The Broken News cinema programme, compiled by Yevgeny Gusyatinsky and Inge de Leeuw—curators of International Film Festival Rotterdam—marks the centenary of the October Revolution and consists of recent films exploring the contemporary methods and images of propaganda.
The programme selection is made up of the latest works on the boundary between fiction and documentary cinema. They analyze the modern-day ideological space, ever more controversial and opaque—due in part to the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction, fact and fiction, truth and lies. To recall the historical prerequisites of modern propaganda and go back to the origins of the present political situation, the programme also includes the rare film Today (1929), by the pioneer of Soviet montage filmmaking Esfir Shub, and the film Foreigners Out! Schlingensief’s Container (2002), documenting a witty stunt carried out by the famous German artist Christoph Schlingensief—his reflection on the theme of the “turn to the right” and the migration crisis.
International Film Festival Rotterdam is one of the most authoritative and visited in Europe, along with festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Locarno. It takes place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, since 1972. The festival is focused on supporting and developing alternative and non-commercial films, focusing on films from East Asia and developing countries. Every year the number of visitors reaches 300 thousand.
Curators: Yevgeny Gusyatinsky, Inge de Leeuw