Rotterdam Business Head Marten Rabarts on IFFR Professional 2025

IFFR Professional, the Rotterdam Movie Pageant‘s trade part, and the 12 months’s first main movie market, is in full swing. Whereas different markets concentrate on main industrial titles with A-list stars, IFFR, true to its roots within the 42-year-old CineMart — the “OG of co-production markets” as new IFFR Professional director Marten Rabarts places it — Rotterdam targets tasks and filmmakers exterior the mainstream, often from components of the world the place the indie trade is small to non-existent.

Highlights of the 2025 CineMart lineup (see full checklist under) embody Enkop (The Soil) by Angela Wanjiku, a neo-western set in Kenya’s unstable ranch lands, and One thing Unusual Occurred to Me by Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which explores grief and trauma within the context of the continuing battle. The choice additionally displays a rising anxiousness throughout the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, with tasks like Cheryl Dunye’s Black Is Blue, a near-future dystopian story about trans identities.

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), an indie-film funder targeted on world cinema, performs a key function in Rotterdam market, and several other HBF-supported tasks are featured within the official lineup and in Darkroom, IFFR Professional’s works-in-progress part. This 12 months’s lineup additionally features a particular concentrate on Georgia, the place filmmakers are grappling with political and monetary pressures underneath the pro-Russia Georgian Dream occasion.

Along with the venture showcases IFFR Professional this 12 months will host the twenty fifth version of the Rotterdam Lab, a five-day networking and mentoring occasion for rising producers. Rabarts can be planning a brand new Writers and Administrators Lab, set to launch in 2026, to enhance the prevailing Producers Lab.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Rabarts delves into Rotterdam’s USP because the “first and authentic co-production market” devoted to backing “pressing, compelling, and artistically impeccable cinema,” and supporting filmmakers in danger around the globe. “We’re searching for tasks the place the cinematic voices are extraordinary, and the tales they’ve to inform are pressing and compelling—it must be each, at all times.”

What does the Rotterdam’s IFFR Professional do in a different way, or higher, than the opposite trade markets on the market?

It’s a extremely good query. It’s one we’ve additionally been evaluating—what’s the purpose of distinction with Rotterdam? One of many issues to acknowledge is that Rotterdam created the unique co-production market. It’s the OG of co-production markets, which has been replicated around the globe, typically with the help of Rotterdam. Being the primary and authentic co-production market, there was a variety of strain on what’s a limited-capacity occasion. The proliferation of markets has been supported in some ways by Rotterdam to take a few of that strain off.

What we’re now’s the place we match and belong within the present spectrum of choices. I believe we’ve been specializing in returning to the DNA of Rotterdam, which is supporting experimental filmmakers, LGBTQ+ filmmakers, and filmmakers in danger. This 12 months, the curation has been pushed by urgency and the necessity for storytelling. The work must be artistically unassailable, however we additionally take into account the that means of the work in a world that feels prefer it’s on fireplace.

This method has been aware of experiences I’ve had around the globe with trade professionals— producers, writers, and administrators — who wish to make investments their assets, whether or not private, monetary, or artistic, into tasks which have that means and may doubtlessly change the world for the higher.

There’s been an actual concentrate on social justice, with a number of movies this 12 months coping with the rise of authoritarianism, each present and historic, and communities in danger underneath these regimes. We’ve additionally seen an inflow of tasks coping with near-future dystopian realities, reflecting the anxiousness throughout the artistic neighborhood about what the long run holds.

How does the political local weather in Europe, significantly the rise of right-wing governments, impression the movie trade and co-production markets?

That’s a extremely good statement. The European movie trade is closely depending on state subsidies, and if political events cease supporting progressive works, it turns into rather more troublesome to supply them. This creates a special dynamic, and co-production markets like Rotterdam are underneath specific pressure to stay progressive.

Nevertheless, we’re considerably shielded from needing to self-censor, which is the worst-case state of affairs for a company like ours. Our funding from the Dutch authorities is separate from the federal government itself, and we haven’t felt any strain to vary our positioning as supporters of liberal voices. Internationally, we’ve been delicate to discovering tasks which may be in danger of their house nations. For instance, this 12 months, we chosen three movies from Georgia in our Darkroom program, our works-in-progress part. We believed in these tasks and felt that Georgian filmmakers wanted additional help.

How has the demand for co-production financing fashions modified, and why do you assume this mannequin stays related?

Co-production financing fashions have developed, particularly as American producers are more and more seeking to co-productions in a method they weren’t 15 years in the past. The European tender cash and co-production methods at the moment are organically linked, and it’s uncommon to discover a European movie that isn’t co-produced. The monetary devices and treaties in place promote a wholesome surroundings for co-productions, which drives the necessity for markets like ours.

Internationally, we’re seeing a higher need to grasp completely different funding fashions, particularly from territories just like the USA, Asia, and India, which have completely different funding methods. In response, we’re providing periods in our labs to teach producers from these areas about European tender cash and co-production treaties, and vice versa. This helps stage the enjoying subject earlier than they interact with the market.

What’s new at IFFR Professional this 12 months?

We’re increasing our works-in-progress market, the Darkroom, to incorporate 12 tasks, two of that are immersive VR tasks. We’re additionally laying the groundwork for a brand new initiative known as the Enterprise of Artwork Lab, which can launch in 2026. This lab will concentrate on educating artistic professionals—writers, administrators, and creators of shifting picture works—concerning the enterprise facet of filmmaking, comparable to IP, income streams, and financing. That is necessary as a result of whereas producers are extremely expert in these areas, many artists will not be, and this information can rework their relationship with producers and the enterprise world.

Moreover, we’re engaged on a brand new marketplace for filmmakers in danger—filmmakers who’re stateless or in exile. This initiative will present a platform for these filmmakers to current their tales and join with producers, even when they don’t have a producer or funding in place. It is a vital departure from the normal co-production market mannequin, which often requires a producer, a script, and a few funding upfront.

How has the altering panorama of streaming platforms impacted the financing and distribution of arthouse and experimental movies?

Producers of artwork home movies have at all times needed to be extremely artistic in how they finance and distribute their work. The rise of streaming platforms initially created a shopping for frenzy however that has since died down. Nevertheless, the theatrical lifetime of many artwork home movies now contains the competition circuit, the place competition charges can create a big income stream.

European tender cash funders are additionally shifting in the direction of funding fewer movies however of upper high quality. We’re seeing a rising synergy with the Hubert Bals Fund, which helps tasks that align with our mission. This 12 months, we have now six Hubert Bals-funded tasks in our choice, and this collaboration is prone to develop.

Are there any standout tasks on this 12 months’s choice that you simply’d like to spotlight?

One venture that stands out is Black is Blue by Cheryl Dunye, a queer filmmaker who has been directing high-end TV dramas like Bridgerton and Queen Sugar. She’s returning to her roots with this ardour venture, a near-future dystopian movie exploring trans identities. It’s a confluence of her creative work and her industrial expertise, and Rotterdam felt like the proper platform for her.

One other venture is Unidentified Actress by Ashim Ahluwalia from India. He’s an internationally acknowledged filmmaker whose earlier work has been chosen for Cannes and Venice. This movie is a part of a trilogy and displays his want for worldwide co-producers to entry world markets, though he has robust help inside India.

How do you see the function of festivals in decolonizing cinema and supporting genuine voices from non-Western nations?

It is a complicated concern. Festivals play a big function in taste-making, and there’s a danger of imposing Western expectations on movies from different components of the world. We’re having a panel dialogue this 12 months to discover how festivals can help genuine voices with out gatekeeping. The objective is to make sure that filmmakers from areas like Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa can carry their work to the worldwide stage with out feeling pressured to evolve to Western tastes.

What are your ideas on the impression of authoritarian regimes on filmmaking, significantly in nations like Argentina?

The rise of authoritarianism has had a profound impression on filmmaking in nations like Argentina. We’ve seen tasks from Argentina with zero funding from their house nation, which is stunning given Argentina’s wealthy cinematic historical past. One venture we have now this 12 months, Faust by Jasmine López, is led by a German manufacturing firm as a result of the native help system has collapsed. The movie offers with the transition from populism in Argentina and the affect of American intervention in Latin America, reflecting on the nation’s historical past over the previous 50-60 years.

Closing ideas?

Rotterdam has at all times been recognized for its help of pressing, compelling, and artistically impeccable cinema. In these instances, it feels extra necessary than ever to face robust in our roots and proceed supporting filmmakers who’ve extraordinary tales to inform. The work we do is about each the artwork and the urgency of the tales, and we’re dedicated to offering a platform for these voices.

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