Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
More than 20 years experience as coordinator and later director of the Rotterdam Film Festival make Sandra den Hamer an ideal juror for the New Directors section. She is currently director of the Amsterdam Film Museum where she promotes the latest work by young directors and tries to keep the heritage of film alive.
It’s interesting for her to be a juror because it’s an opportunity to see what the programmers have selected, as they have chosen a package of 16 films out of many other films, so she is not just judging the quality of the films in competition but also the quality of the selection.
The competition in Rotterdam was only for first and second-time filmmakers so what here is just one section, made up the entire festival in Rotterdam. Whenever anyone asked her about where the big stars were, she always told them that her stars were the up-and-coming filmmakers, many of whom ended up to her satisfaction at bigger festivals later on.