Ard Vijn
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Ard joined Twitch in November 2006, promising Todd to share information about the Dutch film industry. Instead, he focuses on Asian cinema and Japanese animation in particular. Once every year he nearly becomes the writer he so desperately wants to be and that is during the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He juggles his time between his wife and two sons, films, and a career-on-the-side as a financial analyst.

HATCHET III Teaser... Teases.
The Hatchet films have built up their following by adhering strongly to their own cast-iron formula: keep it fun, keep it gory, and keep the effects old-school instead of CGI. Oh, and have your hulking indestructible serial killer played by... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IMAGINE 2013 Reveals Its Dizzying Line-up
What started decades ago as The Weekend Of Terror soon had to be renamed into the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, because it incorporated more than just horror. A good thing too, as this inclusion of other genres made the festival... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

NEW KIDS Directors Announce Romantic Comedy BRO'S BEFORE HO'S
Whenever I interview directors, for fun's sake I always try and ask if their next film will be a romantic comedy. No matter how pretentious, arty or depressing the conversation is, this tends to draw a laugh.  But if today... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DVD Review: PRINCESS JELLYFISH Exhibits Other Kinds Of Otaku
(Me, I'm not an Otaku, I just collect stuff fanatically...) By now you just need to mention noitanimA and my ears will prick up. Over the past few years there have been so many interesting anime series aired in Fuji... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DVD/Blu-Ray Review: TIGER & BUNNY (Ep 1-7) Will Be Up Right After The Break!
(And here we see Reviewer Man, arriving at the scene of the crime...) Last month, Manga UK and Kaze UK released the first part of the anime series Tiger & Bunny in the UK. This is a slick-looking series which... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: MATTERHORN Climbs To An Emotional High
(This one puts the gut-punch back in Punchline...) This year, Matterhorn won the Audience Award of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the first Dutch film since 1997's The Polish Bride to do so. Local films were strongly represented in the... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: DIEGO STAR Brings Canadian/Russian Injustice To Light
(Of all the places to get stuck in...) One of the many world premieres this year at the International Film Festival Rotterdam was the Canadian-Belgian social drama Diego Star, about a sailor from Ivory Coast who is left abandoned near... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: LONGING FOR THE RAIN Gives An Unflinching Look At Sexual Desire
(Apparently, rainy nights make for wet dreaming...) Despite the reputation of the International Film Festival Rotterdam for being one of the main portals to Asian cinema, this year there weren't many films from China. What was there was pretty special,... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: HALLEY Begs Sympathy For The Zombie
(For starters, they're so sloooo-ooow...) While there weren't as many genre films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam as, say, ten years ago, this year it actually featured two new zombie films. Amazingly, both titles managed to bring something new... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Our Facebook Quiz Just Passed a New Milestone!
Way back when Twitch had its own separate forum, the most-watched topic used to be the screenshot quiz. The rules were simple: someone would post a screenshot, and the person who guessed the movie won the right to post the... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: NAIROBI HALF LIFE Entertains At High Speed
(Crime doesn't pay... but it can further your acting career!) In 2010 the International Film Festival Rotterdam dedicated an entire programme section to films from Africa, and there has been a strong African presence at the festival ever since. This... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY Is Spreading Over The Globe
For those of you who wanted to see Richard Raaphorst's Nazi zombie cyborg feature Frankenstein's Army, but were not able to catch one of the screenings at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), here is some good news: Variety just... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: OH BOY Meanders Pleasantly Through A Beautiful Berlin
(But will the sequel be called Oh Man?) There is no shortage of debut films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Beginning filmmakers are encouraged through the Hivos Tiger Awards, and the festival section "Bright Future" strives to bring forward... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: F*CK FOR FOREST Tries To Spread Love And Peace!
(It's a documentary about f*cking hippies... No, I'm not being reactionary! They're really hippies and they're really f*cking!) This year there were several feature documentaries at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, but few had a subject (or a title) as... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013: It's Awards Time! MATTERHORN, WADJDA, and More Win
This weekend saw the closing of this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam, and this means all of its awards are now known. The three Hivos Tiger Awards for best film by a newcomer (only first and second features count) were... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: THE COMPLEX Gives A Decent Fright
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is no longer the go-to event in The Netherlands when it concerns genre films from Asia. When the IFFR abolished its "Rotterdammerung" section, that honor went to the IMAGINE festival in Amsterdam and Camera Japan... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: Johnnie To's DRUG WAR Is Here To Wake Us All Up
(Johnnie To is the drug for me...) The International Film Festival Rotterdam has a great reputation for including loads of Asian content in its catalogue each year. The modified line-ups of recent years have not changed this, although the big... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Want To Win VIP Passes For This Year's Fantasia? Design A Poster!
Previous installments of the Fantasia Festival have featured some nice artwork for their posters, with the one of the left being a good example! But maybe you think you can do better! And why not? You might even win two... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Review: FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY Is Out To Get You
This is the kind of film where "tripping over your own legs" doesn't necessarily mean they're still attached... Richard Raaphorst's debut feature film Frankenstein's Army has its world premiere today at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. And it's about time:... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Full Schedule Released
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR for short) has released its full schedule and started up its online ticket selling for the so-called "Tiger friends," regular visitors with discount passes. The full list can be browsed here and contains many... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  
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