'Bowels of Hell' Courtesy of IFFR Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) enjoys a reputation as a destination for those curious about and interested in discovering new and unusual cinematic voices. So it comes as no surprise that the 55th edition of the fest, running Jan. 29-Feb. 8, is again chock-full of envelope-pushing arthouse movies that sounds anywhere from offbeat to outright outlandish. Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director at IFFR, has promised "an array of titles that speak to our mission of audience discovery and championing filmmakers forging new paths in cinema." Related Stories Movies 'Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story' Review: Solid Judd Apatow-Directed Doc Chronicles the Quirky Comic's Struggles and Triumphs Movies 'Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!' Review: A Japanese Widow Dances Her Way Back to Life in a Lovely Comic Drama Here is THR's look at a small selection of Rotterdam films that sound experimental, out there and different, to say the least. 58thDirector: Carl Joseph E. PapaIFFR section: HarbourSales/world rights holder: GMA Network Films, Inc. 58th Courtesy of IFFR After the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines, most of the corpses of journalists and the wife of a progressive political candidate were found. Not so the 58th victim, a photojournalist nicknamed Bebot. His daughter Nenen has since fought to get his killing - by forces directed by an influential family allied with the then-government - officially acknowledged. Papa (The Missing) mixes animation, TV news footage and Skype interviews for an envelope-pushing documentary following her tireless efforts. After all, "even though justice was partly served by the courts in 2020, Bebot's absence from the historical record continues to haunt his family," a synopsis of the film highlights. The unusual approach allows even unrecorded events to be dramatized. "Most touchingly, this creative approach opens the door to lyrical imagining of times past, present and future," points out the IFFR website. Dead SoulsDirector: Alex CoxIFFR section: HarbourSales/world rights holder: Exterminating Angel Dead Souls Courtesy of IFFR Legendary indie director Alex Cox - the man behind the 1984 cult classic Repo Man - returns to the screen as both director and star in this frontier fable of American greed, which is loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's 19th-century Russian novel of the same name. Cox plays a mysterious drifter called Strindler who scours the West for the names of dead Mexican laborers and pays top dollar for them. Other cast members include Zander Schloss, Dick Rude, Amariah Dionne and Edward Tudor-Pole, while spaghetti Western legend Gianni Garko has a co-writer credit with Cox on the project. "Pistol duels and crooked officials abound," IFFR promises. Don't expect any by-the-numbers-type straight shooting. Instead, "Cox's idiosyncrasy stands out as the film veers tonally through the picaresque, dark satire and genre curveballs you won't expect." Unerasable!Director: Socrates Saint-Wulfstan DrakosIFFR section: Tiger CompetitionSales/world rights holder: Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos 'Unerasable!' Courtesy of IFFR If you are thinking (like the writer of these lines), "What a cool name that director has!" - think again! Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos is not the real name of the filmmaker behind this Rotterdam competition entry. "And when the film is over, everyone in the audience will understand why," the IFFR website tells us. "The creator of such a politically outspoken work, one that confronts both the limits of civil liberties in an authoritarian Southeast Asian regime and the inner colonialism of a very neoliberal European country, would naturally prefer to take shelter behind an assumed name." The story the film tells is simple - and heavy. "An independent filmmaker, tortured for his participation in a pro-democracy movement, fled his home in 2018 and relocated to nearby Thailand, undocumented," explains a synopsis. "After five years, he left the region for the West, hoping to build a new and finally dignified life for himself. Instead, he became caught in another struggle, this time with bureaucracy." IFFR festival director Vanja Kaludjercic has this to say about the film: "The story Drakos weaves from various kinds of images, some rough and nervous, others with a more professional sheen, and gradually develops a serene poetry that seems impossible to foresee in a work with such political urgency. It stands as a film shaped by pure heart and true dedication." The Passion According to G.H.B.

Directors: Gustavo Vinagre and Vinicius CoutoIFFR section: HarbourSales/world rights holder: Carneiro Verde Filmes The Passion According to GHB Courtesy of IFFR "A hookup becomes a threesome; the thre