The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled its official lineup for 2022, which, due to the surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the Netherlands, will be an online-only event, THR reports.
According to the report, the omicron wave has also impacted this year’s lineup, including the opening night film, with Amanda Kramer’s U.S. drama Please Baby Please replacing Dutch feature Along the Way from Mijke de Jong as the movie that will kick off IFFR 2022 on January 26.
Andrea Riseborough and Harry Melling star in Please Baby Please as newlyweds questioning their sexual identity who become the obsession of a threatening greaser gang. Demi Moore co-stars.
Mijke de Jong’s Along the Way had to be dropped as Rotterdam’s opening night film after the festival switched to its all-virtual format. The film, a story of two twin Afghan teenagers in a refugee camp in Greece, will be released when Dutch cinemas reopen.
Rotterdam has also suspended its plans to show Sunshine State, a new art installation commissioned from Oscar-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) during this year’s festival. The work was to be presented at the Dutch landmark Kunsthal as part of Rotterdam’s multi-disciplinary sidebar Art Directions. Rotterdam and McQueen hope to present the work at a later date when it is possible for audiences to experience it in person.
