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In case you’re in any doubt as to how you should respond when your hitherto mild-mannered husband announces plans to lead a religious sect — the answer is to run, very fast and very far — the Swedish drama “Raptures” should prove both engrossing and instructive. Even if you aren’t, writer-director Jon Blåhed’s film remains both those things, though the trajectory of its fictional narrative isn’t altogether surprising. Focused on a principled Christian woman in a remote northern village in 1930s Sweden, losing grip on her marriage and her social standing as her husband becomes an abusive cult guru, Blåhed’s script was inspired by the Korpela movement that spun off from a particularly pietistic branch of Lutheranism in the 1920s, eventually devolving into misogynistic hedonism — facts to which the film adheres with minimal luridness.

Still, “Raptures” indulges enough morbid fascination with its characters’ unhinged behavior to draw a curious arthouse audience,...

Croatian director Igor Bezinović’s documentary Fiume o Morte! exploring the complex figure of Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D’Annunzio has won the top Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

The film also won the Fipresci Award for standout film in the main Tiger Competition.

Mixing dramatic reconstruction and documentary, the feature explores D’Annunzio’s attempts to annex the city of Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) to Italy in the aftermath of the First World War, as a result of his outrage at the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference, which proposed handing the city to Yugoslavia.

Rotterdam 2025 winners

The Tiger Competition Jury consisted of Yuki Aditya, Winnie Lau, Peter Strickland, and Andrea Luka Zimmerman. The Jury also initially included Soheila Golestani (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), but she was prevented from leaving Iran due to a travel ban.

“This is a film where people...

Igor Bezinović’s Croatian docu-dramaFiume O Morte!has won the Tiger award of the 2025International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

IFFR’s Tiger competition celebrates up-and-coming filmmakers, with a €40,000 prize. Fiume O Morte! also won the Fipresci award.

Bezinović’s Croatia-Italy-Slovenia co-production is set in his home city once known as Fiume, now Rijeka in Croatia. The area has been laid claim to by a variety of nations since the First World War. It fuses documentary with dramatic reconstructions, from the help of locals, to interrogate the city’s past and present.

The jury said: “While it is a playful and mischievous film,...

Igor Bezinović’s hybrid documentary “Fiume o morte!” was awarded the Tiger Award, the top prize of the International Film Festival Rotterdam worth €40,000, on Friday evening. Bezinović’s film captures the spirit of Italian poet, playwright, journalist, aristocrat and army officer Gabriele D’Annunzio — who in 1919 occupied the city of Fiume — through dramatic reconstruction and documentary interludes.

In their statement, the Tiger jury said: “At times of the rise of ultra-nationalism within a contemporary European context, the film playfully grapples with the past not as a closed chapter, but as a living reality. Unless we engage the past as a living present it will insist in ways that are not only a warning for the future, but threaten the very possibility of equitable co-existence and a life livable for not only those that have recourse to assert power.”

“Recourse to ultra nationalism, and even fascism, resides in the core of national identity,...

Igor Bezinović’s Fiume o morte!, a hybrid documentary revisiting the peculiar occupation of Rijeka by Italian nationalists led by poet, aristocrat, and army officer Gabriele D’Annunzio after World War I, won the coveted Tiger Award for best competition film at the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), headed up by managing director Clare Stewart and program director Vanja Kaludjercic.

Jon Blåhed’s Raptures, which explores a 1930s apocalyptic cult in Sweden, was honored with Rotterdam’s Big Screen Award during the fest’s awards ceremony on Friday. The film is the first-ever feature shot in Meänkieli, a minority language in Sweden.

Tiger Special Jury Awards went to Sammy Baloji’s The Tree of Authenticity, a cinematic essay about Congo’s colonial past and ecological significance, and Tim Ellrich’s Im Haus meiner Eltern, a drama about an alternative therapist who must balance the demands of her professional life with the...

Of what use is devotion when it swerves from the healing to the corrosive? Jon Blåhed’s unflinching film Raptures swoops on the excesses of belief, surveying the fallout of its most blinded avatar. It becomes a solipsistic affair, shutting out reason and dancing to the beat of its own deluded, twisted logic.

Set in the 1930s and drawing from real events, the film draws us to the vicelike grip the ‘Korpela movement’ had on northern Sweden. The religious sect is successful in exerting its presence and influence, despite resistance and threats from the Church. After the proponent of the sect leaves the village, Teodor takes charge as the religious authority.

Teodor doesn’t strike as an individual who’s aware he’s doing harm. He is so sunk in his private, alternative faith he sanctifies all his base desires as endowed by the light of the sect itself. He...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will debut 14 feature works in its main competition and host on-stage talks with Cate Blanchett and Cheryl Dunye during its upcoming 54th edition, which runs 30 January – 9 February 2025.

The festival announced its competition lineups and talks this morning during a presser.

IFFR’s main Tiger Competition comes with a €40,000 cash prize. The festival also hands out two Special Jury Awards worth €10,000 each. The films selected this year include Im Haus meiner Eltern by Tim Ellric, Bad Girl by Varsha Bharath, and Guo Ran by Li Dongmei. Scroll down for the full list of titles. The Tiger Competition Jury will feature Yuki Aditya, Soheila Golestani, Winnie Lau, Peter Strickland, and Andrea Luka Zimmerman.

The headline guests of the festival’s talks lineup are Cate Blanchett and Guy Maddin, who will discuss their collaboration on Rumours. Also set for discussions in Rotterdam are DoP Lol Crawley and American...

The International Film Festival Rotterdam revealed the lineups of its Tiger, Big Screen and Tiger Short competition sections Tuesday, and the first tranche of speakers for the Talks program, who include Cate Blanchett and Guy Maddin.

Following their recent collaboration on “Rumours,” Blanchett and Maddin will come together for “an expansive dialogue about creative collaboration, the role of film festivals, and the enduring power of the short film form,” IFFR said.

IFFR will also welcome Robby Müller Award recipient Lol Crawley, in conversation with writer and film critic Peter Bradshaw to discuss his cinematography, including his work on “The Brutalist” and other highlights from his career.

Filmmaker Alex Ross Perry, known for Locarno’s “Listen Up Philip,” Toronto’s “Her Smell” and Sundance’s “Golden Exits,” will talk about his documentary “Videoheaven,” part of the Focus program “Hold Video in Your Hands,” celebrating the community spirit of VHS culture. Perry...

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) unveiled its 2025 Big Screen and Tiger Short competitive sections on Tuesday. Typical for Rotterdam, the selection is truly global, with films traversing from Montenegro to Malaysia, and from Congo to India.

The Big Screen Competition, which features films that bridge arthouse and popular cinema, features highlights including The Assistant from Polish directors Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal, whose It Looks Pretty from a Distance was in Rotterdam’s Tiger competition in 2012, Albert Oehlen’s Bad Painter starring Udo Kier, and the Japanese drama Yasuko, Songs of Days Past from director Negishi Kichitaro.

Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett and Canadian avant-garde filmmaker Guy Maddin will attend IFFR 2025 as part of the festival’s IFFR Talks lineup, to discuss their recent collaboration on Maddin’s Rumours. Other IFFR talks include a conversation with The Brutalist cinematographer Lol Crawley — winner of the IFFR’s Robby Müller lifetime achievement award — and...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the Tiger and Big Screen competition line-ups for its 54th edition which takes place from January 30 – February 9.

The Tiger Competition, which showcases emerging voices from across the globe, has 14 world premieres spanning Montenegro to Malaysia and Congo to India. IFFR said one of the Tiger titles will be revealed closer to the festival due to sensitivities surrounding its release. Another 20 titles play in IFFR’s Tiger Short Competition.

The competition includes Julian Chou’s Blind Love, which recently won the Screenplay Award at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (Fpp) project market.

Jon Blåhed found a timely story in 1930s period drama “Raptures.”

“Some of these things happen today as well,” he says.

Inspired by the so-called “Korpela Movement” – a controversial religious sect that first emerged in Northern Sweden and was later known for its apocalyptic beliefs and unorthodox rituals, as well as sexual practices – he wasn’t looking to spread gossip.

“It wasn’t just about taking the juiciest stories, but staying true to what I thought was important. I grew up in that region. I’m a son of the village preacher and I’ve heard whispers about this movement when I was a kid. It always felt a bit wrong, like something you weren’t supposed to discuss.”

Later in life, Blåhed found himself questioning religious dogmas.

“I was forced to go to church as a kid, and I didn’t like it. It was weird, hearing your own...

Exclusive: Picture Tree International (Pti) has acquired international sales rights for Icelandic box office hit Grand Finale (Fullt hús) for an EFM launch.

The Nordic comedy is the debut feature of Icelandic actor, writer and producer Sigurjon Kjartansson who is best known internationally as the showrunner of hit series Trapped and co-creator of Netflix’s Katia.

Have premiered domestically on January 26, Grand Finale is currently at the top of Iceland’s box office charts with a ticket share of 28% on the opening weekend.

The dark comedy revolves around a chamber orchestra working out of a rundown theatre in Reykjavik on a shoe-string budget.

When the annual grant from the city comes is to an end the orchestra hires a world-renowned cellist in order to secure their future. The media goes wild and money starts to flow back in.

The cellist turns out to be an execrable character but it’s...

Exclusive: Picture Tree International (Pti) has boarded sales on religious cult drama Raptures (Rörelser) about the notorious real-life Korpela Movement which took hold in the remote Torne Valley on the border of Sweden and Finland in the 1930s.

Written and directed by Swedish filmmaker Jon Blåhed, the film is inspired by true events captured in the novel Dagning; röd! by award-winning minority Meänkieli language author Bengt Pohjanen.

The drama, which is currently in the second half of its shoot in northern Finland and Sweden, will be the first feature shot in Meänkieli, which is spoken by some 70,000 people in the Torne Valley but was suppressed by the Swedish state for decades.

Blåhed took further inspiration from his own family history connected to the strict Læstadian movement in the Torne Valley region where he grew up.

The drama revolves around Rakel, a devout Christian believer whose husband Teodor forms a liberal...

New projects from Jenni Toivoniemi, Jon Blåhed, Erol Mintaş and Ester Martin Bergsmark are among selection

The Finnish Film Affair (Ffa), Helsinki International Film Festival’s industry strand, has unveiled the line-up for its market showcase of Nordic films and Finnish series running September 20-22.

Among the 31 projects selected is Jenni Toivoniemi’s comedy Butterflies, the director’s second feature after Games People Play which was also presented at the Ffa.

Also being showcased is Jon Blåhed’s new feature Raptures; Erol Mintaş’ Earth Song; Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Land Of Ferns; and Marika Harjusaari’s The Mire from the producer of Hatching.

This year’s Nordic International Film Festival is changing locations.

With dates set for Oct. 16-20, the fifth annual event will move to the Roxy Cinema at The Roxy Hotel in New York. Panels and parties will take place at the Park Avenue outpost of the Stockholm museum Fotografiska.

Started by two Swedish born filmmakers based in New York, Linnea Larsdotter and Johan Matton, the festival boasts its status as the “biggest film festival outside Europe.” The silent theme for this year’s progressive official program is climate change.

Niff will present one world premiere, six international premieres, two North American premieres, one U.S. premiere and 11 New York premieres among its multiple programs. 79 percent of the films to be shown this year also include at least one woman in power. Additionally, the festival promises a focus on up-and-coming talent to screen in its Aurora Borealis category — part of its...

The 25th New Nordic Films, unspooling Aug. 20-23 parallel to the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, will kick off with the critically-lauded “A White, White Day” by Hlynur Pálmason. The Icelandic drama which world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, is among 19 films set to screen, of which 13 are world market premieres such as Jesper W. Nielsen’s thriller “The Exception,” Venice Critics Week’s pick “Psychosia,”, Venice Days’ entry “Beware of Children”, Jens Jonsson’s “The Spy” and Jesper Ganslandt’s “438 Days”.

The hot Works in Progress session has 20 titles to be pitched to more than 300 attendees. Gauging this year’s crop, New Nordic Films’ managing director Gyda Velvin Myklebust underlines the large number of local films, genre-driven and reality-based stories, as well as the healthy gender balance -half the films are female directed. “There are many new female talents to watch out for,” says Myklebust, citing the...