International Film Festival Rotterdam: Day 1

My first day in Rotterdam reminded me very quickly of everything I love about the festival and city — and things which leave a bit to be desired. It is grey, chilly, and rainy, which is to be expected here. But the city certainly has its charms and numerous museums and cultural spaces are within walking distance of all of the festival venues.

I had a nice time catching up with this year's Media Arts Residency Award winner Guy Maddin over lunch where he told me about his installation at the festival and his progress on the project the Wex is supporting.


Guy Maddin and Dave Filipi

In the afternoon I caught Deborah Stratman's O'er the Land, a project that received support through our Art & Technology program.


Deborah Stratman

Then Bill Horrigan and I attended the opening of Aspect Ratio, an exhibition at the gallery Tent that included installations by Morgan Fisher, Ken Jacobs and others. We caught up with another artist who has received Wex support in the past, Phil Collins, at Tent and then went to see his new work zasto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom), which is in competition in the Tiger Shorts category as is Deborah's.


Phil Collins and Bill Horrigan

Here are two of the festival venues and I hope to include more pictures over the next few days:





Tomorrow I plan to visit the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and still hope to make it back in time for a film or two in the evening. — Dave Filipi, Wexner Center Film/Video Curator