RIFF 2011 About to Start

Countdown to RIFF’s opening: the festival is starting tomorrow with Vincent Morisset’s documentary on Sigur Rós, Inni, which is one of the most awaited appointments of the 2011 edition of Iceland’s best-known film event.

As RIFF’s main purpose is always to offer a space to emergent film-makers, the twelve films in competition in the New Visions category promise to be the main focus of the festival. New Visions has always been aimed at promoting new talents presenting audiences with their first or second feature film, thus the works included in this category are often expression of what’s relevant to the new generations of film directors.

Here are the films in competition at RIFF 2011. Some of these titles were already well-received both by critics and public at other renown international film festivals in the course of the last months.

• Atmen (Breathing) – K. Markovics (AUT 2011)
• El Campo (In the Open) – Hernan Belon (ARG 2011)
• Habibi – Susan Youssef (PLE/UAE/USA/HOL 2011)
• Lęk Wysokości (Fear of Falling) – Bartosz Konopka (POL 2011)
• Visul Lui Adalbert (Adalbert’s Dream) – Gabriel Achim (ROM 2011)
• Folge Mir (Follow Me) – Johannes Hammel (AUT 2010)
• Eldfjall (Volcano) – Rúnar Rúnarsson (ICE 2011)
• Martha Marcy Mae Marlene – Sean Durkin (USA 2011)
• Portret V Sumer Kakh (Twilight Portrait) – Angelina Nikonova (RUS 2011)
• Oslo, 31. August – Joachim Trier (NOR 2011)
• Io Sono Li (Shun Li and the Poet) – Andrea Segre (ITA/FRA 2011)
• Historias Que So Existem Quando Lembrada (Stories That Only Exist When Remembered) – Julia Marat (BRA/ARG/FRA 2011)

As with the previous editions, films in competition will be awarded the Golden Puffin Award as Discovery of the Year. Other prizes to be handed out to noteworthy works are the Church of Iceland Award and the prestigious international FIPRESCI Award.

You can find the complete program of the festival in PDF format here. Full and eight-coupon passes are still available for sale and venues will offer single tickets to screenings throughout the event.

We have great expectations for this year’s festival and we cannot wait to get started. We will provide coverage on films and on other RIFF-related events. You will be able to follow our RIFF updates on this page or via our Twitter and Facebook.