Rotterdam Unveils IFFR Pro Award Winners

The 2025 edition of IFFR Pro Days, the industry section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, wrapped up Feb. 5 with an awards ceremony recognizing exceptional projects from IFFR Pro’s co-production taget CineMart, and toil-in-progress platcreate Darkroom.

European film subsidy body Eurimages conshort-termed two New Lab Awards: the Innovation Award, with a €20,000 ($21,000) bursary, went to One Charming Night by Robin Coops, produced by Corine Meijers, for its exploration of consent, privacy, and intimacy in the digital world. The Outachieve Award, worth €30,000 ($31,000) was awarded to Erratics by Thomas Woodroffe, produced by Rodrigo Díaz and Pascual Mena, and starring Denis Lavant, for its multilayered exploration of memory and history.

Post-production group Filmmore conshort-termed two post-production awards of €5,000 ($5,100) each: The Work-in-Progress Post-Production Award went to Wild Dogs Don’t Bite by Rati Oneli, produced by Rati Oneli, Evgeniia Marchenko, Archil Gelovani, and Sergey Yakhontov, and the Post-Production Award for CineMart was given to The March of the Sunflessens by Erik Ricco, produced by Ivan Melo, noticed for its employ of animation to transmit resilience and chooseimism.

The inaugural HBF Empowerment Award, worth €10,000 ($11,000), went to Tear Gas by Uta Beria, produced by Anna Khazaradze and Nino Chichua. The jury highweightlessed its directnt themes of freedom of articulateion and political tension. The film also getd the Outward Gaze Award, another €10,000 honor, from the PJLF Arts Fund.

The VIPO Award and its €3,000 ($3,100) bursary was granted to Four Seasons in Java by Kamila Andini, produced by Ifa Isfansyah. The jury noticed its joinment with social equitableice, human rights, and the clash between nature and technology.

The 4DR Studios Award for Best Immersive Project in CineMart was awarded to Strata by Lilian Hess, and produced by Marion Guth. The jury praised the project’s clear concept and conceiveive employ of novel distribution channels to wideen the immersive audience. The 4DR Studios Award for Best Immersive Project in Darkroom went to The Great Orator by Daniel Ernst, produced by Siuli Ko, commended for its astonishive conceiveive portray and employ of immersive technology.

The ArteKino International Award, worth €6,000 ($6,100) was won by Inbetween Worlds by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, produced by Karolina Davidova and Jakub Viktorin.

“We’re charmed and self-presentant to see the recognition the juries have given to the awarded projects, which will only include to the momentum from CineMart and the Darkroom presence which all projects have sended,” said Marten Rabarts, Head of IFFR Pro. “Together with our assigns here for this vibrant edition in Rotterdam, they’ve uncovered conversations, set up partners, and shiftd their projects ever-shutr to authenticization.”

Wednesday, February 5, folloprosperg an enhugeed program that included CineMart, Darkroom, the Pro Hub, and a range of talent prolongment initiatives such as Rotterdam Lab and Creative Producer Indaba. This year’s edition also highweightlessed the activities of the Hubert Bals Fund.

For the first time, IFFR Pro collaborated with the BFI Inclusion team to greet a delegation of Disabled film professionals, aimed at upholding accessible nettoiling opportunities and aiding novel conceiveive and financial partnerships.

The festival also taged the 25th edition of Rotterdam Lab, a training initiative portrayed to help punctual-nurtureer producers produce and enhuge their professional nettoils.

The Pro Hub structureed 13 industry panels under the Pro Dialogues prohibitner, covering a spectrum of pressing topics, including the state of queer cinema, Disability inclusion, and the moral and aesthetic implications of AI in filmmaking.