30 / 1 / 2020

The 49th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) opened on January 22, 2020 with five participating AFAC-supported films listed among the festival’s rich line-up across various sections.

Lebanese director Wissam Tanios’ first feature film “We Are from There” (AFAC Documentary Program 2017) will hold its world premiere in the Festival’s Bright Future Main Programme section. The film narrates the journey of two Syrian brothers, Jamil and Milad, who escape their war-torn country to seek a better future.

The debut feature and award-winning drama by Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala, “You Will Die at Twenty” (Cinema, 2017) will participate within the Voices Main Programme of the Festival. Following its world premiere in Venice, where it won the Lion of the Future prize, “You Will Die at Twenty” continued its award-winning run, scooping the top prize at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, and the audience award at the Ajyal Film Festival in Qatar. The Voices Main Programme will also feature Lebanese filmmaker Ahmad Ghossein’s first narrative feature film “All This Victory” (Crossroads 2012), which scooped three awards in Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week in September 2019.

The IFFR “Bright Future Short” section, which showcases experimental and artists’ short films, will screen “Ceuta’s Gate” (Visual Arts, 2017) by Moroccan director Randa Maroufi, while the “Limelight” section will feature the family drama “A Son” (Cinema, 2017) by Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui, which picked up the Tahar Cheria prize at the Journées Cinematographiques de Carthage (JCC) in October 2019.

Discover the full IFFR 2020 program