherlands.
