Audience ratings are a different matter though. A high average may not mean much when a screening is small and all the cast and crew were present with their parents, friends and neighbors. But when you look at several sold-out screenings for the same title? Then a high rating means that the film did not piss off a paying public, and that's an achievement in the Netherlands.
It will always be difficult to compare films which are wildly different, and even if you could, there is no guarantee that you will like a crowdpleaser. Maybe your tastes are special and your favorite won't even end up in the top half. All possible.
But for now, let's see what the paying audiences in Rotterdam thought. Because this 'gestalt' opinion is just as valid as a critic's is. And this year, things went slightly different than in other years...
This year, the festival was a bit smaller than previously. Government budget cuts to the arts sectors meant less money to spend, and to remain viable, the festival needed to shrink itself a bit.
Having said that, there were still 211 feature films to be seen this year, 83 of which were world premières. Of those 211, about 49 were not eligible for audience ratings due to being retrospective screenings or because the filmmakers were not interested in participating. That left 162 titles for audiences to judge, and out of those, 61 got an average rating of 4.0 out of 5 or higher. That is an amazing achievement for the festival. Judging was done electronically: whenever a screening ended, the ticket buyers would receive an email with an invite to vote, with the following choices:
5: -very good
4: -good
3: -fair
2: -bad
1: -very bad
So, let's see what the top 20 looks like! Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or on the thumbnails to skip straight to a page...
20: There Was Nothing Here Before (4.36 out of 5)
Swiss Palestinian filmmaker Yvann Yagchi wanted to make a documentary about a Swiss Israeli friend who, as a Zionist, had moved to one of the disputed settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territory of the West Bank. But soon, the 'friend' wants nothing to do with the project any more and Yagchi is left with just memories of their friendship, and a search for what remains his family left behind in the occupied territories. This documentary is a letter of sorts to his friend-that-was.
19: Power Alley (4.37 out of 5)
A rather more positive look at friendship can be found in Brazilian director Lillah Halla's Power Alley. In it, she tells the story about the star of a female volleyball team who discovers she is pregnant, just as Bolsanaro's government is putting in stricter anti-abortion laws, basically making the procedure illegal. Can her team-members find a way to get her to a safe place?
This film won the IFFR Youth Jury Award.
18: Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (4.41 out of 5)
Georgian director Elene Naveriani's film shows a 48-year-old spinster who becomes the proverbial late-bloomer when, to the astonishment and raised eyebrows of the local community, she enters into a romantic relationship with the village's deliveryman. Surprisingly intimate and explicit without going for glamour or titillation, the film shows that at any age you can decide to rethink how to live your life.
17: Grey Bees (4.42 out of 5)
Ukrainian director Dmytro Moiseiev shows the friendship between two old neighbors in the Russian occupied Donbass region. One is Ukrainian, the other Russian, both help each other and both know when to close an eye when the other is helping his faction in the war. Based on Andrey Kurkov’s award-winning novel.
16: 78 Days (4.44 out of 5)
Serbian director Emilija Gašić' film shows the titular 78 days in which a Serbian family needs to hide and shelter during the 1999 NATO bombardments of Serbia. A fictional narrative, it is shot as a series of documentary home videos showing the shrinking daily lives of especially the children in the family.
15: The Iron Claw (4.46 out of 5)
It took some time but finally we have a known American film in the list! Sean Durkin’s drama tells the bizarre real-life story of the Von Erich family, many of which were professional wrestlers visited by tragedy after tragedy.
14: The Old Bachelor (4.47 out of 5)
An abusive old widower rents an apartment in Iran to a younger woman with the plan to marry her (whether she wants it or not), leading him into conflict with his sons. A family drama by Iranian director Oktay Baraheni, this film won the VPRO Big Screen Award, meaning it will get a cinematic release in the Netherlands and will be shown on Dutch television channels later this year.
Tied 12: The Missing (4.49 out of 5)
OK, remember that in the into above I mention that this year, things went a little bit different? What I meant was, for the first time I can remember, we have tied scores. The numbers I show above are not exact, I round them to two decimals (and that may be nitpicking already). The festival shows the scores to four decimals. When they are still tied at that point, it means one single vote of "3" or "5" can knock you up or down the list already. So I will show them here as tied.
The first of the films tied on twelfth position is Carl Joseph E. Papa's animated psychological drama The Missing from the Philippines. Partly using rotoscoping, partly using traditional animation, it shows the world as seen through the eyes of its mute protagonist: an animator who is forced out of his bubble of social reclusion.
Tied 12: The Light (4.49 out of 5)
The second of the films tied for twelfth place is Alexander Lind's documentary about a Danish art project which should have been a happy memorial to the end of the Second World War, but which led to scandal and blacklisting of the artists instead.
11: Avant-Drag! (4.50 out of 5)
Greek director Fil Ieropoulos' documentary shows the daily lives of ten drag artists in the Greek capital city Athens, and tells of their struggles and fights for acceptance as a minority and as queer artists.
10: The Zone of Interest (4.50 out of 5)
Jonathan Glazer's bizarre and brilliant depiction about a family living a happy life on the other side of the wall at Auschwitz, in which nothing of the nearby atrocities is seen but everything is constantly heard, and rigorously ignored.
9: The World According to Carlijn (4.57 out of 5)
Another documentary, this time by Dutch director Ariane Greep. The subject: the fantastic artist Carlijn Kingma who makes almost impossibly intricate, detailed drawings. The documentary follows the creation and reception of her latest work, called "The Waterworks of Money", which shows schematically how the financial institutions work around the world. The film not only shows her craftsmanship, but also that her research is so thorough that at one point she actually schools bank directors.
8: Hammarskjöld - Fight for Peace (4.59 out of 5)
Dag Hammarskjöld was the second Secretary General of the United Nations, and at the end of his career, in the early 1960s, he fought for the independence of African nations. Director Per Fly focuses on those last months and has made an intimate character study of a man full of mysteries.
You can read Martin Kudlac' review here...
...and you can read my interview with director Per Fly and star Mikael Persbrandt here.
7: The Arctic Convoy (4.60 out of 5)
This Norwegian war suspense thriller by Norwegian director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken makes an excellent companion piece to Wolfgang Petersen's submarine classic Das Boot, as it shows a similar story as seen from the other side: a freight ship having to navigate through dangerous waters under unbelievably difficult circumstances. Based on a true event during the Second World War.
6: Stormskerry Maja (4.62 out of 5)
Finnish director Tiina Lymi's nearly-three-hours-long film shows the life of a Scandinavian peasant woman, immortalized in the five novels by popular writer Anni Blomqvist.
Tied 4: Blue Giant (4.65 out of 5)
Another tie! Two films reside on fourth place, the first of which is Japanese anime director Tachikawa Yuzuru's jazz film Blue Giant, in which three misfits strive to become famous musicians before their twenties.
Tied 4: Four Daughters (4.65 out of 5)
The second film in fourth place is Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's award-winning film Les Filles d'Olfa, released internationally as Four Daughters. The film describes a family with four adult daughters, two of which disappear one day to join an extremist group in Libya. The mother of the family and the two remaining daughters play themselves in the film, the two others are played by actresses. And apparently the film is very, very good.
3: The Promised Land (4.65 out of 5)
In third place we find the new film by Nikolaj Arcel (who we know from A Royal Affair and the Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower), starring Mads Mikkelsen (who we know from being awesome in everything). Mr. Mikkelsen plays a disgraced captain who tries to cultivate a part of Jutland but encounters fierce sabotage from the local landlord.
2: Viduthalai I & II - The Film (4.73 out of 5)
Blimey, a four-hour-long film topping a 4.7 rating? Indeed it is. A bit of cheating is involved perhaps, as the first half of Viduthalai I & II - The Film was shown several years ago and it was then an audience favorite as well. The second half of the story will be separately released later this year, but the festival showed them together - as intended by Tamil director Vetri Maaran - and the audiences apparently agreed with that because they nearly made it win the festival.
In the film(s), we follow police constable Kumaresan in India, where he hunts and eventually captures rebel leader Perumal, but instead of the end of his struggle it is the start of a suspenseful political morality thriller.
Speaking of suspense... what is on number one?
1: Green Border (4.82 out of 5)
See that insanely high rating? It's rounded down, even. Let that sink in.
A tough sit and a kick to the soul, Green Border shows the outrageous treatment of refugees stuck in the no-mans land between Poland and Belarus. Polish director Agnieszka Holland's fantastic drama is an angry indictment of the practices of the Polish border guards who throw people over (and sometimes through) the razorwire, against all EU regulations. It also shows how this affects the border guards themselves, people forced by the right-wing Polish regime to act more and more sadistic on purpose, but thankfully the film also shows the activists who take very big risks in trying to give the refugees a more humane reception.