The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is one of the largest audience and industry-driven film festivals in the world.

Vanja Kaludjercic is the festival’s eighth artistic director since it was launched in 1972 under the leadership of founder Hubert Bals. The festival is renowned for championing young talent and offering co-production opportunities through its CineMart, the Hubert Bals Fund, and Boost initiatives.

The Global Search for Education welcomes Vanja Kaludjercic.

Vanja, what kinds of films have most inspired you this year? Could you explain why you think they are important?

It’s hard to think of a specific kind of film that inspires me the most. It’s bringing films and audiences together that sparks something unique and special. A film festival is about celebrating cinema in all its diversity and functioning as a catalyst for conversation and new perspectives.

But the films that achieve the biggest spark are usually the works by filmmakers who are most daring and stand for freedom of expression and of form. They are the ones that fuel us on a daily basis.

Think for example of The Cube Phantom, which is unlike any Hong Kong film you’ve seen: a virtually wordless dance poem in ten parts that manages to convey the spirit of Hong Kong in an incredibly piercing way. Or the mind-blowing Labyrinth of Cinema by the late bayashi Nobuhiko, which turned film into a time machine.

Technology has played a key role in film and indeed all the publishing businesses over the past decade. How will it continue to impact the Rotterdam Film Festival during/after the pandemic?

Technology has always been a key ingredient in the modus operandi of IFFR. Over a decade ago we started with our first online screenings, back when people were still using modems! We believe online means are essential for films and festivals to reach a wider audience. Innovation should always be top of mind, not just in extraordinary times like these.

In recent years we have initiated several experiments with digital elements, including IFFR Live. For IFFR Live we streamed several premieres live from Rotterdam to cinemas and streaming platforms across the world. Another example is IFFR Unleashed, our own streaming platform for films and filmmakers that are or have been part of IFFR. Both have been very informative in exploring new ways to reach wider audiences.

We’re further developing existing models and building new digital products that can help us reach our vast audience. These solutions are not a quick fix for the Covid-19 times but function as complementary building blocks alongside the festival’s traditional output.

You participated in the We Are One International Film Festival earlier this year. Do you see more global collaboration amongst film festivals going forward? Any lessons learned from this experience that you might do differently next time around?

We are very proud and grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the We Are One experience and featured amongst the most respected and influential film festivals worldwide, and most importantly, for a good cause.

We are already in close connection and contact with a number of festivals worldwide, but these times have brought us even closer. We’re helping each other out with information and knowledge sharing, and I don’t see that disappearing once the crisis is over. It’s inspiring to see how we’re not alone in this and we really are stronger together.

Films and filmmaking all over the world have been impacted by the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, the film industry globally faced challenges. What kind of future thinking and innovation is needed to ensure the arts continue to flourish globally?

We are currently at the stage where all stakeholders within the industry are sharing ideas and brainstorming on how to weather this storm. It’s very encouraging to see all the connections being fostered in this unusual time: there is more mutual understanding, solidarity and eagerness to collaborate. I hope this will endure post-pandemic: a resilient community working together more than ever and finding ways to create new works.

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All photos are courtesy of IFFR, with special thanks to Vera Cornel (Portrait of Vanja Kaludjercic) Jande Groen and Ruben Hamelink.

Thank you to our 800 plus global contributors, artists, teachers, entrepreneurs, researchers, business leaders, students and thought leaders from every domain for sharing your perspectives on the future of learning with The Global Search for Education each month.

C. M. Rubin (Cathy) is the Founder of CMRubinWorld, an online publishing company focused on the future of global learning, and the co-founder of Planet Classroom. She is the author of three best-selling books and two widely read online series. Rubin received 3 Upton Sinclair Awards for “The Global Search for Education.” The series, which advocates for Youth, was launched in 2010 and brings together distinguished thought leaders from around the world to explore the key education issues faced by nations.

Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld