ROTTERDAM, Jan 30 (ZIZ): The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has crowned the winners of the highly anticipated Tiger Short Competition 2024, with three outstanding titles sharing the prestigious Tiger Short Awards, each boasting a substantial €5,000 prize. The riveting films recognized are “Crazy Lotus” from Thailand by Naween Noppakun, “Few Can See” from Ireland by Frank Sweeney, and “Workers’ Wings” from Kosovo by Ilir Hasanaj.
Amidst the 21 compelling entries in the Tiger Short Competition, the jury, comprised of esteemed personalities in the film industry, made their selections. Additionally, “I Would Rather Be a Stone” from Croatia by Ana Hušman has been chosen to compete for the coveted European Short Film Award. Notably, the KNF (Circle of Dutch Film Journalists) Award was bestowed upon “Daphne was a torso ending in leaves” from Italy and Greece by Catriona Gallagher.
The Tiger Short Jury, featuring former Tiger Short Award-winner Mónica Lima, writer and researcher Yasmina Price, and festival producer Jade Wiseman, had glowing reviews for the winners:
**Crazy Lotus:**
“Blurring the lines between reality and a peculiar, virtual world, this film is a wild ride. With its bold stylistic choices and unique tone, this film bends, twists, warps, and questions. Philosophical yet funny, mesmerizing yet kitschy, we were carried away to a distorted dimension, full of possibilities and meanings.”
**Few Can See:**
“History lives on shaky, uncertain grounds. Through imaginative reenactments and dynamic manipulation, this film exposes an always-present crisis around truth and evidence, document and fiction. Even as a colonial struggle over land and life is destroying another geography in the present, this film’s setting of 1980s Northern Ireland is a reminder of still active histories of repression and resistance.”
**Workers’ Wings:**
“A testimony to the labor of working-class people, made with an empathetic and gentle tone, this film portrays tragic events in the lives of individuals whose scars and dignity are beautifully amplified by an honest and humble cinematic style. The film’s formal elegance and restraint are impressively infused with subtle and captivating aesthetic qualities – chromatic, rhythmic, and haptic.”
In addition to these accolades, Ana Hušman’s “I Would Rather Be a Stone” is now in contention for the European Short Film Award. The film was praised by the jury for its “lyrical and sensorial attention to a landscape threatened by ecological and economic changes.”
The KNF Award, selected by the Circle of Dutch Film Journalists, went to “Daphne was a torso ending in leaves.” The jury applauded its technical prowess, almost tactile playfulness between analogue and digital formats, and its exploration of a fascinating artistic concept.
