Rotterdam Names Ten New Films
The 56th International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced its first slate of world premieres, featuring a Dostoevsky adaptation and a Malaysian horror comedy.
By Lina Lewis ·
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the first ten world premieres for its 56th edition, which takes place from January 28 to February 7, 2027. The selection is split between the festival's Bright Future and Harbour sections.
The Harbour strand focuses on established and returning filmmakers. Kiluanji Kia Henda returns with the Angolan-Portuguese film Karl Marx, Luanda, following his 2021 commissioned performance Resetting Birds' Memories. Kyros Papavassiliou presents Yiannis, a Cypriot-Greek entry, after his 2015 Tiger Competition selection Impressions of a Drowned Man. Rita Hui Nga Shu also returns with The Lapse, following the 2021 premiere of her work Decameron.
The Harbour program also introduces new directors. Filmmaker siblings Iskander and Feisal Azizuddin present the Malaysian comedy horror Ali and Ben's Spicy Meats. Omer Shamir contributes the French documentary Waiting Room.
Bright Future showcases feature-length debuts from five directors. Parbat Chapagai offers Portrait of a Young Criminal, a U.S.-Nepal production that adapts Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment to a small-town Nepalese setting. Lucila Las Heras presents the Mexico-Argentina dark fairy tale The Muglur. Mohamed El Zayat directs the Egyptian ensemble dramedy In the Name of Galeela.
Ben Hicks brings Kids Go Free, a U.S.-Taiwan-Japan film that was shot over 15 years. Ali Bakhtiari presents the Iranian documentary Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire. The festival stated that these four debut filmmakers offer markedly different approaches to storytelling.
Vanja Kaludjercic, the festival director, said cinema is most exciting when it challenges expectations. He noted that these first ten films offer a range from playful and provocative to intimate and politically urgent. The complete program for the 56th edition will be released on December 16.
The descriptions provided by the festival outline specific narratives for each title. In The Muglur, a character named Aurora makes a pact with a creature while struggling to write a novel under her father's influence. In the Name of Galeela, a community in Egypt convinces a blind grandmother that a pilgrimage to Mecca is still happening after funds are stolen. Kids Go Free follows a taste for adventure through a kaleidoscopic structure.
Portrait of a Young Criminal centers on a destitute tutor who decides to kill his rich employer to save a teenage sex worker. Karl Marx, Luanda imagines Angola renewing itself as a Marxist state through a time-traveling love story. Ali and Ben's Spicy Meats follows two friends who run a pickle business and discover a recipe made from human meat.
Waiting Room documents the family of Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Zaanoun as he flees Khan Younis to Egypt. The Lapse layers life, declassified documents, and an AI-cloned voice to examine the reality for Hong Kongers. Tehran the Obscure Atelier of Desire shows artists in their studios while the threat of war looms outside. Yiannis follows a Cypriot teenager and his mother searching for a bird psychologist after the teenager's father vanishes from a morgue.
