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International attendees point to IFFR’s sense of community, inclusivity – and wide sweep of films.

“The one word that keeps springing back to mind is: finally,” says International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) director Vanja Kaludjercic, with the first in-person festival since the pandemic drawing to a close yesterday (Feburary 5) after 97 feature films world premiered, 2,195 film professionals attended from 92 countries and 11 days of sold-out screenings.

“Finally, we’re back in person after a forced three-year hiatus. Finally, we get to see audiences welcoming us again with such warmth and roaring enthusiasm,” Kaludjercic says. “And finally, we can welcome the filmmakers who...

Brittany-based outfit Ten 2 Ten Films, an independent house run by producer Gwenaëlle Clauwaert, brings an eyebrow raising, and entirely uncommon, project to this year’s NewImages’ Xr financing market.

Currently in development, the animated project “369” is described as an “immersive erotic experience,” set during the Roaring 20s, about a temple dedicated entirely to female pleasure.

“Our subject is feminine desire, focusing on three main axes,” explains writer and director Ãnanda Safo. “Arousal, pleasure, and orgasm.”

“The story takes place in a lyrical environment that toggles between something very grounded and something very symbolic,” she adds. “[It floats between] the real world and other, more poetic spheres, using metaphors to better depict female pleasure.”

With several fiction and documentary shorts under her belt, Safo was initially drawn to this project – her animation and VR debut – for the freedoms VR offered, and the ways animation allowed her to create new visual approaches for such a multifaceted subject.

TollywoodIn #WatchWithTNM, we revisit the critically acclaimed blockbuster that starred Balakrishna, Mohini, Silk Smitha and Amrish Puri.Balakrishna Ganeshan It’s been nearly three decades since Aditya 369 — touted as the first Indian time travel film — released. The science-fiction drama, written and directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, was a huge success commercially and was also critically acclaimed. Aditya 369, released in 1991, was made around the same time that Hollywood was experimenting with the time travel concept with a series of Back to the Future films, leading to the criticism that the film was a ‘copy’ of the franchise. However, Singeetham has denied this in multiple interviews and has stated that as a student, he was fascinated by The Time Machine written by Hg Wells, and that when he later got the opportunity to make films, he decided to make one inspired by the novel. To Singeetham’s credit, the similarities between his...