10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

Ajá

In the Chontal language of Oaxaca, Ajá means water. This cinematic essay explores and reinterprets the Chonta, the mystical rain ceremony of the people. This audiovisual creation was made by the filmmaker in honour of his late uncle Simitrio, a healer, musician and prayer. Simitrio will guide the
viewer with his narration

Asema

A grandmother warns her 10-year-old grandson, who is visiting her in Suriname, not to go out after dark. There is a vampire-like figure, an ‘asema’, who likes to eat children. He meets a neighborhood boy who tells him that the new crazy lady who lives next door to him is an ‘asema’.

Barbershop

Made for CIFF Project ‘Moments’where Youth are producing their own film with their smartphone, under direction of Anja van Bergen by Shandra Lanoy, Rodangelo de la Cruz, Joheidiene Floranus.

Buskando Juni

Juni is missing and his mother will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. On the other hand, is Juni really that good of a son?

I Can´t Be Moe; Alice van Romondt

A documentary about Alice van Romondt, the woman who has been a driving force behind the cultural and artistic scene in Aruba for years. Artists of all kinds and creeds have come to her for help and guidance on all fronts.

Infliction

Winner of the Public Choice Award, Best Movie, Best Director at 48 Hour Movie Project Curaçao.While a school principal refuses to address allegations of abuse at his school, strange things begin to happen to him.

La Última Ascención

Every day a young fisherman goes to the rocky coast of Curaçao to catch fish, although his mother doesn’t want him to. There he meets an apparition from the pre-colonial world. Wordless encounters follow, full of magic, ritual, and synchronicity.

Manchá ku goso

Manchá ku goso is a surrealistic exploration of self-forgiveness and compassion. The characters discover that true self-love isn’t about erasing flaws, but embracing them as part of one’s identity.

Nomade in Niemandsland

Nomade in Niemandsland takes you into the eventful life of Caribbean artist Felix de Rooy. De Rooy, queer and ‘of color’ is considered a pioneer. The first in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who since the seventies has freely told with his art what it means to be queer and Caribbean.

Roba Alma

Roba Alma delves into the intricate familial bonds within a quaint community steeped in superstition. Set amidst the rustic charm of Boca Samí during the 1990s, the narrative follows 19-year-old Markieta as she navigates the rhythms of her family´s fishing enterprise. Her fervent love for photography eclipses her responsibilities, igniting tensions with her sister Ivy and amplifying their already complex relationship.

Sakhaldand

This is the story of a husband and wife, with the woman trapped in a male-dominated society and the man trapped in his own macho behaviour. A simple, uncomplicated story that underlines the grip of a male dominant system around women.

Santos Inocentes

Her and Him live together and love each other. Him wants to have kids and Her is not so sure. Everything changes when Him believes Her is pregnant. Him realizes that maybe having kids with Her, is no quite what he really wants.

Shabu

A heartwarming coming-of-age story about 14-year-old flamboyant Shabu, who lives in a deprived part of Rotterdam. While joyriding, he crashes his grandmother´s car. His family punishes him by making him pay for the damage. He goes through hell trying to earn money with jobs and chores he despises.

Someone lied on the roommate form

Roommates ShaClean O’Neil and Lionel Messy have a catastrophic clash over cleanliness. As they try to come to terms with their different and conflicting characters and lifestyles, we see the roommates in imaginative scenes as opponents and rivals in various forms.

The Gap

The Gap was born out of a series of workshops with students during a residency at Instituto Buena Vista on the island of Curaçao. Two queer friends are slowly exploring the island when they find a message in a bottle on the beach.

The President´s Daughter & the Richest Freeborn Lady

The leading role in this documentary is played by the gifted and always energetic writer Cynthia McLeod (1936). She has set herself one last mission: to bring lasting attention to the history of slavery and the legendary first freeborn woman and first black female millionaire in Suriname, Elisabeth Samson (1715 – 1771). Filmmaker Mildred Roethof follows her on a journey through the Dutch colonial past.

Watamula

Watamula is where Curaçao breathes. It is also the destination of René, who emerges from a river and stumbles on his way. As he encounters sharp thorns and sweet rosebuds, rejection and consolation, he
clings to the amulet given to him at birth.

Zwarte stem

Artist and youth worker Bram Mvambanu (rapper Cycz) discovers his voice in a polarized world. He engages in probing conversations with people on the street and those close to him about racism, the slavery past and identity.