Festivals in the City

Since this film festival has taken up much of my waking hours the past two weeks (from the 24th of January until tonight's last hurrah!) I feel as though I should give a little more detail about what the festival meant to the city in my eyes.

The festival itself, while concentrated in the centre of Rotterdam (North), was visible through all of Rotterdam. Last Saturday, I travelled toward Rotterdam South in order to meet up with another English teacher for some preparatory work for my English lessons. While there, I noticed numerous posters of the iconic 'tiger' face were plastered everywhere! Rotterdam's mascot for the festival is a tiger. These fuzzy faces were not only in my tram but also littering the pleins (open grass areas), tram and bus stops, and hanging-up on the sides of buildings. In the area where I live in the north, I also saw these posters and was handed one of the variously designed postcards in the local cafes announcing the arrival of the festival. However, it's not just advertising however that makes the presence of this festival felt.

Photo - Although it's hard to see, these are flags with the festival's tiger on them that are surrounding a central fountain (Hofplein). I saw these a week before the festival started. They are on my way into the city.

In and around the centre one has a hard time finding a cafe to sit in or an empty seat in a square (weather depending of course). While walking around the festival last week, I was able to step out for a quick bite with some of Pdot's friends, Ddot and his wonderful girlfriend Rana. As we had only a short time we tried to find a place close by however, we ended up walking in and out of four places due to their busyness before finally settling in the Selexy-Doner (the Dutch version of Chapters or Indigo).

On the streets, one can feel the accelerated pulse of the city as it beats faster with all the international as well as national visitors. Malt, my cousin, came to no fewer than four movies during the festival and I think this is typical of the intensified vibrancy that seems to have suddenly gripped Rotterdam. Cinemo actually said to me, on our only coffee break (we were working very hard during the festival!), 'Rotterdam portrays itself as a festival city, in order to attract tourists'. While I've heard that Rotterdam has begun to loose its reputation as the place to party in the Netherlands, no one can dispute the popularity of the festival that seemed to reach quite far into the boroughs throughout the city and beyond.

Instead of hanging around in the neighbourhood bars, more people came to the centre of town to watch a movie and then come to the after parties (of which there were many to choose from). The festival itself had its own Rotterdam section where people from Rotterdam were able to showcase their work. For the first time ever there was a focus on African Cinema which most likely spoke to certain Rotterdammers over others. The festival, while not directly linked to my research question, affected people living in my neighbourhoods just the same.