Exploding Cinema

The 37th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January to 3 February) takes a closer look at Free Radicals: idiosyncratic film makers and artists who energetically take their own course.

By accentuating the element Free Radicals, the film festival shows how certain pioneers, who allowed themselves to be inspired by different disciplines, are again relevant for the latest generation of audiovisual iconoclasts.
As well as being a concept from chemistry, Free Radicals is the title of a completely personal and lively film from 1958 by an outspoken pioneer of animation, Len Lye.

It is striking to see how some do not strive for technical perfection, but consciously seek out a raw quality. They prefer to create and distribute a primitive but pure work made on their own terms to adopting the straitjacket formats imposed by the audiovisual industry.

The Rotterdam art institutions and the film festival are cooperating on the programme Exploding Cinema, and together we invite each festivalgoer to radically broaden his view on film culture today.