IFFR unveils 2025 line-up, Cate Blanchett, Guy Maddin to attend Rotterdam Talks

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) unveiled its 2025 Big Screen and Tiger Short competitive sections, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Big Screen Competition, which features films that bridge arthouse and popular cinema, has highlights including The Assistant by Polish directors Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal.

Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett and Canadian avant-garde filmmaker Guy Maddin will attend IFFR 2025 as part of the festival's IFFR Talks schedule, where they will discuss their recent collaboration on Maddin's Rumours. Other IFFR talks include one with The Brutalist cinematographer Lol Crawley, who received the IFFR's Robby Muller Lifetime Achievement Award, and another with directors Cheryl Dunye and Albertina Carri, who will address radical queerness in cinema.

The 54th IFFR will start on January 30 with Fabula, a dark comedy by Dutch director Michiel ten Horn. This City Is a Battlefield from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya, will close the festival on February 9, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Tiger competition jury this year includes Yuki Aditya, Soheila Golestani, Winnie Lau, Peter Strickland, and Andrea Luka Zimmerman, who will pick the winners of the Tiger Award. The short film jury consists of Angela Haardt, Frank Sweeney, and Yaoting Zhang, who will choose the winners of three equal awards, according to The Hollywood Reporter.