NRFF Amsterdam 2019 – Official Selection

NRFF Amsterdam in association with LAB 111

LAB 111, Arie Biemondstraat 111, 1054 PD Amsterdam info@lab111.nl 020 616 9994

A celebration of inspiring, independent artists and storytellers. Watch the festival TRAILER here.

FRIDAY 1 MARCH

BLOCK A: 12-1.30PM

EXPERIMENTAL REFLECTIONS (8 short films) Reflections about the confusing state of being: Musin (11m) * Halbschlaf (5m) * Sand and Flower (4m) * The Shell (3m) * Quiver (14m) * Somewhere in their heads (14m) * Slippages (10m) * The Last Step of an Acrobat (29m)

BLOCK B: 1.45-3.15PM

FUTURE VISIONS (6 short films) Mostly sci-fi / fantasy films about future societies: Palo Santo (15m) * INVADERS (14m) * KALEWA (15m) * Sould of Totality (19m) * The New Alpha (4m) * Siklus (25m)

BLOCK C: 3.30-5.00PM

DREAMS & DESIRES LGBT+ (6 short films) Ordinary and not so ordinary life challenges and heartfelt desires: Getting Started (22m) * My Mother’s Lover (22m) * Baby Gravy (11m) * Ruok (13m) * Under Tension (9m) * Zoe and Ari (10m)

BLOCK D: 5.15-6.55PM

MARK’S DIARY LGBT+ (feature film, 75m) [18] (Dutch Premiere) Mark and Andrew are two disabled boys. When they meet, an incredible attraction explodes but it can just flourish as a “mental construction”. A virtual love, a one day lasting dream and the awareness that nothing will be the same again. A film by talented Italian filmmaker and artist Jo Coda. The programme starts with a short documentary about a cabaret in the Pigalle neighbourhood in Paris: Creatures of the Night (26m) * Mark’s Diary (75m)

Mark’s Diary

BLOCK E: 7.10-8.40PM

INTO THE MIRROR (feature film, 65m, LGBT+) [15] (Dutch Premiere) The award winning film Into The Mirror is a thrilling and an emotional drama that follows a young man in London through what could be the most important week of his life. Directed by Lois Stevenson, the film has an original score by Jonny Jewel, composer of Drive, Bronson, Twin Peaks, Lost River. The programme starts with 3 short films: Duality (4m) * Daughter (5m) * Swept Away (12m) * Into The Mirror (65m)

Into The Mirror

BLOCK F: 9-10.50PM

YONLU (feature film, 90m) [18] (European Premiere)  YONLU is a moving and imaginative film based on the real story of a 16 year-old boy who, aided by the internet, won over the world with his talent for music and art. Fluent in five languages, YONLU had a network of virtual friends on all continents. However, no one suspected he was also taking part in a forum for potential suicides… HIQUE MONTANARI is an award-winning screenwriter and film director. He has directed TV programs and series, documentaries and short fiction films in Brazil. The award-winning YONLU is his first feature film as a director. O.I. (19m) * Yonlu (90m)

YONLU

SATURDAY 2 MARCH

BLOCK G: 12-1.30PM

RE-FRAMING THE PAST (5 short films) (mostly LGBT+) A beautiful collection of impressions of the past (with the exception of one short film) which shows the confusion of gender fluidity: The Remembered (5m) * Sparrow (15m) * TETA VELETA (22m) * Fragments 83 (19m) * Mimicry (26m)

BLOCK H: 1.45-3.15PM

LETTING GO (6 short films) Deep feelings being portrayed in a poetic, grim, funny way or with animation. John Savage (The Deer Hunter, Hair) stars in one of the shorts: Florinda Floriana (4m) * Salt in Wounds (20m) * 63 (3m) * Clothes (23m) * Easy Way Out (17m) * Bully (19m)

BLOCK I: 3.30-5PM

BENELUX SHORTS (7 short films with English subtitles) A talented mix of short films from the Benelux countries: The Dead Man Speaks (3m) * Theo and Anne (25m) * Bergarde’s Mystery Guest (5m) * Hard (12m) * High Tide (22m) * Eye for an Eye (4m) * The Glorious Peanut (18m)

BLOCK J: 5.15-6.40PM

MOMENTOUS DRAMA (5 short films) An Oscar winning short about assisted dying among other award winning powerful drama shorts: Off Piste (15m) * Spinosaurus (14m) * The Sycamore Gap (9m) * Mammoth (22m ) * Un Peu Apres Minuit (22m)

BLOCK K: 6.55-8.30PM

WONDERLUS (Wanderlust) (feature film, 75 min) [18] (Dutch Premiere) A wedding goes awry and the morning after, friends and foes need to piece together the puzzle of the night before. In search of answers, a groom needs to pursue the love of his life, a bride has to untangle herself from the past and a waitress tries to escape the present. (South African wiith English subtitles). An award-winning debut feature film (a modern tale of romance), with its excellent screenplay from South African director Johan Cronje – a hit at festivals worldwide. There’s also a mind-blowing short before it: Wonderlus (115m)

BLOCK L: 8.40-10.40PM

YOU GO TO MY HEAD (closing feature film, 120m) [18] (Dutch Premiere) In a desolate stretch of the Sahara, a mysterious car accident leaves a young woman (Delfine Bafort) lost and alone. Jake (Svetozar Cvetkovic), a reclusive architect, finds her unconscious. He drives her to the nearest doctor, to discover that she’s suffering from post-traumatic amnesia. Intoxicated by the woman’s beauty, Jake claims to be her husband. He names her Kitty and takes her to his remote desert home to recuperate. This intriguing debut film by producer turned Director Dimitri de Clercq has already picked up numerous awards at many film festivals worldwide, and will get a theatrical release in the US as First Run Features has acquired the North American rights. Few European independent films achieve this nowadays!

You Go To My Head

SUNDAY 3 MARCH (2-4PM): NRFF AWARDS PARTY