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Table of contents

Fences down

ORWA NYRABIA page 05

On Sara Gómez

RICARDO ACOSTA page 06

The Sea, The Sea

SARAH DAWSON

page 10

“...O their audacity”

KHALED JARRAR page 13

Against Documentary

JOHAN GRIMONPREZ page 16

Johan Grimonprez opens his archives

DANA LINSSEN

page 18

Documentary �ield as moving target

OKSANA SARKISOVA page 24

Things get weird

JULIA SCOTT-STEVENSON page 26

Program sections and awards page 32

Films & Events A-Z page 38

New Media & Performances A-Z page 52

IDFA Talks page 55

Industry Program A-Z page 58

Audience & Industry Schedule page 63

IDFA Institute page 90

Location maps page 92

Navigate IDFA page 94

Would You Have Sex with an Arab? by Yolande Zauberman.

Photography by Bernard Kalu

Soundtrack to a Coup d’État by Johan Grimonprez.

Photography by Roos Trommelen.

No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (2024).

Fences down

BY ORWA NYRABIA

Artistic Director

Cinema cannot �ix this! Cinema is great, and probably more impactful than any other art. But it cannot stop all these massacres, it cannot stop all this displacement, or even build enough refugee camps. It cannot balance all the propaganda, all the complicity, and all the war mongering and the war pro�iteering forces of this world. With this humility in mind, one can say that Cinema can, slowly but surely, help bring down mental borders between humans. With patience and tenacity, Cinema has the capacity to counter the massive investments poured into raising fences, selling fears, and constructing fake enemies to build fake economies around �ighting them. Cinema has been doing this, and also doing its opposite. Cinema has been contributing to all this pain, knowingly and unknowingly. Cinema is not a positive value in itself—it is a powerful tool. A tool that has been and still is effectively used to separate us, to make killing the other seem sensible, and then to make it look, and feel, good and righteous. Recognizing these two directions is di�icult, no matter how clearly different they sound. Film frequently does both things at the same time. Many times, �ilm thought of itself as doing what’s good, while actually doing more harm without us being able, or open enough, to realize that. Cinema, like humans, is complex, layered, and elusive.

Cinema has its own version of the sublime power of art: it has the capacity to transform the timely into timeless, the local into global, the personal into collective, and the experience of one group to that of many others in different contexts. Whether that is the pain of the Palestinian people, of African Americans, or the historical injustice towards indigenous peoples—it all transforms into personal experiences for every human being, every viewer, and we all share the realization that all injustice should and can be resisted. The history of making �ilms under repression and censorship, in Eastern Europe, in Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere, empowered societies and represented them, gave them a sense of dignity, and showed all of us that Cinema has much more to offer than meets the eye. The great works of surviving Jewish artists and thinkers, examining the catastrophe that was WWII, informed generations around the world. They have provided a universal blueprint for our modern resistance to fascism and its many various faces, taught us how genocide can be presented as a reasonable necessity, how oppressive processes make mass murderers out of normal humans, how propaganda dehumanizes the other, making their destruction acceptable, ignorable, and although differently, it dehumanizes the self as well. The �ilms and the artworks in our 2024 program, and also the projects selected for IDFA Markets, told me all of this.

Documentary art lives by the promise that it will be there for societies when they are anxious, angry, stuck in destructive ideas. Art can help a healing process; a true and profound healing, not a performative one. It can invite discovery, acknowledgement, and can carry the immediate to the wider plains, where we meet around core values, and stand together in solidarity. Film is about time—it takes time, it gives time, expands time, and then it condenses it. Film lives long, and its value can be measured by how it keeps on producing new meanings in different eras and contexts. For a year now, we have witnessed a scary rise in censorship, self-censorship, policing of opinions, and attacks on acts of compassion. Colleagues were punished for offering a hug to a bereaved �ilmmaker, for applauding a colleague, and even for shouting out loud the demand to cease �ire. When we get stuck in such practices, we betray the raison d’être of culture.

At IDFA, we’ve been trying to learn. It is a hard, long journey, and we have just started. We cannot claim to have found the right path, should it ever exist. But we are committed to a continuous process of introspection and accountability. We have chosen to drop our fences, to engage and prioritize collaboration and dialogue—and then, we are raising one big banner over everything we do, that of Freedom of Expression—of saying what might be uncomfortable to say, and hearing what could be di�icult to hear. We try to spot that moving borderline between a discomfort that is necessary for progress, and a discomfort that sends us backwards, into the trenches. It is not easy, and we will make mistakes.

This is our invitation to the documentary community. An invitation to acknowledge our differences, embrace our disagreements, sincerely accept that we will all make mistakes and stumble while we try to grow. An invitation to lower our fences together, and as we do share a lot of good intentions, we can pave ourselves roads ahead with them, and make all these roads meet at the cinema.

On Sara Gómez

When cinema outlives censorship

BY RICARDO ACOSTA

“I believe that if a revolution has been fought, it is for people to be fully realized in all their dimensions, both social and biological, I, for one, refuse to declare myself powerless.”

Sara Gómez

Ricardo Acosta is a Cuban-Canadian documentary �ilm editor, script consultant, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A few of his editing and story consulting credits include Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (2020), The letter (2019), The Silence of Others (2018).

In March 1959, after the revolutionary triumph in Cuba, a series of measures were approved to promote the cultural development of the country. One of the most notable was the creation of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). The purpose of the ICAIC was to “organize, establish and develop the �ilm industry, according to artistic criteria framed in the Cuban cultural tradition.” Sara Gómez was part of the �irst generation of Cuban �ilmmakers who began to create a new cinema at the ICAIC.

The �irst time I heard about Sara Gómez, it was 1979. I was 19 years old, and I was a young �ilm student. It was at the house of the editor, Iván Arocha Montes de Oca, along with the great Cuban �ilmmaker Sergio Giral, director of The Other Francisco (1975) and Maria Antonia (1990). Ivan and Sergio talked about Sara Gómez with the love and nostalgia of one who has lost a great friend, with the gratitude of someone who recognizes that Gómez had inspired and marked their lives as artists.

That day, I learned about her cinema, her convictions as a feminist woman of African descent, her interest in the work

Portrait of Sara Gómez courtesy of The Vulnerable Media Lab.

of Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist Frantz Fanon and Martinican poet, author, and politician Aimé Césaire, her inexhaustible curiosity and empathy with the world of her African ancestors, and her sudden death from an asthma attack in 1974.

That day I also learned that most of the documentary �ilms that Gómez had directed at the Cuban Film Institute had been targets of censorship, and as such, they lived archived in the deep darkness of the vault of the �ilm archives.

Then, in 1990, when I was directing the young Cuban �ilm Festival, Muestra Joven, I had the opportunity to curate a program of Sara Gómez’s work—to present it to the �ilmmakers of my generation. We didn’t know her cinema, her concerns as a �ilmmaker, the stories she had told, nor the questions she had asked in each of her documentary �ilms.

The showcase of her works was titled: Sara Gómez: Homenaje. It was love at �irst sight. The young �ilmmakers totally identi�ied with her cinema. It was as if Gómez was still alive and had just made her last documentary; as if Gómez were a �ilmmaker of my generation.

Gómez was one of the most inventive �ilmmakers of post-revolutionary Cuban cinema. Through her intimate engagement with documentary subjects, her �ilms examine the complexities of the country’s social, political, and economic transformation. Her focus on social class, gender, and racial inequity within the socialist Cuban

society challenged the political discourses of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In a �ilm institute where most of the �ilmmakers were men, Sara Gómez knew how to make her way with the most resounding authenticity as a Black, intellectual, feminist woman. Gómez never tried to imitate anyone else. She was always her authentic self—expressing her beliefs, needs, questions, obsessions, and dreams.

Most

of the documentary �ilms that Sara Gómez had directed at the Cuban Film Institute had been targets of censorship, and lived archived in the deep darkness of the vault of the �ilm archives.

Gómez had the ability to look at reality from a tremendously humanistic place, full of empathy and curiosity. She liked to spend hours getting to know the subjects of her documentary �ilms, roaming their habitat, trying to understand where to put the camera, her gaze, and to minimize the intrusive presence of a �ilm crew.

Sara Gómez was also a �ilmmaker who understood the cost of not making aesthetic and ethical concessions to the censors. Even at the risk that her �ilms would be frowned upon or censored by the bureaucrats in charge of ensuring

Una isla para Miguel by Sara Gómez (1968).

On Sara Gómez

compliance with the revolutionary dogma. Gómez’s work is a constant humanistic conversation in juxtaposition to the ideological discourse of the revolution.

It was as if Gómez was still alive and had just made her last documentary; as if Gómez were a �ilmmaker of my generation.

Perhaps the most disturbing �igure that was installed at the ICAIC was the Censorship O�icer. “The Censor” was a feared bureaucrat, who did not participate in the creation of the �ilm but made use of his “ideological scissors” to cut, impute, and censor, everything that ethically or aesthetically did not correspond to the dictates, dogmas, or ideological phobias of the communist party.

Cuban �ilmmakers, of all generations, have had to face the snare of censorship. The list of Cuban �ilms that have been victims of censorship is really huge—more than 250 �iction, documentary, and animation �ilms.

Some which stand out include:

P.M. (1961) by Alberto Cabrera Infante and Orlando Jiménez Leal

All the �ilms of Nicolás Guillén Landrián (1938, Camagüey, Cuba—2003, Miami, Florida)

Alice in Wondertown (1991) by Daniel Díaz Torres Santa & Andrés (2016) by Carlos Lechuga

The Padilla Affair (2022) by Pavel Giroud

And in the case of Sara Gómez, practically all of her documentary work was banned for a long time, as is the case with her documentary Mi aporte (My Contribution).

Mi aporte was a documentary commissioned by the Federation of Cuban Women, the o�icial organization in charge of implementing women’s emancipation policies in revolutionary Cuba.

Gómez’s proposal was to observe and discuss the labor situation of women working in Cuba. From a vision of selfrepresentation and a conversation between women from different social classes, Gómez’s �ilm was a proposal that moved away from the ideological discourse that sought to see women as a “Task of the Revolution” to seeing women as deeply human, with very different ways of being and living that process of revolutionary emancipation.

Mi aporte, ends documenting a conversation among Cuban women who have just watched footage of earlier parts of the �ilm where other Cuban women (intellectuals, including Sara Gómez) were immersed in a discussion where they

De cierta manera by Sara Gómez (1974).

were making criticisms of the working woman. Now, it was their turn, to make a criticism of these intellectual women.

Here is where Gómez manifests her method of �ilmmaking as more interested in provoking questions and conversations than in forcing resolutions. The ending is also beautifully illustrative of how her �ilms embodied her commitment to the collective—turning it into an occasion to place herself alongside others.

The Federation of Cuban Women furiously opposed this daring exercise of empathy and discussion between Cuban women. Mi aporte was censored, sentenced to sleep for years in the vaults of the �ilm archive.

Gómez died at the age of thirty-one, leaving behind one feature �ilm De cierta manera (One Way or Another) and nineteen documentaries.

In 2018, I interviewed Iván Arocha Montes de Oca, who was Gómez’s editor, for the book The Cinema of Sara Gómez, Reframing Revolution edited by Susan Lord and Maria Caridad Cumaná. In the book, he described her funeral in very spiritual terms:

“There’s something lovely that happened at Sara’s funeral. Sara was the daughter of Yemayá (Goddess of the living Ocean, the Mother of All in the Yoruba religion) and the day of the funeral was beautiful, sunny. All her friends and colleagues, all of us, were there. When they lowered her co�in so it could be buried, the sky suddenly darkened, a tremendous thunderclap sounded and it broke open the sky and an impressively heavenly rain fell. When the rainstorm

was over and we left the cemetery, the sun was shining just as it had been when we had entered.”

Today, Sara Gómez’s cinema continues to live and shine, inspiring magic and commitment to documentary cinema in the four corners of the world.

See

Stencil portrait of Sara Gómez on the wall of EICTV, Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba

Mi aporte by Sara Gómez (1972).

The Sea, The Sea

BY SARAH DAWSON

El mar. La mar.

El mar. ¡Sólo la mar!

¿Por qué me trajiste, padre, a la ciudad?

¿Por qué me desenterraste del mar?

En sueños la marejada me tira del corazón; se lo quisiera llevar.

Padre, ¿por qué me trajiste acá?

The sea (m). The sea (f). The sea (m). Only the sea! Why did you bring me, father, to the city?

Why did you unearth me from the sea?

In a dream, the swell is drawing my heart; It would like to carry me off. Father, why did you bring me here?

Alberti

This edition, IDFA presents its new program section Dead Angles: Borders. In this text, programmer Sarah Dawson invites us into the deep waters of her curatorial work and contemplation process, as she examined borders as a personal question, while searching for the representation of borders in �ilm. A second re�lection on borders by �ilmmaker Khaled Jarrar follows on page 13.

Sarah Dawson Before IDFA, Sarah Dawson previously held programming roles at She�ield Doc/Fest and Durban International Film Festival, among others. Based for several years at the Centre for Creative Arts in Durban, she also worked on festivals such as Poetry Africa and Time of the Writer, while teaching and writing on cinema. She has an MA in Film Studies from UKZN.

In the harsh Sonoran Desert between the United States and Mexico, the border is a chasm of hostile terrain. Those who traverse it are suspended between a here and a there, with many perishing in its vastness, witnessed only by the blazing sun above. In Joshua Bonnetta and JP Sniadecki’s El mar la mar (2017), this desert is so much richer than the simple human geometry of the line imposed on it by human politics. It is a three-dimensional place, �illed with shimmering mirages and pervasive danger that can’t be captured by the distant stroke of a pen on a map that splits it in two. Here, the borderline is not a clean cut, but a purgatory in which souls become stranded in a parched terrain, longing for water that lies behind or ahead.

The words of Rafael Alberti’s poem, which lend the �ilm its title, express a deep and infantile nostalgia for the sea, the loss of which is a formative trauma. They carry a greater sadness than missing easy days spent by the seaside; Alberti’s dislocation from the ocean onto dry land is more profound, like the fall from Paradise or the tetrapod taking its �irst steps. The city, for Alberti, is the antithesis of the �lows of the ocean. By borrowing his words, Sniadecki and Bonnetta lend this metaphor of the city—the walled structure of man’s civilization—to the frontier territory of the Sonoran. After all, the ancient city state is a blueprint for the world of territorial

El mar la mar by Joshua Bonnetta and JP Sniadecki (2017).

Rafael

borders within which we are today entangled. The souls who �ind themselves lost in the desert roam this limbo of human logic imposed on the land—thirsty and adrift in the borderlands where they can only dream of the amniotic ease of the ocean’s swell.

As every seafarer will tell you, the rules of the land are so very different to the rules of the ocean. One can draw a line in the sand, but not a line in the water. Waters may be claimed as territory, but these claims are only as good as the maps on which they are codi�ied or the coast guards who enforce them. The water shrugs off attempts to be tamed. Terra �irma lends itself to subdivision and control, but it is the ocean’s perilous promise of possibility that draws so many from inhospitable shores to their deaths beneath the waves of the Mediterranean. In all its violent fearsomeness and moments of tranquillity, it cannot be �ixed, it cannot be contained. It is the humility of surrender. It is life.

The souls who find themselves lost in the desert roam this limbo of human logic imposed on the land—thirsty and adrift in the borderlands where they can only dream of the amniotic ease of the ocean’s swell.

El mar la mar is included in the selection of IDFA’s new program section Dead Angle: Borders. The idea of a border holds immense weight in modern society, and our relationship to it is often as personal as it is political. The re�lection required for this curation inevitably carried me

back to my own early years, in South Africa, a segregated nation suspended in a landscape of dividing lines; a semidesert surrounded by two and a half thousand kilometres of shoreline. Apartheid means “separateness” in Afrikaans.

Like Alberti, the sea also served as the setting for my earliest memories—his along the Spanish Atlantic, mine on the edge of the Indian Ocean. At that time, the Durban beaches were still reserved for the exclusive use of white people. I discovered the essence of Apartheid through my own permission to bathe and build sandcastles, even if I couldn’t yet read the metallic signs that read in harsh capitals, “NET BLANKES”. “Whites Only” was something one felt before one could even speak. A child’s mind cannot comprehend such abstract and legalistic concepts as “Apartheid”. The Group Areas Act of 1950. The dompas. A child’s mind is immersed in the immediacy of sensation, preoccupied with play and the novelty of being a body navigating the material world: the feeling of sand between toes and the smell of salt in the nostrils.

Like all children, I was liquid, uncrystallised, encountering the world as a kaleidoscope of potential. A child’s consciousness is governed by fundamental emotions—the feelings of safety, satiation, fear—until it develops more concrete associations between these feelings and the world outside. The year I was born was the same year that the right-wing government declared a State of Emergency, as it struggled to hold its oppressive grip on the nation. As I grew, I sensed that the intention of this separateness was not simply to divide in the spirit “good neighbourliness”, as the regime put it. Rather, it was a boundary meant to engineer an association of primal anxieties in the European population with the darker skin

The Great Wall by Tadhg O'Sullivan (2015).

and different languages of the African population. It was a borderline designating good versus bad, civilized versus savage, known versus unknown. The line was often not to be found on the ground itself but in the nervous gestures of grown-ups, in the news stories of “terrorist” bombs, or whispers about war with the “communists” on the Angolan and Mozambiquan border. It was conveyed by the perimeter fences of suburban homes, and the barking of dogs who might be pets or weapons, depending on which side of the line you stood. The environment re�lected an isolated myopia and amorphous fear—produced by an imaginary partition that existed to control the mind more than the land. The neurotic, insular blandness of white South African society was symptomatic of a paranoia that made a desert of the soul. The edge of the unknown was cordoned off and curiosity was forbidden.

For a child, the edge of the known world should be a place to imagine and grow. On Durban beachfront, I daydreamed of �inding a message in a bottle that carried itself on waves to these shores from far away, always scanning the highwater line for scrolled paper inside glass. What a precious connection that would be! I was not yet brittle with maturity and the constant motion of the sea’s horizon was to me, instinctively, an image of freedom. It was at a time when the irrepressible tide of the people’s will to be free was rising, as the people on the other side of the line from me dreamed of justice and the forbidden beach. I think a lot nowadays about the beaches of Gaza and what its children see on the water’s horizon.

While at many points in history, erecting walls across the landscape has provided humanity with shelter, safety, and place to gather, and allowed us to pursue such communal ventures as democracy or visiting outer space, enclosing ourselves is not how we have survived as a species.

While at many points in history, erecting walls across the landscape has provided humanity with shelter, safety, and place to gather, and allowed us to pursue such communal ventures as democracy or visiting outer space, enclosing ourselves is not how we have survived as a species. We are a species of survivors because we are itinerant, adaptive, and brave. We are instinctively social and migratory, forming and reforming culture as we have adapted to new circumstance in every corner of the world. Since setting off from exactly these lands of my childhood, hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors have collided with each other in ways that have brought about great con�lict, but far more enduring beauty! Language, art, textiles, pottery, music, philosophy have all been birthed in the con�luence of people. We have ridden the waves of climatic epochs and surfed the currents of a dynamic earth through geological ages. We have settled and unsettled. We have warred and we have united. We have shared and we have stolen. We are who we are because we have �lowed. We have the ocean in us.

There is danger in allowing ourselves to believe that the lines we impose on the land are immutable, inevitable, natural phenomena. They are contingent human constructions that

risk permitting contempt and disregard for that which lies outside of our zone of interest. Like the damming of a river, we may �ind that we have dried out the land by forgetting that we are a fragile species on a planet governed by deeply interconnecting �lows, circulating between ourselves and our habitat. No line can shield us forever from what we in�lict on its other side. If we turn our backs to the sea to gaze at what lies within the city walls of man’s construction, we won’t notice the waters rising higher and higher behind us. When we sacralize the border, we forget that �lux is the essence of our ever-changing speci�icity, and risk perishing in the drought-ridden hinterlands. The �luidity of our ancient, childlike adaptability becomes a watery mirage on the horizon.

Inside the fortresses of Apartheid, the world was desiccated and petri�ied, but the walls nevertheless seemed so certain, as if only the end of the world could bring their destruction. But a child in the Durban sunshine could sense the untruth of this myth simply in the rust ushered in by the humid, salty air, which was already creeping across the steel of the “NET BLANKES” signs that are now thankfully gone forever. Indeed, that world did end, and today South Africans bathe together in the same ocean. Even though the borders in the mind take longer to corrode than those on the land, everything is ultimately subject to �low, decay, entropy and nothing can stem the tide. Whether drawn in the sand of the beach or in the barrenness of the desert, a line will eventually dissolve and disappear. Things fall apart, re-emerge anew, as ineluctably as the breaking of a wave. It is folly to seek to cage the sea.

Hopefully this selection of �ilms invokes in you a deep re�lection on our relationship to borderlines, as it did in me. Each work invites you to come up to the edge of a line, to trace it with your �ingertips, to study its dimensions, and to discover its complexity. We invite you to explore the “dead angles” in our vision regarding what it means for us to stake so much on lines in the sand.

See the Dead Angle: Borders selection at idfa.nl/borders or scan the QR code

“...O their audacity”

BY KHALED JARRAR

IDFA invited me to show my �ilm In�iltrators and to write a new column for their new thematic program Dead Angle. I accepted the invitation despite the fact that I am not a writer. The Israeli occupation army shut down our schools during the �irst Intifada (1987-1994). They wanted us to remain in ignorance so as to crush our Intifada. The Israeli military ruler of the occupied city of Jenin, from his outpost across the street from the hospital where I was born, issued an order to shut down our school: for two months when I was in sixth grade; more than 7 months in seventh grade; 4 months in 8th grade; 3 or 4 months in 9th, and so on; every year until I graduated from high school. In spite of this, we somehow managed to learn.

Our school curriculum was occupied too. Any mention of the word Palestine (Filastīn) was illegal. If you were caught with the handwritten word Filastīn on your school papers it would lead to jail, a broken hand or both. It was a policy ordered by Israel’s Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to be enforced by the Israeli army. He also instructed the army commanders to break the bones of Palestinian protesters. But undeterred and unintimidated, we

rose up against their brutal occupation. The military rulers had (and still have) their spies and collaborators watching us all the time. To avoid their gaze, we went to hidden places— caves, basements, abandoned buildings—to learn about the history of Palestine, the history of its resistance and solidarity movements and how we might �ight in defense of our homeland. We also learned about the history of colonization across the globe.

We always kept someone at the entrance watching. We learned how to paint gra�iti, make masks, Molotov Cocktails, and to construct potato and nails traps to �latten tires of the Israeli jeeps that chased after us. We would sew Palestinian �lags to �ly from the electricity wires by night. Of course, there was always a price to pay for this and that we painfully knew: some of my friends were killed, some went to jail or had their bones broken because of all of this. I was fortunate to be arrested a few times but with no bones broken, just a fracture in my nose one day around my 14th birthday.

Nowadays the Palestinian �lag is �lying boldly all over earth and our ke�iyehs have become a fashionable commodity. And

In�iltrators by Khaled Jarrar (2012).

Khaled Jarrar was born in Jenin, Occupied Palestine in 1976. Jarrar works in a diverse range of mediums to explore and alternate perspectives surrounding identity, disappearance, and memory—unpacking their narrative limitations.

at the same time, the genocide of our people is livestreamed and more than ever, seemingly, unstoppable. The Israeli occupation is more brutal than it has been in its history: settler violence publicly sanctioned. Since April 2023, I have lived in NYC, a privileged holder of a U.S. temporary green card. I am not able to return home to Palestine. People often say to me but at least your cause is well known everywhere; people protest for Palestine all over. After that we go drink IPA at a bar. How sexy is the resistance in the west.

We went to hidden places—caves, basements, abandoned buildings—to learn about the history of Palestine, the history of its resistance and solidarity movements and how we might �ight in defense of our homeland.

The �ighters who taught me about resistance in the caves lost their lives, multiple wounds in their bodies; I still carry the pieces left over from the two DumDum bullets in my lift leg (a projectiles designed to expand on impact) some went to jail for 30 years; many are still in jail until now. In NYC people lecture us about resistance on boat bars or in their fancy apartments while eating their vegan food.

What a time to be a public Palestinian artist—a time of surreal dynamics, commodi�ication of our mutilated bodies, co-optation of our struggle, romanticizing our resistance and content. I am so grateful for global solidarity with

Palestinians and for the platform that I have been given! And yet, something lies uneasy within me about how things are playing out in the power dynamics it has unleashed. I can’t stop thinking of that famous line by Ghassan Kanafani: “They steal your bread, then give you a crumb of it… Then they demand you to thank them for their generosity… O their audacity!”

The creative worlds—art, �ilm, theater, and so on—are attempting to create spaces of solidarity, representation, visibility, empathy, and bridges to understanding. I am both the bene�iciary and proponent of these critical endeavors. I truly believe that art has the ability to change hearts and minds like nothing else. And yet, there is an unchecked, creeping imperialist dynamic that I am encountering all too frequently. In some cases, this dynamic plays out despite the best of intentions. It’s a dynamic that owes its origins and perpetuation not due to malice, or the failure of individuals, but because of a seemingly insurmountable structure.

I want to share just one recent example from my experience. In spring 2023, a European theater director (I will call him B.) approached me after a workshop I gave at an art school and said: “I want to do a theater play about ethics, following your path of transformation from a bodyguard to an artist. I’m so inspired by what you do.” To be honest, I followed him because he promised good pay. I wasn’t a big fan of his practice, (he sounded a little exotic) but trusted his intentions and I needed the money. We had meeting after meeting where I shared story after story; he was very good at taking notes. He decided he wanted to write a play centering on empathy.

In�iltrators by Khaled Jarrar (2012).

In winter 2024, for his research, he and his team went to Jenin to visit the city where I grew up; to meet my mom, to eat her food, and to hear our stories from the �irst Intifada. His assistant called me from my mom’s lunch table: “B…. is literally here crying!” She was proud of his tears, his emotionality. I felt obliged to show sympathy for him, even though this has been our mundane reality for decades.

As soon as he returned to Europe he was featured as a hero in a major newspaper interview. His Palestinian translator had asked him several times not to show her face or mention her name but, in this interview, he published her photo, next to him in the ruins of Jenin. In the same interview he disclosed the name of my son and cited his story without consent, and even went so far as to mention my name as a collaborator in this project. All this without even a signed contract or any fees exchanged. Should we—the chronically underrepresented, the forever silent be grateful— be grateful for these crumbs, even as we are treated as zoological specimens?

In the interview, B. questioned the amount of anger and “revenge” in Palestine–Israel. The article included a photo of B. standing tall on top wood logs in a European winter, like Napoleon but without a horse.

In the Pasolini �ilm Location Hunting in Palestine (1965), Pasolini interviews residents of a kibbutz, the kibbutz bears the traces of twenty-�ive years earlier—the signs of modernity’s slaughter and the signs of what he calls a “Colonial peace.” What does he mean by this expression? Pasolini sees us as “the third world” if he even sees us at all.

The way this story ends is after their visit to my home, they informed me that due to my inability to join them on the trip, they would be cutting my fees in half. They began changing the narrative and moving the goalpost. We had many zoom calls to attempt to talk this through, in the end they informed me of their decision to withhold my pay entirely due to my apparent hostility to the agreed upon pay being cut in half. So just like Israel’s stance, suddenly they were the victims, and I was the perpetrator. When I rejected their offer for half the pay, they terminated our engagement, and we ended our 13-month work relationship. I got nothing, but they had got their stories; (Golda Meir said: “…We cannot forgive them (Arabs) for forcing us to kill their children.”).

When I spoke out to demand my full fee, they accused me of spreading negative energy and being hostile instead of being thankful. “We risked our lives to go there,” the assistant told me, implying that I should have been grateful for their courage. Although she was Russian with a European passport, she was deluded enough to believe that she risked her life by visiting my family in Jenin for two hours and eating lunch at my mother’s home, while an Israeli taxi driver was waiting for them outside to drive them back to sleep in Tel Aviv at a hotel in the Mediterranean.

I can’t stop thinking of that famous line by Ghassan Kanafani: ‘They steal your bread, then give you a crumb of it… Then they demand you to thank them for their generosity… O their audacity!’

They risked their lives… “Shall I laugh, or shall I cry?” I asked myself. “Does she believe in what she said?” I think, unfortunately, that she does believe it.

These kinds of reversals—of credit and debt, of gratitude and entitlement—are the products of our time-de�ining psychosis. Why do those who claim to want to uplift our voices seem so determined to kick us down at the very same time? What are we to make of their contrition, their desire to make amends? How are we supposed to engage their so-called “dead angles” and “blind spots”? We want to live with hope, with hope that these unending cycles can be broken out of, that there is the possibility of birthing a world in which such delusions are �inally broken. We need to live with a hope that our people will be treated as thinking, feeling humans not just the never-grateful-enough subjects of charity or pity. When will we be liberated of our abusers, who kick us while insisting that we asked for it, that we secretly enjoy our own pain and servitude? When will they be cured of their delusions of victimhood which blind them from seeing the real victims of their making?

Johan Grimonprez Guest of Honor:

Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y by Johan Grimonprez (1997).

Against Documentary

Critical Art Ensemble 1994

Choose a title carefully, since it is the one of the primary framing devices. It should present itself purely as a description of the images contained in the work, but should also function as a privileged ideological marker. For example, "The Struggle for Freedom in ___". Remember, do not mention "guerillas" in the title. Such words have a connotation of a lost or subversive cause that could lead to irrational violent action, and that scares liberals.

If you have a large enough budget (and you probably do if you are making yet another �ilm on political strife), open with a lyrical aerial shot of the natural surroundings of the country in question. Usually the countryside is held by the guerillas. This is good. You now have the traditional authority of nature (and the morality of the town/country distinction) on your side. These are two foundational codes of didactic western art. They are rarely questioned, and will create a channel leading the viewer to the belief that you are �ilming a populist uprising.

Dissolve to the particular band of guerillas that you are going to �ilm. Do not show large armies, and show only small arms, not heavy weaponry. Remember, the guerillas must look like real underdogs. Americans love that code. If you must talk about the size of the rebel army (for instance, to show the amount of popular support for the resistance), keep it abstract; give only the statistics. Large military formations have that Nuremberg look to them. If at all possible, choose a band comprised of families: it shows real desperation when an entire extended family is �ighting. Keep in mind that one of your key missions is to humanize the rebels while making the dominant group an evil abstraction. Finish this sequence by stylishly introducing each of the rebels as individuals.

For the next sequence, single out a family to represent the group. Interview each member. Address their motivations for resistance. Follow them throughout the day. Capture the hardships of rebel activity. Be sure to show the sleeping arrangements and the poverty of the food, but concentrate on what the �ight is doing to the family. End the sequence by showing the family involved in a recreational activity. This will demonstrate the rebels' ability to endure, and to be human in the face of a catastrophe. It is also the perfect segue into the next sequence: "In this moment of play, who could have imagined the tragedy that would befall them..."

With the identities of both the rebels and the enemy established, you must now show an actual guerilla action. It should be read as a defensive manoeuvre with no connotation of vengeance. Make sure that it is an evening or morning raid, to lessen sympathy for the enemy as individuals. The low light will keep them hidden and allow the sparks of the return gun�ire to represent the enemy as depersonalized. Do not show guerillas taking prisoners: it is di�icult to maintain viewers' sympathy for the rebels if they are seen sticking automatic weapons in the backs of the enemy and marching them along. Finally, only show the action if the rebels seem to win the engagement.

In the victory sequence it is important to show the tie between the rebels and the non-military personnel of the countryside. With the enemy recently beaten, it is safe to go to town and celebrate with the agrarian class. You can include speeches and commemorations in this sequence. Show the peasants giving the rebels food, while the rebels give the civilians non-military materials captured during the raid. But most importantly, ensure that the sequence has a festive spirit. This will add an emotional contrast to the closing sequence.

Final sequence: focus on the rebel group expressing their dreams of victory and vowing never to surrender. This should cap it: you are now guaranteed a sympathetic response from the audience. The sympathy will override any critical re�lection, making the audience content to ride the wave of your radical subjectivity. Roll credits. Perhaps add a postscript by the �ilmmaker on how touched and amazed s/he was by the experience. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Having established the rebels as real, feeling people, it is time to turn to the enemy, by showing for instance an atrocity attributed to them. (Never show the enemy themselves; they must remain an alien abstraction, an unknown to be feared.) It is a preferable if a distant relative of the focus family is killed or wounded in the represented enemy action. Document the mourning of the fellow rebels.

Intertextual connections in a surreal marketplace of commercial breaks

Johan Grimonprez opens his archives

BY DANA LINSSEN

One metaphor Johan Grimonprez likes to use to describe his �ilm and art practice is that of the iceberg. “You only see the tip sticking out above the water, but underneath there is ten times as much to discover.”

In his latest �ilm Soundtrack to a Coup d'État (2024), he makes it easy for the viewer to dive below the surface: of all the quotes and archive footage he uses, he immediately shows the source on screen. When we spoke with him prior to IDFA, he said, jokingly, “the �ilm is like an academic PDF disguised as a music video. Or the other way around.”

Grimonprez: “In her book White Malice, Susan Williams—who also investigated the assassination of United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld—shows that the CIA sent jazz ambassadors like Louis Armstrong on a tour to Africa in the early 1960s, as a smokescreen to cover up the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the �irst president of the independent Congo. This was to prevent the Soviet Union from getting a grip on uranium and other resources. The assassination of Patrice Lumumba was a ground zero of how the West turned the process of decolonization into a neo-colonial power grab.”

about �ilm, lens-based arts and XRExtended Reality for Dutch daily newspaper NRC since 1997.

Investigations into mass media and its narratives

Soundtrack to a Coup d'État, like much of Grimonprez's work, is an essay �ilm: a multitude of materials, assembled into a kaleidoscopic set of angles, revealing new and insightful viewpoints. His �ilms traverse a wide and ambitious range of themes: whether about airplane hijackings (1997's dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, inspired by the books Mao II and White Noise by Don deLillo), paranoia and doppelgangers, Magritte, Hitchcock and Borges (Double Take, 2009, with a text by Tom McCarthy) or the international arms trade (the 2016 Shadow World—based on the book by investigative journalist and politician Andrew Feinstein—and Blue Orchids, 2017). His works are always media archaeological investigations into how mass media represent the world we live in and the role that �ilms and documentaries, soap operas and TV commercials, news reports and videos on YouTube play in the stories we tell about ourselves.

Because, he says: “When we were introduced to advertising breaks, remote controls, and later online search engines, our worldview changed too. As we began zapping and

Grimonprez portrait by Theo Volpatti.

Dana Linssen is a writer, philosopher and �ilm critic from the Netherlands. She teaches at HKU University of the Arts and the ArtEZ Theatre Academy in Arnhem. She has been writing

sur�ing, strange and random intertextual connections arose in a surreal marketplace of commercial breaks.”

Interconnected works on show

Johan Grimonprez (1962) was born in Belgium, studied Cultural Anthropology, Photography and Visual Arts in Ghent and New York, where he now teaches and researches, while his works travels the museum and cinema circuit. His work dismantles the stories we tell ourselves and the mechanisms behind the backstage machinations running this multidimensional phantasmagoria: plot, power, and politics. Or: the death dance of military and marketing. Fueled by serendipity, stupidity, and poetic justice.

You only see the tip sticking out above the water, but underneath there is ten times as much to discover.

As is often the case with Grimonprez, his work is a preview or spin-off. His �ilms arise from fragments—fragments he shows to his students, culminates in exhibitions, turns into features, only to unfold them into short �ilms again, and turns into themes explored in longer features. For the program he curated as IDFA's Guest of Honor, he turned his archives inside out and demonstrates how research frames his artistic practice.

As a kid of the television generation and the Cold War, there are recurring themes, images, and �igures in his works. A haunted imagology. Perhaps the best known is Soviet politician Nikita Khrushchev, who made a guest appearance in dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y acted as Alfred Hitchcock's

Shadow World by Johan Grimonprez (2016).

doppelganger in Double Take and plays a crucial role again as shoe-banging politician in Soundtrack to a Coup d'État.

Time to dig in his own backyard

Grimonprez recalls that the so-called ‘shoe banging’ during the 15th United Nations General Assembly in September 1960 was one of the �ilm's formative starting points. “I have a certain fascination with him. Not that I consider him a saint, but as Hitchcock said, ‘The more charming the bad villain, the more interesting the story.’ What exactly happened and was said there? Turns out it had to do with the political history of my own country.”

After Shadow World (2016), it was, as Grimonprez says, “time to dig in my own backyard.” He was no stranger to the history of colonialism. His �irst documentary Kobarweng or Where is Your Helicopter (1992) took him to West Papua and rewrites the myth of ‘�irst contact’ between locals and a team of Dutch anthropologists, who dropped down from the sky with helicopters. Kobarweng is his �irst work in which he consciously interrogates and reverses the roles of observer and observed. This is also the starting point for a wider investigation into representation in general.

Revealing the invisible

Where �ilmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein and Jean-Luc Godard described montage as a tool for describing social reality, Grimonprez emphasizes how the introduction of the remote control (dating back to the 1950s) shifted that apparatus into the hands of the individual TV viewer. After the advent of Google, YouTube, and other social media, this was taken over by algorithmic logic. The indexical photographic image, and the subsequent computationality of the digital image are now on the verge of being surpassed by an algorithmic-generative one—when the digital realm keeps evolving into the ghost town of AI.

The use of found footage in his work is a form of reappropriation and examination. By looking at familiar images in a different context, he manages to evoke the unknown and new connections for the cracks in the �ilmic reality as created by the cut. The images have been seized from reality after all. What is unique about his work is how it reveals the importance and connection between what we see and how we see it. He is always looking for top-down intersections and underground termite tunnels on the map of political and media history, hilarity, and hysteria. The moments and places where things could have taken a different course, and where currents and undercurrents become visible. And if they don't reveal themselves, he sets out to reveal them. He explains this with a personal story: “I am the son of a magician, and from my childhood onwards I have always been looking for the false bottom in the magician’s hat and the key to what we see.”

I am the son of a magician, and from my childhood onwards I have always been looking for the false bottom in the magician’s hat and the key to what we see.

Colonial wars over resources

After reading Ludo de Witte's De moord op Lumumba (1999), the scales fell from his eyes. “The confrontation with the periphery, and how the West dealt with the fringes, at the time of Kobarweng marked my �ilmmaking, but Congo was an unknown territory for me. That such a small country like Belgium had so much in�luence in this pivotal moment

Raymond Tallis | on tickling by Johan Grimonprez (2017).

of colonial history is almost inconceivable. After that book, there was a parliamentary enquiry for the �irst time, and it became clear that the Belgian monarchy was directly implicated in Lumumba's murder.”

As the �ilm shows, Congo's history is inextricably linked to that of resources and extraction wars. “A template was set for neo-colonialism in the 1960s, which was actually the decade of decolonization, and that is still operational.” To illustrate this in Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, references to the atomic bomb, the Tesla, and the iPhone at moments break through the archival material like a glitch—reminding us how the present world is dominated by the uranium, lithium and coltan extracted in Congo. In fact, every World War since the 20th Century was fought with minerals extracted from the Democratic Republic Congo, be it rubber, copper, uranium, or cobalt for the new war in space.

Once again assemblage, contradiction, inversion and mirroring, slow motion and zooming in are recurring aesthetic features of his work. Yet Grimonprez is not a postmodernist for whom the world is irreparably shattered: “Inherently, I do believe in goodness. As the primatologist Frans de Waal, who died last year, said: ‘Man is a living oxymoron: if he is good, he is very good, but if he is bad, he is also immediately very bad.’”

Grimonprez invites us into a web of associations “Over the years I have collected so much. My research, my teaching practice, my �ilms, and my archive intertwine. For IDFA, I have curated several chapters of interconnected screenings that turn these archives (and with it my brain) inside out.”

dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y by Johan Grimonprez (1997).

So, what should we expect? Grimonprez invites us all into his web of associations, by means of showing his Retrospective and Top 10 selections in thematic chapters. Each chapter will be prefaced by an introduction by Grimonprez himself, during which the net is cast even wider—with archival clips, advertisements, music videos, �ilm trailers, projects in process, fragments of �ilms, and much more.

For IDFA, I have curated several chapters of interconnected screenings that turn these archives (and with it my brain) inside out.

“For example, a clip of the Belgian writer and activist Noël Godin who in 1998 threw a pie in the face of Microsoft top executive Bill Gates, who presented his action as a nonviolent artistic intervention. Or a Philips advertisement for a new shaver from the 1960s, disguised as a mini spy �ilm The Mystery of Shaving Technology that I discovered while researching Double Take. By now, our entire public imagination has sold out to brands. Not just a product, but an ideology is being sold.”

In one chapter, Grimonprez’s work Shadow World will be paired with Aleksandr Sokurov's Spiritual Voices (1995), in which the Russian �ilmmaker re�lects on the lives of soldiers on the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. “It's a very different re�lection on what war is: you hear Mozart and see soldiers waiting and sleeping, while his voiceover muses on

cinema. In this chapter, I will juxtapose that with clips from Rambo 3 (1988) and Charlie Wilson, the Texan politician responsible for a massive cover-up operation in which the Afghan Mujahideen were supplied with weapons during the 1979-1989 Russian-Afghan war. And in that way, I set out to reveal how the good guys of that time have become the bad guys in our day and age. With that, I hope to expose the mechanisms of representation that are literally turned on its head.”

In another chapter, his Top 10 presents work by Brusselsbased Palestinian �ilmmaker Mohanad Yaqubi. In Off Frame aka Revolution Until Victory (2014), Yaqubi shows material from the Palestinian Film Unit founded by the PLO and discusses Japanese solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. This chapter also presents Red Army/ PFLP: Declaration of World War (1971), by Japanese directors Adachi Masao and Wakamatsu Koji.

Next to the critically acclaimed works named previously, crucial works in his oeuvre are the spin-offs of Shadow World. His Retrospective showcases works such as every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the politics of Love (2016) in which philosopher Michael Hardt discusses Machiavelli’s famous dictum from The Prince, who states that for a ruler it is better to be feared than loved. Hardt asks what it would mean to base a political system on love, rather than on fear.

Would it be possible to transform a society that is de�ined by a permanent state of war and dictated by an industry of fear into something else? In the same chapter, we encounter Raymond Tallis | on tickling (2017), who tackles

the Cartesian foundation of Western philosophy: “I think, therefore I am.” Neuroscientist Tallis demonstrates how we as humans are only aware of ourselves through the other. Using the fascinating notion that humans are physically unable to tickle themselves, Tallis introduces the concept of dialogue—not thinking—as the foundation of consciousness and of who we are.

The work is the invitation. The beginning of a dialogue. A held-out hand. An act of loving kindness. Or a slap in the face. Or both. The start of a joint examination of our histories and realities.

Just like in a dialogue, Grimonprez' collages and associations need a spectator to understand and complete the experience of his work. The work is the invitation. The beginning of a dialogue. A held-out hand. An act of loving kindness. Or a slap in the face. Or both. The start of a joint examination of our histories and realities.

Grimonprez presents his Retrospective and Top 10 selections in thematic chapters.

Shown from Friday to Wednesday, these showcase key themes that guide his artistic practice.

NOV 15 CHAPTER 1

Zombie Ontology & the New Abnormal

NOV 16 CHAPTER 2

Politics is the entertainment division of the militaryindustrial complex

NOV 17 CHAPTER 3

Maybe the sky is really green, and we're just colorblind

NOV 18 CHAPTER 4

Time, a hesitant smile

NOV 19 CHAPTER 5

When history sleeps, it speaks in dreams on the brow of the sleeping people

NOV 20 CHAPTER 6

Read

or

The supermarket shelves have been rearranged, it happened one day without warning

Blue Orchids by Johan Grimonprez (2017).

United Kingdom – 1977 – Christopher Miles

This extraordinary mockumentary, which caused a stir among British TV viewers in the late 1970s, reveals a plan to establish colonies on the moon and Mars because Earth was doomed to become uninhabitable due to global heating.

Iran - 1990 - Abbas Kiarostami

A �ilm fanatic who pretends to be the popular Iranian �ilm director Mohsen Makhmalbaf is eventually caught out and ends up in court.

Just like this man who lives between �ilm and reality, Close-up straddles the border between documentary and �iction.

Japan - 1971 - Adachi Masao, Wakamatsu Koji

A newsreel-style propaganda �ilm from 1971 about the Palestinian resistance. This 'international declaration of war' combines militant voice-overs with footage of everyday life to reveal invisible power structures.

- 1995 - Alexander

A tranquil evocation of the daily lives of Russian border guards facing the ever-present threat of an invisible enemy. Sokurov follows the soldiers on daily patrols and depicts their suffocating routine in aesthetic form.

United States - 2015 - Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon

A behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

France, Italy, United Kingdom - 2014 - Mohanad Yaqubi

Palestinian �ilmmakers regained control over their images through revolutionary cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. This mosaic of long lost archival footage �ills a gap in our collective memory.

United States - 1974 - John Coney

The avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra travels through time and space to lead the African American community to a utopian planet. This 1974 science �iction �ilm, blending �iction with concert recordings, became the

- 2024 - Johann Lurf

A chronological collage of excerpts from �ilm history accompanied by their original soundtracks, in which only a starry sky is visible. This raises an ever-expanding number of questions and, for those who are lucky, cosmic answers.

A

of the

JOHAN'S CHOICE

kick-off for Afrofuturism.

Russia

Sokurov

Austria

United Kingdom - 1968 - Jean-Luc Godard Godard’s controversial, key �ilm of the 1968 counterculture era tracks the creation of the classic Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil” in the studio, intercutting extraordinary �ictional scenes packed with radical political and cultural statements.

United States, United Kingdom - 1993 - Steven M. Martin

portrait

remarkable life of Léon Theremin (1896-1993) and his most successful invention, the theremin. Hollywood fully embraced the uncanny sound of this electronic musical instrument in the 1940s and 50s.

Alternative 3

Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal

Close-up

Off Frame aka Revolution Until Victory

Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War Space Is the Place

Spiritual Voices

Star�ilm

Documentary field as a moving target

A cautionary tale

Photography by Balázs Ivándi-Szabó.

BY OKSANA SARKISOVA

Coming together to hail the annual harvest of creative documentary �ilms at IDFA, we cannot overlook the ongoing consolidation of authoritarian and hybrid regimes, which practice censorship and control over the cultural sphere. With a special focus on the documentary �ield, I have written a brief overview that highlights how changes in public funding, educational reform, and the transformation of the legal system impact the cultural sphere in Hungary.

Why would the Hungarian case matter? While Viktor Orbán used to be considered an “enfant terrible” in the EU, he succeeded to gradually change the image of Hungary to that of an “illiberal trendsetter.” Yet this sketch is neither a recipe book nor a roadmap. Rather, it is a cautionary tale which explores the stages and effects of a shrinking public space for �ilmmakers, informed by my 20-year experience of organizing Verzió, international documentary human rights �ilm festival in Budapest.

Following the 2010 emergence of Orbán’s so-called "electoral autocracy," currently in its third cycle of absolute parliamentary majority, state control gradually (re)turned

Oksana Sarkisova is a �ilm historian and researcher at CEU (Budapest/ Vienna). She directed Verzio Documentary Film Festival in Hungary (2008–2023). She teaches, curates, and writes on archives and documentary, amateur photography, and memory politics. In 2024, she organized summer university The Power of the Visual: Creative Documentary and Human Rights

to the �ilm industry—combining �inancial incentives with ideological pressure. In 2011, the primary public �ilm fund Hungarian Moving Image Foundation (MMKA) was replaced by the Hungarian National Film Fund (NFI); helmed then by Andy Vajna, a Hungarian-born Hollywood producer of Rambo and Terminator. NFI was granted the right to control the script and the �inal cut and set out to produce “movies for the masses”—at the same time supporting ideological conformity over creative visions. The reorganization was met with protests1 of disconcerted �ilmmakers, who perceived it as a loss of independent expert bodies in the decision-making. Despite this, with time, many found a modus operandi to remain in the profession.

The increasingly centralized public television became a primary funder of documentary �ilms, which disadvantaged creative documentary �ilms with their extended production cycles, rejection of conventional narrative and visual templates, and re�lexive, authorial position. Furthermore, the new �inancing system built in explicit restrictions on overt political critique. To give just one example, upon completing The Pastor of Mandák House (2019) documentary, a portrait

of a Lutheran female pastor and civil activist, �ilm director Mária Takács was requested to cut out parts of the �ilm to receive the remaining 25% of the state funding. In this case, the director was able to �inish the project without subsuming to self-censorship, with support from the Dutch Human Rights Fund. Some �ilmmakers, however, privately shared that the new “rules of the game” make them cautious in choosing the subject for their �ilms, when applying for and completing the state-funded projects.

Disrupting �ilm festivals

The institutional and �inancial restructuring affected not only �ilm production, but also the platforms for �ilm presentation. With the combined effects of the state’s increased grip on ideology and the long-term effects of the 2008 economic crisis, the transformation and centralization of the state �inancing affected many cultural programs, leading to disruptions or closure of several �ilm festivals (Titanic Film Festival, Dialektus Film Festival, Mediawave, BuDoKu festival— to mention some important initiatives). For example, following the MMKA closure, 20% of the already committed funding for the anthropological documentary FF Dialektus (2002–2010) was not paid and the festival could no longer operate. At the same time, new festivals emerged with the �ilm fund support, focusing mainly on Hungarian �ilms, receiving (a varying share of) �inancing through direct applications to the NFI, in the absence of open calls for �ilm festivals.

Endangering the �ield’s future

The future of the documentary �ield is entangled with the programs that train future �ilmmakers. Public higher education in Hungary too became the target of top-bottom reforms which transform Hungarian public universities into semiprivate trusts, controlled by boards with politically loyal members. The �irst open resistance to the reform was the 2020 campaign of the University of Theater and Film Arts (SZFE). The students and faculty’s new, independent initiative, FreeSZFE2, ran a global campaign to protest the privatization and the loss of academic autonomy of their institution.

Some filmmakers, however, privately shared that the new “rules of the game” make them cautious in choosing the subject for their films, when applying for and completing the state-funded projects.

Although receiving substantial global traction (see the report of The New York Times3) and supported by renowned cultural �igures in Hungary and internationally—the institutional changes were not reversed. Today, FreeSZFE continues its educational activities yet struggles to obtain solid �inancial support and lacks Hungarian o�icial accreditation.

Censorship and the legal search for national sovereignty

Among further legal changes implemented by the Orbán government that directly affect the documentary �ield is a Russian-style “LGBTQ propaganda law” which breaches guarantees of freedom of expression and non-discrimination. It was passed in 2021 under the name “Acts for the protection of children against pedophile offenders.” It outlaws screenings and discussions of the LGBTQ-themed �ilms for underage

audiences, increasing self-censorship and pressures on the documentary �ilmmakers, activists, and educators as well as exposing them together with �ilm protagonists and crews to provocations and smear campaigns. Another legal “innovation” is the Protection of National Sovereignty Act4 adopted in 2023. The act established the “Sovereignty Protection O�ice” (SPO) which is tasked with investigating organizations that receive funding from abroad to “in�luence the behavior of voters,” potentially threatening all independent cultural initiatives that get international funding.

This move too was challenged by the European Commission through a recently initiated infringement procedure for violating EU law. All these institutional and legal changes have protracted effects, and it remains to be seen how the chilling effect of the Act will transform the �ilm industry which supports and encourages co-productions.

Independent, critical documentary �ilms as the only way forward

Although there was no golden age for documentary as a vocation, creative documentary tradition in Hungary has a long and prestigious history. Even during the Cold War, facing surveillance and state censorship, Hungarian documentarists succeeded making cutting-edge, experimental, and critical works, primarily at the Balázs Béla Studio (BBS) in the 1960–1980s. In response to the current constraints and limitations, the only way to preserve and nurture the �ield is to continue making independent, critical documentary �ilms, as well as strengthen international solidarities, and collectively challenge institutional and media capture. Despite the challenges, Hungarian documentaries remain part of international festival circuits, many of them are award-winners and successful co-productions with both domestic and international recognition.

Diversi�ication of support and integration into multiple transnational educational, production, and distribution networks is a central component for ensuring a national documentary scene’s dynamic development. The Hungarian experience of the past decades teaches us that the preservation of politically independent, self-governing expertbased institutions is crucial for the �ield and that professional and transnational solidarities feed resilience and hope.

Hungarian �ilm org protests funding reforms”, John Nadler, Variety (2013), https://variety.com/2013/�ilm/news/hungarian-�ilm-org-protestsfunding-reforms-1118065578/ FreeSZFE, www.freeszfe.hu

“Student Blockade Protests Viktor Orban’s Reach at a Top Arts University”, Benjamin Novak, The New York Times (2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/world/europe/hungarystudents-blockade-orban.html

Protection of National Sovereignty Act, https://njt.hu/jogszabaly/en/2023-88-00-00

Things get weird

Expanded documentary, layered realities, and AI

BY JULIA SCOTT-STEVENSON

Embodiment, AI and the Perception of the Real research report by MIT Open Documentary Lab was commissioned by IDFA DocLab Research and Development Network.

Scott-Stevenson shares conclusions from that report, as the new line-up of new media projects is launched. Discover this edition’s selection on page 52 and at idfa.nl/doclab

Julia Scott-Stevenson is a researcher, maker and producer of immersive and interactive factual media. She is lead researcher on MIT Open Documentary Lab’s partnership with IDFA DocLab Research and Development Network, and is also a Chancellor’s Research Fellow at University of Technology Sydney.

AI is your new girlfriend. It’s going to take your job. AI will solve the climate crisis, but not until it has �irst caused total climate collapse. AI will create new drugs to cure viruses that don’t even exist yet. AI drones are the new weapons of war. Wait! Stop the hype/doom bus, I want to get off. It’s tempting to shrink from this onslaught that is �ired at us from so many media channels. But I think we do want to engage with all of these statements, just not in �ive second bursts. We want to dig in, to tease out, to understand. And documentary can help us do this.

Documentary can be many voiced, even when those voices might disagree vehemently or offer competing views of the world. It can hold space for complexity, and let us breathe while we consider its stories. It can also unsettle us, and in so doing it can puncture the �ilter bubbles we all exist within. Expanded documentary—by which I mean documentaries that use newer technological ways of engaging an audience, like immersive or interactive forms—continue and extend this work. In all its forms, documentary can do the work of connecting, of interrogating, and of teasing out the complex questions

About a Hero by Piotr Winiewicz (2024).

and answers that help us to not just represent the real, but to make it.

Documentary can certainly do this deep thinking about AI, and it can do it with AI. But let’s look �irst at how it can do this in its expanded form, for a range of issues, by connecting with audiences’ bodies. On behalf of MIT Open Documentary Lab and along with the Lab’s director Sarah Wolozin, I conducted audience and artist research on several of the new media documentary projects at IDFA DocLab 2023, considering the embodied practices and the uses of AI. Our �indings, some of which I’ll discuss below, all point towards documentary as a vehicle which takes us forwards, even when we use it to look back.

Waking up the body is a new grammar of expanded documentary

I sit down at a desk littered with common objects and place a virtual reality headset on my head. I can still see the desk and the items on it, but everything is monochromatic and edges are blurry, as if drawn in blunt charcoal. I consider my hands in front of me; something seems uncanny. A calming voice invites me to feel my feet planted on the ground, and suggests I return to that sensation if things get, well, weird. And they do get weird, gradually. I’m given tasks to do, objects to reach for and manipulate, and as these tasks get progressively more complex, the manipulation of the visual �ield also increases. It becomes harder to trust my vision. The experience I am in is Turbulence: Jamais Vu, a VR work created by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts. Andrews experiences chronic vestibular migraine, and Turbulence explores this condition and the accompanying sensations

of derealization and depersonalization. Even while the VR experience increases my sense of instability and uncertainty, I feel carefully held by the project and its creators. I have Andrews’ voice guiding me, and the sensation of my feet on the �loor—other senses that I can use to navigate this shifting virtual world. This gradual bodily introduction into the world of a project was apparent in many of the projects we studied. This was our �irst key �inding from the research: waking up the body is a new grammar of expanded documentary.

By acknowledging and then challenging the participant’s body, creators can tap into the different ways we generate and hold knowledge.

Many expanded documentary artists now demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of how to lead an audience physically into an experience, in ways that set the participant up to better interact and understand. Distinct from onboarding, in which a participant is prepared for a project before it begins, this familiarization process occurs within the project itself. This process is also building a grammar of embodiment within the genre; like an interactive version of an establishing shot, the artists are introducing the audience gently to the world of the story and inviting them to test out its features.

Once participants are familiarized with the space and world of the project, creators can begin to push the audience with the

Turbulence: Jamais Vu by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts at IDFA DocLab 2023. Photography by Bernard Kalu.

complexity, perspective, or intensity of embodied interaction. Documentary �ilm, of course, has a long history of challenging audiences. This might occur through presenting new or alternative perspectives, or through experimenting with form and how it can illuminate or destabilize reality. This instinct is carried through to the expanded documentary �ield, and by acknowledging and then challenging the participant’s body, creators can tap into the different ways we generate and hold knowledge.

Embodied experiences highlight layered realities

Another of our key �indings is that embodied experiences highlight layered realities. Rather than aiming for greater and greater levels of immersion, many expanded documentary creators are playing with slippages between virtual and physical realities and offering experiences that revel in this perceptual layering.

It is perhaps not surprising that XR documentaries often deal in multiple realities—as this is what documentary has long done, even in its flat screen form.

In Shadowtime, by Deniz Tortum and Sister Sylvester, I see a glowing cube—a rendering of the �irst VR object created by Ivan Sutherland in 1968. I am then coaxed by the seductive voice of Alma, my virtual guide, to observe my virtual hands (animated by the headset tracking my real hands), and to wake them up by bending each �inger one by one. This moment serves to place my body within the virtual world and ready my hands for the primary mechanic of interaction (a very satisfying plucking and releasing of a corner of the virtual cube). But then, the passthrough camera reveals my own hands, visible beneath the animated pair, and suddenly the weirdness is back, and I feel my own edges blurring. Which ones are my hands? Can my hands be both in the ‘real world’ and in the virtual space? And where am I? I feel like I’m slipping back and forth between realities.

Shadowtime leans into this multiplicity offered by immersive

media. Alma presents a tantalizing �iction of a perfect virtual world, but soon a series of AI generated virtual worlds are jumbling into one another so rapidly that it becomes apparent that this perfect future is meaningless, a mirage. Observing Sutherland’s cube throughout the piece, I am conscious that my corporeal body is also seated within a large glowing red cube made of plastic and metal, the exhibition installation. As my bodily sense slips back and forth between the Shadowtime worlds and the exhibition world outside, so too do I consider the dual reality that faces us every day—the quotidian balance of making lunch, going to work, while being aware that ice shelves are collapsing and relentlessly releasing deep time into the atmosphere. The cube is in the world, the whole world is in the cube.

This Is Not

a Simulation

Shadowtime, and indeed many DocLab projects, reveal that realities bleed into one another no matter how much we might like to imagine that they can be contained in discrete boxes. The extended reality (XR) �ield might present simulated experience, but once an audience member is experiencing a project, it is no longer a simulation—it becomes their reality in that moment. As audiences �ile into DocLab at this year’s festival, there will be nothing unreal about the sophisticated ways they skip between worlds.

It is perhaps not surprising that XR documentaries often deal in multiple realities—as this is what documentary has long done, even in its �lat screen form. Documentary connects a small story with a large story; it invites the audience to consider a story of a character as a conduit to a broader story of change or experience. The emergence of virtual spaces enables this dual reality exploration to take on a more explicit form, but it is the continuation of a practice that has been around in the documentary �ield since its inception.

Last year’s Voice in My Head by Kyle McDonald and Lauren Lee McCarthy, also blends layers (and gets weird!). It takes place inside the participant’s mind, while they simultaneously move through the physical world and consider a possible future world in which arti�icial intelligence is supporting or even supplanting their internal monologue. I am given a smartphone and a Bluetooth earphone and instructed to step into a soundproof booth. An AI voice assistant asks questions

Shadowtime by Deniz Tortum and Sister Sylvester (2023).

William Quail’s Pyramid by Piotr Winiewicz and Constant Dullaart, 2023.

about my inner monologue, meanwhile training itself on my responses as well as the sound of my voice. Soon, the AI is speaking to me in a synthetic version of my own voice.

I am trans�ixed at hearing words I don’t recognize as mine, delivered in a voice I do recognize as mine (it even gets my Australian accent pretty close). A tumble of existential questions have to be put on hold while I pay attention to what the AI is asking of me, and offering me. Questions like: what does it mean for my identity if a computer can speak in my voice? Is there something my internal monologue is lacking that these systems could actually deliver? Can it get close to a version of me, or is it all fake? What am I handing over in this exchange? And how do I navigate any of this while the AI world races itself to update and expand and evolve relentlessly?

Documentary is an ideal genre for addressing and playing with AI

This leads me to another of our research �indings, which is that documentary is an ideal genre for addressing and playing with AI, across the full spectrum from hype to doom. Filmmaker Nirit Peled demonstrates this in exploring the social violence of algorithmic policing in Mothers (IDFA 2022) and (this conversation is) Off the Record; while other makers engage the potential of AI as a creative tool. AI was used to build morphing 3D worlds in Shadowtime, for instance, and to generate hypnotic gibberish audio and visuals in William Quail’s Pyramid by Piotr Winiewicz and Constant Dullaart.

It turns out William Quail’s Pyramid was simply a taster, and Piotr Winiewicz is back this year with a feature documentary in IDFA’s International Competition. About a Hero offers up a near-perfect use case for AI in documentary. The moody

vibe created by the distinctive tone of Werner Herzog’s synthesized voice against slow pans across AI landscapes, complemented by cinematic close ups of uncanny, ragged faces of AI folks with bit parts in a simulated story of mysterious death—interspersed with (probably?) real clips of public intellectuals sharing thoughtful soundbites—all adds up to an absolutely riveting and brain-scrunching experience that demands attention and no doubt �iery discussion long after the credits roll. It is deeply, deeply strange, and I am still grasping at newly forming thoughts well after viewing it. But I feel like About a Hero will feature in just about every conversation I have about AI for the foreseeable future, acting as an anchor to ground the emerging thoughts.

This is why we make, watch, and experience documentary— to �lesh out the existing feelings and understandings we have about an idea, and to connect them to other ideas. Documentary makes space for nuance, and importantly can give audiences a way into a conversation that might otherwise seem too technical or inaccessible. Especially when it gets weird.

Turbulence: Jamais Vu by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts at IDFA DocLab 2023. Photography by Bernard Kalu.

Imagine Experience Share Europe

CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA

Creative Europe MEDIA happily congratulates all the MEDIA-supported films with their selection for this year’s IDFA, including:

(clockwise, starting from top left)

Reas • Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat • Architecton • I’m Not Everything I Want to Be •

Averroès and Rosa Parks • Songs of Slow Burning Earth

PARTNER IDFA

Program Sections & Awards

IDFA’s program sections are a testament to the evolving world of documentary �ilm. From emerging art forms to established cinematic traditions, our slate of competitions and non-competitive sections offer something for every �ilmmaker and �ilm lover. Every year, outstanding new �ilms compete for IDFA’s coveted awards. Explore the overview of program sections and our coveted awards.

International Competition

The best of the art. Singular �ilms that are artistically con�ident, wellrounded, and universally relevant.

From the �ilms selected for the International Competition, an international jury of �ive jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best Film. The jury also selects the winners of the IDFA Award for Best Directing, the IDFA Award for Best Editing, and the IDFA Award for Best Cinematography.

Envision Competition

With stylistic integrity and courage, these �ilms traverse our current reality, offering visions of a documentary art form that can, might, and will be.

From the �ilms selected for the Envision Competition, an international jury of �ive jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition. The jury also selects the winners of IDFA Award for Best Directing and the IDFA Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

The selected projects in the IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling illustrate all the different ways to create stories in new ways to innovate and re-imagine the potential of interactive storytelling, often moving between the digital and the physical.

From the projects selected for the IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling, an international jury of three jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling. The jury also selects a Special Mention in the category.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-�iction IDFA

A testament to the power of exceptional non-�iction storytelling across media and technologies, the selected works for the IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction reveal the full spectrum of immersive art.

From the projects selected for the IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction, an international jury of three jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction. The jury also selects a Special Mention in the category.

The titles in the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary showcase a healthy boom for the short �ilm form. A mosaic of styles and themes de�ines this selection, exploring everything a short documentary can be.

From the �ilms selected for the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, an international jury of three jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary.

The IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary offers world-class �ilms that challenge the de�inition of youth documentary. Selected titles are presented for two distinct age groups: 9- to 12-year- olds, and 13-year-olds all the way to adulthood. From the �ilms selected for the IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary, an international jury of �ive jurors will choose a winner of the IDFA Award for Best Youth Film 9-12 age and the IDFA Award for Best Youth Film 13+.

Photography by Coen Dijkstra.

Luminous

A wide range of styles and formalist approaches dot this premiere-only section, from observational to personal to experimental. Collectively, the �ilms in Luminous express a highly intimate engagement with our fellow humans—those who resiliently strive to overcome adversity.

Frontlight

The premiere-only section takes an artistic approach to exploring the urgent issues of our time. Courageous, truth-seeking documentary �ilmmaking with no holds barred.

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

In homage to our Guest of Honor, IDFA presents seven �ilms by critically acclaimed artist and �ilmmaker Johan Grimonprez. With his singular exploration into present-day media, his work examines how our collective imagination shapes our understanding of historical events.

Johan Grimonprez's Top 10

In an unconventional Top 10, Johan Grimonprez invites us to explore the tip of the iceberg of his vast �ilm archives. Shown in thematic chapters, the selection showcases key themes that guide his artistic practice.

Dead Angle: Borders

Dead Angle is a multi-year curated program that uses documentary cinema as a torch to illuminate the dark corners of our awareness. Starting with the theme Borders, the program delves into the complex symbolism of borders, exploring them not just as physical barriers, but as profound metaphors for identity, community, and the human condition.

Signed

Signed showcases the latest cinematic adventures of some of the most original �ilmmakers of our time. The program celebrates those with a unique artistic signature, beyond the canon.

Spotlight on Cuba

Spotlight on Cuba revisits the complex political history of Cuba. With a retrospective of the pioneering Afro-Cuban �ilmmaker Sara Gómez, next to a special curation of �ilms made by students of the EICTV, the program will explore the paradoxes of our perception of Cuba as both revolutionary utopia and dystopia.

IDFA on Stage

The IDFA on Stage selection presents a boundary-breaking program of live cinema events—bridging �ilm, new media, and the performing arts.

IDFA DocLab Spotlight

Documentary art across disciplines, presenting emerging media works and research projects by established and new talents.

Paradocs

Pushing the limits of the documentary form. A showcase of the year’s best experimental documentary art.

Best of Fests

Prize-winners, public favorites, and high-pro�ile titles from the international festival circuit.

Cross-section awards

From the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight, two international juries will choose the winners of the IDFA Award for Best First Feature and the FIPRESCI Award.

From the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, Frontlight, and Signed, an international jury will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film.

From across the whole program, an international jury will choose the winner of the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award.

Other awards

NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award

The �ilm that is most highly rated by festival audiences will win the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award. All IDFA-selected �ilms made in the past year with a running time of over 40 minutes are eligible.

IDFA Forum Awards

From the projects selected for IDFA Forum, an international jury of three jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA Forum Award for Best Project and the IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut Project.

From the projects selected for IDFA DocLab Forum, an international jury of three jurors will choose the winner of the IDFA DocLab Forum Award for Best Project.

NPO Fund Talent Award

This prize is awarded to one of the projects in IDFA Project Space NL. It consists of a grant for the development of the project and for the production of a teaser.

Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend

With this stipend, the Cultuurfonds awards a documentary talent with a grant of €50,000 that allows the recipient to make a documentary �ilm about a subject of their choice. The award is intended for a documentary �ilmmaker with a proven track record who has already earned modest recognition in the documentary �ield.

PRESENTS

“A MULTI-FACETED MASTERWORK

It’s a glowing example of how moviemaking – like a person’s digital footprint – can be a form of immortality that soothes even the most devastating loss.”

“GENRE-DEFYING.”

“CAPTIVATING.”

“POWERFUL.” “REMARKABLE.”

“MOVING.” “INVENTIVE.”

“MAGNIFICENT.” “INSPIRATIONAL.”

“A genuinely moving tribute to friendship.”

“An endeavor that could change and even save lives.” “Poignant and laugh-out-loud funny.”

“An ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL case for second chances in an isolating, fractured world.”

“EXTRAORDINARILY MOVING.”

EPIC ”

. A rousing tale of an extraordinary pioneer.”

Legend

What do the labels mean?

The colors used in the schedules and A to Z lists provide more information about the �ilms, projects and events.

All screenings of �ilms that have their European, international or world premiere at IDFA are listed in red.

All screenings of �ilms that have previously screened in Eurpe or the Netherlands are listed in blue.

All new media projects are listed in yellow.

All events are listed in grey.

IDFA Project Space Documentaries that were developed in IDFA’s talent development programs.

IDFA Forum Harvest Films that previously pitched at IDFA Forum.

IDFA Bertha Fund Films supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.

Films & Events A-Z Film & Events A-Z

Frontlight

The 1957 Transcripts IP

Degel shahor

Ayelet Heller

Israel, 2024, 75′

An unraveling of the murder of 49 Palestinian villagers by the Israeli Border Police in 1956. Featuring survivors, historians, a courageous journalist and a re-enactment of the trial of soldiers involved in the massacre.

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

TU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

WE �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

2073

Asif Kapadia

International Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

About a Hero WP

Piotr Winiewicz

Denmark, Germany, United States, 2024, 84′

After a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the �ilm is not what we expect…

FR �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

MO 18 11:30 Pathé City 3 P&I

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 DocLab Screening

TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

Best of Fests

United Kingdom, 2024, 85′ It’s the year 2073, and a woman is struggling to survive in a devastated world.

Asif Kapadia (Senna Amy) compiles the calamities of recent decades to form the prologue of a sinister science �iction �ilm with a crystal clear message.

SU �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1

TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

TH ��

Tuschinski 6

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

Paradocs

7 Walks with Mark Brown

7 promenades avec Mark Brown

Vincent Barré, Pierre Creton France, 2024, 105′

Mark Brown’s great dream is to recreate a primary forest in his own garden. The �ilm crew follows him along the French coast as he identi�ies the plants growing there. The resulting close-ups accompanied by his commentary are pure poetic science.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Pathé City 2

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 6

FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2 Sensory friendly

Spotlight on Cuba Abecé

ABC’s

Diana Montero Cuba, 2013, 15′

Leoneidi is a 12-year-old mother whose life is divided between parental responsibilities and childlike playfulness. In an interview with the director of this short documentary, she tells us her unusual life story.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

Luminous

Abo Zaabal 89 WP

Bassam Mortada

Egypt, Germany, 2024, 83′

In search of understanding and healing, �ilmmaker Bassam Mortada explores his father’s arrest, imprisonment and torture in 1989, re-constructing and reconsidering the experience that traumatized and divided his family.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 2

WE 20 13:30 Pathé City 4 P&I

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 2

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Alternative 3

Christopher Miles

United Kingdom, 1977, 56′

Signed

Acting IP

Sophie Fiennes

United Kingdom, 2024, 145′

A dilapidated country house makes an apt setting for a fascinating masterclass in acting. Eight talented young British actors work on Shakespeare’s Macbeth guided by two veterans in the business.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 7

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4

TU �� ����� Pathé City 2

TH �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Agent of Happiness

Best of Fests

Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó Bhutan, Hungary, 2024, 93′

Survey interviewer Amber Kumar Gurung travels through the heart of Bhutan with a questionnaire, assessing the well-being of his compatriots. This tender portrait shows how ít’s possible to be happy in times of adversity.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 1

TH �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

Signed

All Is Well WP

Alles goed

Petra Lataster-Czisch, Peter Lataster Netherlands, 2024, 116′

A warm observational portrait of daily life in a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in the Dutch city of Weesp. The central kitchen is where memories are shared, and where cooking and eating offer comfort as well as an escape from homesickness.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

TH �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Alma del Desierto

Best of Fests

Soul of the Desert Mónica Taboada-Tapia Colombia, Brazil, 2024, 87′ Georgina, a trans woman now in her seventies, belongs to the Wayúu people in Colombia. For years, she has been �ighting for social acceptance and a correct ID. Step by step she moves, through the beautiful desert landscape, towards recognition.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 3

TH �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 2

Top 10

This extraordinary mockumentary, which caused a stir among British TV viewers in the late 1970s, reveals a plan to establish colonies on the moon and Mars because Earth was doomed to become uninhabitable due to global heating.

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

Best of Fests

Am I the Skinniest Person

You’ve Ever Seen?

Eisha Marjara

Canada, 2024, 24′

A personal and lyrical documentary by Canadian director Eisha Marjara about how anorexia led her to the brink of death as an adolescent.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2 S

Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

International Competition

An American Pastoral WP

Une pastorale américaine

Auberi Edler

France, 2024, 118′

Campaigning is �ierce where the majority of the public school board members are up for reelection in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Tense observational portrait on a micro level of a deeply divided nation.

SA 16 16:30 Pathé City 5 P&I

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 6

MO ��

TU ��

TH ��

FR ��

SA ��

Rialto VU: Zaal 4

Pathé City 5

Tuschinski 5

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Signed

Apocalypse in the Tropics

Apocalipse nos trópicos

Petra Costa Brazil, 2024, 111′

Terrifying account of the rise and enormous political in�luence of evangelical fundamentalism in Brazil. TV evangelists and ultraconservative politicians seem to be leading the country toward a theocracy, with sometimes fatal consequences.

SA ��

SU ��

TU ��

TH ��

FR ��

De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

ITA: Rabozaal

Tuschinski 5

Pathé Noord 4

Pathé City 1

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

El árbol

The Tree

Roya Eshraghi Cuba, 2015, 14′

Spotlight on Cuba

In �ilming a tree growing on the �ifth �loor of a dilapidated building, an Iranian �ilmmaker in Cuba re�lects on questions about rootedness. Through the tree, she enters into a conversation with her displaced father.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 + Talk

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Archipelago of Earthen Bones – To Bunya EP

Malena Szlam

Canada, Australia, Chile, 2024, 20′ Luminescent trees, volcanoes and desert landscapes are transformed into a dazzling palette of orange shades. This wordless �ilm evokes the history of Australian mountain ranges, illuminated by the afterglow of a volcanic eruption.

SU

Signed

Architecton

Victor Kossakovsky

Germany, France, United States, 2024, 99′

A visual symphony in concrete and stone, with many epic drone shots in which ancient architectural masterpieces contrast with the ephemerality of modern concrete construction.

At All Kosts WP Koutkekout

Joseph Hillel Canada, 2024, 84′

What is the function of art in a country that is constantly on the verge of collapse? In Haiti, a poverty-stricken country ravaged by social unrest and natural disasters, a theater festival is bravely hanging on in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Tuschinski 6

2

4 Signed At this Moment, in the Nation’s Sky No Céu da Pátria Nesse Instante

Sandra Kogut Brazil, 2023, 105′

The election of the current Brazilian president Lula da Silva led to the storming of Congress by supporters of his opponent Bolsonaro. In the turbulent months that preceded it, Sandra Kogut portrays a country divided to the core.

��

Eye: Cinema 2

Pathé City 7

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Tuschinski 6

Tuschinski 3

Eye: Cinema 2

Averroès & Rosa Parks

Nicolas Philibert France, 2024, 143′

Signed

A contemplative portrait of the patients and staff in a French psychiatric hospital. In long, unhurried scenes, we see the philosophical, intelligent, sometimes hopeful human being beneath the layers of complex delusions, fears or depression.

�� ����� Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 6

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Pathé City 2

Pathé Noord 7

Pathé City 3

Best of Fests

Frontlight

The Ban IP

Roisin Agnew

Ireland, United Kingdom, 2024, 27′

A look back at the ban on broadcasting the voices of IRA and Sinn Féin representatives on UK radio and TV between 1988 and 1994. Through a loophole in the law, the media circumvented the censorship by using the voices of actors.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Spotlight on Cuba

De bateyes

The Sugar Workers’ Quarters

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1971, 24′

Short documentary in which �ilmmaker

Sara Gómez explores the history of Cuban bateyes, simple workers’ settlements near sugarcane mills. The testimonies of the workers form the thread running through this nearly forgotten �ilm.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Best of Fests, Dead Angle: Borders The Battle for Laikipia

Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi Kenya, United States, Greece, 2024, 94′

Persistent drought is causing escalating con�lict between herders and landowners in the Laikipia region of Kenya. This story about climate change and colonial legacy focuses on two families living in separate worlds.

SA �� ����� Kleine Komedie

SU �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH

FR

SU

Signed

The Belle from Gaza

La belle de Gaza

Yolande Zauberman

France, 2024, 77′

A portrait by Yolande Zauberman of trans women in nighttime Tel Aviv, many of whom have �led Palestine. The search for the mysterious title character is the red thread which loosely ties this intimate and unorthodox �ilm together.

SA ��

SU ��

MO

WE ��

Pathé City 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 2

Eye: Cinema 1 TH

Podium Mozaïek SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

Best

of

Enemies:

Buckley vs. Vidal

Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon United States, 2015, 88′

Top 10

Black Box Diaries

Shiori Ito

Japan, United States, United Kingdom, 2024, 103′

When journalist Shiori Ito is raped by a colleague, she decides to seek justice, in the face of a Japanese culture of silence. In a legal battle that lasts years, she takes on police and politicians, and the unequal relationship between men and women.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 6

FR �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal MO

Eye: Cinema 1 TU

De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk TH

Pathé Noord 7 SA

Tuschinski 2

Black Butter�lies

Mariposas negras

David Baute

A behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

MO �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Special Screenings

Best of IDFA: Audience Favorites

Every year, IDFA audiences select their favorites by rating �ilms for the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award. A selection of these top-rated �ilms will be showcased in an exclusive day-long program. Don’t miss your chance to see the 2024 audience favorites! The full program will be announced after the Award Ceremony on November 21.

Bijlmerbios

Pathé City 4

Kriterion 1

FR �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

FR �� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

SA �� ����� DLM: Wim Sonneveld Zaal

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 1

Luminous

Been Here Stay Here WP

David Usui

United States, 2024, 90′

A warm and attentive �ilm capturing the lives of �ishermen on an island in the US facing the threat of rising sea levels. The close-knit community, rooted in faith, navigates an uncertain future with the church at the center of their lives.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4

WE 20 21:30 Pathé City 4 P&I

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

Before Then EP

哦玛 Mengzhu Xue

Germany, China, 2024, 30′

SU �� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 8

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

Special Screenings

Best

of IDFA: Award Winners

The best �ilms from IDFA 2024 selected by an international jury, especially compiled into a full day program. Purchase your tickets now to ensure your seat for this outstanding program! The full program will be announced after the Award Ceremony on Thursday November 21.

FR �� ����� DLM: Wim Sonneveld Zaal

SA �� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

Luminous

A young Chinese �ilmmaker wants to confess something to her grandmother that has been weighing on her for years.

She offers linguistic and cinematic codes to help decipher the secrets in this enigmatic and personal short student �ilm.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

TH �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Paradocs

Being John Smith

John Smith

United Kingdom, 2024, 27′

What’s it like to be an artist named “John Smith”? Despite his success, avant-garde artist John Smith continues to have insecurities about his nondescript name. He ponders the matter in this humorous, multilayered, and stylistically novel account.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

WE �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

SU �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

Envision Competition Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries IP Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari

Massimo D’Anol�i, Martina Parenti Italy, Switzerland, 2024, 207′

In three acts, each with its own character, this ambitious �ilm examines the world of animals, plants and stones, and questions the place of humans on our planet. It’s at times didactic, at times observational, at times theoretical and at times poetic.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 3

TU 19 13:00 Pathé City 4 P&I

TH �� ����� Pathé City 5

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Blue Orchids

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium, 2017, 48′

This double portrait of a former New York Times war correspondent and an arms dealer exposes the opposite ends of an ideological spectrum, and provides shocking disclosures about the industry of war—symptom of a profound illness: greed.

Bogancloch

Best of Fests

Spain, Panama, 2024, 83′ Animated �ilm about three women living in Kenya, India and Saint Martin who are forced by climate change to move from the countryside to Nairobi, Dubai and Paris, respectively. Instead of a better life, they face bureaucracy and exploitation.

SA ��

SU

TU

WE

FR ��

SU ��

Kriterion 1

Pathé Noord 7

Tuschinski 3

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Pathé City 4

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Dead Angle: Borders

Black Harvest

Bob Connolly, Robin Anderson Australia, 1992, 90′

A coffee plantation owner of multi-ethnic origin expands his enterprise together with members of his tribe. Is he a neo-colonialist taking advantage of his Ganiga family, or a new-style tribal leader who can bring economic prosperity?

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH

Blink

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Best of Fests

Edmund Stenson, Daniel Roher

Canada, United States, 2024, 87′ Chronicle of a trip around the world through the eyes of an adventurous Canadian family who aim to collect visual memories. Three of the four children have a genetic condition that means that they will gradually lose their eyesight.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 hosted by National Geographic Documentary Films

SA ��

SU

Pathé City 4

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 MO

TH

SA ��

Kleine Komedie

Pathé Noord 7

Pathé City 4

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Dead Angle: Borders

Bloodline WP

Wojciech Węglarz Poland, 2024, 12′

The arbitrariness of national borders, the effects humans have on nature, and the unseen victims: in this short �ilm we see all this through the eyes of a lost bison. A new perspective on the cold reality of Fort Europe.

SA ��

SU ��

MO ��

SA ��

Tuschinski 4 Shorts

Pathé City 2 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Frontlight

Blowing in the Wind WP

Eyad Aljarod

Syria, Netherlands, 2024, 139′

Contemplative, behind-the-scenes �ilm about a group of civilian Syrian �ighters in 2013. Between combat operations, the men live together, play cards and discuss the state of the country and their precarious, tension-�illed existence.

FR

Pathé City 6

SA 16 10:45 Pathé City 2 P&I

SU

Ben Rivers

United Kingdom, Germany, Iceland, 2024, 86′

Following on from his 2011 �ilm Two Years at Sea, Ben Rivers returns to the remote farmhouse belonging to hermit Jake Williams, where he captures the enchanting everyday wonders of the Scottish highlands on 16mm black-and-white �ilm.

Zaal 1

La Bonita

María del Mar Rosario

Cuba, Puerto Rico, 2018, 18′

From permanent make-up to Brazilian waxing: the beauty treatments that the female body is subjected to are seldom a pleasant experience, as this pointedly unvarnished short documentary shows.

Bright Future WP

Viitor luminos

Andra MacMasters

Romania, South Korea, 2024, 89′ Summer, 1989. The Tiananmen protests have just been crushed and the Eastern Bloc is showing cracks. These tensions are palpable at the World Youth Festival in North Korea. In unique footage, it looks like a socialist dance on the edge of a volcano.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski

The Brink of Dreams

Rafaat einy ll sama

Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2024, 102′

A group of young women in a remote Egyptian town form an emancipated street theater company. After following them for four years, it appears that dreams are likelier to come true on stage than in reality.

Female Economy SA �� ����� Podium Mozaïek Frontlight

The

Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp EP

Dennis Harvey Sweden, Ireland, 2024, 20′

Right-wing extremists leap into action when asylum seekers pitch their tents on Sandwith Street in Dublin. Fueled by social media, the increasingly aggressive confrontations lead to the outbreak of extreme violence.

Signed

The Cats of Gokogu Shrine

Gokogu no neko

Kazuhiro Soda Japan, 2024, 119′

The Shinto shrine Gokogu in the Japanese coastal town of Ushimado is a refuge for stray cats. Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda calmly and amiably observes not only the animals, but also the people who come and go.

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

WE �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Envision Competition Chronicles of the Absurd WP

Crónicas del absurdo

Miguel Coyula Cuba, 2024, 77′

Artist couple Lynn Cruz and Miguel Coyula deploy a string of secret audio recordings to expose the various forms of control and intimidation that independent artists in Cuba have to suffer. In true Ka�kaesque fashion, oppression looms everywhere.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2 TU 19 11:30 Pathé City 7 P&I

WE �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Tuschinski 5

TH

Pathé City 5 SU

Tuschinski 3

Spotlight on Cuba De cierta manera

One Way or Another

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1974, 79′

Mutual understanding can bring about change. In a love story between two polar opposites, Cuban director Sara Gómez shows that revolution is about more than just material conditions.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Close-up

Nema-ye nazdik

Abbas Kiarostami

Iran, 1990, 90′

Top 10

A �ilm fanatic who pretends to be the popular Iranian �ilm director Mohsen Makhmalbaf is eventually caught out and ends up in court. Just like this man who lives between �ilm and reality, Close-up straddles the border between documentary and �iction.

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

TH �� ����� Pathé City 7

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Cohabitants IP Eluteelised

Viesturs Kairišs

Estonia, 2024, 20′

Portrait of the inhabitants of Piirissaar, a tiny island in a lake in Estland, near the border with Russia. The hundred or so people who live there cherish both their Russian and Estonian traditions.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

Special Screenings

The Color of Armenian Land

Mikhail Vartanov

Soviet Union, 1969, 16′

Banned by the Soviet regime at the time, this �ilm explores the relationship between the Armenian landscape and the art the country produced, seen through the eyes of the 90-year-old landscape painter Martiros Saryan.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Special Screenings

The Color of Pomegranates

Sergei Parajanov

Soviet Union, 1969, 79′

The life of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova told in tableaux vivants that can be viewed as visual lines of poetry. A unique and timeless masterpiece full of symbolism, texture, color and folklore.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Tuschinski 4

��

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Crushed

Camille Vigny

Belgium, 2023, 13′

For 13+ years. It’s the summer when Camille turns eighteen and falls in love with Jean. A perfect boy, who later turns out be violent. As she recalls this summer, we see images of junk cars in a wild race that ends in their demolition.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Youth 13+

�� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Youth 13+ TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

Envision Competition CycleMahesh WP

Suhel Banerjee India, 2024, 60′

Innovative and playful, this meta-documentary tells the story of Mahesh, a young Indian plumber who cycled 2,000 kilometers to get home during a lockdown and became a national media hype—albeit very brie�ly.

FR 15 13:00 Pathé City 5 P&I

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

WE �� ����� Pathé City 3

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 1

Dahomey

Mati Diop

Signed

France, Senegal, Benin, 2024, 68′

In 1892, the French looted hundreds of works of art from the Kingdom of Dahomey, located in present-day Benin. In 2021, 26 works were returned to their country of origin. This award-winning documentary offers a fresh perspective on this key moment.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 1 + Talk

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

WE �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt

TH �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

FR �� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

SA �� ����� Bijlmerbios

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

Best of Fests

Dear Beautiful Beloved

Juri Rechinsky

Austria, 2024, 93′

This shocking but hopeful report from Ukraine follows the makeshift relief network that has emerged in the middle of wartime violence. The tireless volunteers evacuate residents, support refugees and retrieve bodies from the battle�ield.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SA ��

SU ��

SU ��

Pathé City 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk hosted by European Cultural Foundation

Pathé City 2

Tuschinski 4

Kriterion 1

Spotlight on Cuba La despedida

The Farewell

Alejandro Alonso Estrella Cuba, 2014, 25′

A photogenic look at the life of a former miner still living on the premises of the mine where he spent his working life. Aware of the fact that his time is almost up, he seeks to hold on to the past.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts + Talk

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium, 1997, 68′

Four years prior to 9/11, Grimonprez made this �ilm essay rewriting the history of plane hijackings in parallel with the rise of a catastrophe culture. The emerging television era turned terrorism into a spectacle while hiding the bigger picture.

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 WE �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Paradocs, Dead Angle: Borders The Diary of a Sky

Lawrence Abu Hamdan Lebanon, 2024, 45′

“Private ear” Lawrence Abu Hamdan collected data and audio recordings from Israeli �ighter jets over Lebanon. This “symphony of violence” is the soundtrack to shots of Lebanese airspace in an audiovisual essay.

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

didy

Best of Fests

Gaël Kamilindi, François Xavier Destors Switzerland, France, Rwanda, 2024, 83′

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Double Take

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, 2009, 80′

The Cold War, Hitchcock, and the rise of television are ingeniously interconnected in this witty collage of news, advertising and �ilm footage. In a story of intimate paranoia, Hitchcock and his elusive double obsess over the perfect murder.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Echoes Within WP Koro gochongni

Pranami Koch India, 2024, 26′

A feeling of being cut off from her roots leads Pranami Koch to the Koches, a minority community in India to which her grandmother, whom she did not know, belonged. She �inds a village bursting with life and memories.

South Korea, 2024, 125′

As Edhi and Alice deal with the realities of gender reassignment, they face rejection and misunderstanding in South Korean society. An elegant portrait of two women in transition, with a distinct role for the �ilm crew.

Eight Postcards from Utopia

Opt ilustrate din Lumea Ideală Radu Jude, Christian Ferencz-Flatz Romania, 2024, 71′

Found footage documentary consisting entirely of commercials shown during the post-socialist period in Romania. Besides promoting all sorts of products, these absurd and sometimes vulgar advertisements extol the virtues of the new capitalist ideology.

The Daughter of Both Women

La �illa d’elles

WP

Malena Montiel, Nora Alberdi Odriozola, Iona E. Quesada, Alejandra López Puebla, Nhoa Carmona Aguilar Spain, 2024, 14′

Age section 13+ years. Catalan teenager Iona starts her story with the words, “I hate my mother.” The details are then �illed in via video clips and diary entries. Her anger hides many questions, which she explores in this sincere and relatable �ilm.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Youth 13+

WE �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Youth 13+

TH �� ����� Pathé Noord 7 Youth 13+

FR �� ����� Pathé City 7 Youth 13+

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Dead Angle: Borders

Dead Angle: Inhuman Boundaries

Borders are often framed as a matter of human rights, but in this trio of �ilms we explore how they are perceived from the perspective of beings that exist outside the category of humanity.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2

MO �� ����� Pathé City 5 SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

An intimate portrait of Gaël Kamilindi’s mother, who died when he was �ive. From Switzerland, where the �ilmmaker grew up, he travels to Rwanda to reconstruct her life with those who loved her.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1 TU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA ��

SU ��

Cinema De Vlugt

Podium Mozaïek

Direct Action

Signed

Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell Germany, France, 2024, 212′ Around 150 anarchists and farmers live in ZAD, an activist community in France. In unhurried, observational style, this �ilm captures the group from within by showing everyday scenes and direct action— the antidote to “eco-anxiety”.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 4

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH ��

SA ��

Pathé City 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SU �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt + Talk hosted by Voedselpark Amsterdam

Claire Simon France, 2024, 105′

Veteran documentarian Claire Simon follows the daily routines at a progressive elementary school in a multicultural suburb of Paris. The heroes of the �ilm are the tireless teachers, caregivers in the broadest sense of the word.

El enemigo

The Enemy

Aldemar Matias

Cuba, 2014, 26′

Spotlight on Cuba

This short student �ilm shows the �ight to control the yellow fever mosquito, that also carries dengue. Mayelín has the thankless task of handing out �ines to poor residents of working-class neighborhoods in Havana where the mosquito is found.

Signed

Eno

Gary Hustwit

United States, 2024, 87′

Brian Eno, former keyboard player with Roxy Music and producer of Bowie and U2, has been at the forefront of using generative computer systems to create his music. In keeping with this spirit, Eno is a �ilm that changes with every screening.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SU �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

SA �� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Entretierra WP

Emanuel Licha

Canada, 2024, 22′

In the space that separates the victims of the Mexican drug war from the family members looking for them—the space between life and death, between dark and light—the missing can tell their story and hear their loved ones digging.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

Signed Ernest Cole: Lost and Found Raoul Peck

United States, 2024, 106′

Ernest Cole (1940-1990) was one of the �irst photographers to capture what apartheid meant to Black South Africans like himself. During his exile in the US, he photographed scenes of untold freedom next to scenes of overt racism.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

WE �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

TH �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal IDFA Meets Meervaart Studio

FR �� ����� Bijlmerbios

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Signed An Evening

with Radu Jude

Two �ilms with one of the most innovative �ilmmakers working at present, Radu Jude. This compilation program explores love and death, the human body and its frailty, and the relationship between image and reality. Including Sleep #2 and Eight Postcards from Utopia, followed by a discussion with IDFA’s Artistic Director, Orwa Nyrabia.

FR �� ����� Kleine Komedie

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the Politics of Love Johan Grimonprez Belgium, 2016, 15′

While in Jean Luc Godard’s dystopian �ilm classic Alphaville, love is a forbidden word subject to the penalty of death, political philosopher Michael Hardt ponders how it would be if societies were based on love instead of fear.

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Everything Will Be Alright WP

Alles komt goed Ee�je Blankevoort, Lara Aerts Netherlands, 2024, 32′

Age section 13+ years. Eighteen-yearold Samrawit was just a child when she decided to �lee Eritrea on her own. In this �ilm, in which we also see her directing some scenes, she shares moments from her escape story and from her life in the Netherlands.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Youth 13+

TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Youth 13+

TH �� ����� Pathé City 1 Youth 13+

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4 Youth 13+

Frontlight

Eyes of Gaza WP

Mahmoud Atassi Qatar, 2024, 50′

A devastatingly bleak portrait of three Palestinian journalists risking their lives to report from Gaza. The word “PRESS” printed on their bullet-proof vests apparently no longer means anything.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1

MO 18 14:00 Pathé City 7 P&I

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3

TH �� ����� Podium Mozaïek FR

Pathé City 3 SA

Pathé City 1

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine

La fabulosa máquina de cosechar oro

Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza Chile, Netherlands, 2024, 75′

The dreamlike, melancholic story of Toto, a Chilean gold prospector, and his son Jorge, who designs a gold prospecting machine to make his 60-year-old father’s life easier.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

WE �� ����� Pathé City 1

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

A Family Portrait 2014/2024

IDFA on Stage

WP

Een familieportret 2014/2024

sander breure and witte van hulzen

Netherlands, 2024, 160′

In this long-term project the artists portray an average Dutch family. While inviting re�lection on the nature of language and time, the performance can also be enjoyed as an entertaining piece of reality theater—a farce that is true to life.

FR �� ����� Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

SA �� ����� Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

SU �� ����� Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

Best of Fests

A Family

Une famille

Christine Angot

France, 2024, 82′

This unsettling directorial debut from Christine Angot pinpoints the isolation experienced by incest victims, and shows how this unfathomable form of abuse leaves a trail of impotence and destruction within families.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SA �� ����� Kleine Komedie + Talk hosted by De Groene Amsterdammer

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

WE �� ����� Pathé City 2

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6

Farming the Revolution

Nishtha Jain

Signed

Favoriten

Ruth Beckermann Austria, 2024, 119′

None of the children in Ilkay Idiskut’s class are native German speakers, all needing extra attention. There’s a major shortage of teachers in Vienna. What this means for the children becomes clear when their teacher goes on maternity leave.

TH

Eye: Cinema 1 SU

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 TU

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Envision Competition

The Fen-�ire WP

De gloeiige

Erik van Lieshout

Netherlands, 2024, 60′

With great enthusiasm, Erik van Lieshout roams the Brabant countryside of his youth. Farmers, local people and nature are caught between nitrate pollution and agricultural stench. For the artist, this is fertile ground.

FR ��

Eye: Cinema 2

SA 16 13:30 Pathé City 3 P&I

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

MO ��

Pathé City 5

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1

FR �� ����� Pathé City 1

SA ��

De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

Festival Living Room

During the festival, IDFA headquarters Het Documentaire Paviljoen welcomes all guests and visitors to its Festival Living Room for breakfast, lunch or coffee. A place to meet with colleagues or friends over a snack or drink, get some work done between events, or simply hang out after a screening.

Open from Friday November 15 to Wednesday November 20, 08:30 to 16:00.

Signed

A Fidai Film

Kamal Aljafari

Germany, Qatar, Brazil, France, Palestine, 2024, 78′

In an act of cinematographic sabotage, Aljafari reconstructs a Palestinian visual record based on the archive of the Palestine Research Center, which the Israeli army looted during its invasion of South Lebanon in 1982.

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

MO ��

WE

TH

Kriterion 1

Tuschinski 3

Podium Mozaïek

Pathé City 2

Filmmaker Talk: Farahnaz Shari�i

An in-depth conversation with award-winning Iranian �ilmmaker and editor Farahnaz Shari�i, delving into her use of archival resources and personal stories to bring powerful, synchronous storytelling to life.

The Flats

Alessandra Celesia

France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, 2024, 114′

In the apartment tower blocks forming Belfast’s Catholic New Lodge neighborhood, Joe McNally reenacts memories of his childhood during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The trauma of the past ruptures the present. FR

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary the Flower by the Road

La �lor del camino

Giorgi Parkosadze

Georgia, Hungary, Portugal, Belgium, 2024, 15′

Age section 9-12 years. A few dreamlike glimpses into the life of a young girl who is on her way to meet a beloved friend, and for whom nothing exists but the here and now.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary The Flowers Stand

Silently, Witnessing IP

Theo Panagopoulos

United Kingdom, 2024, 17′

A Scottish missionary captured the �loral splendor of Palestine on 16mm �ilm in the 1930s and 1940s. In this montage, the footage becomes a melancholic exploration of the complex relationship between the land and its inhabitants.

SU

Flying Anne

Anne vliegt

Catherine van Campen

Netherlands, 2010, 21′

Eleven-year-old Anne is a cheerful girl who occasionally struggles with her Tourette syndrome: sometimes she spins in circles, or she has to lick everything in sight.

Dutch Spoken

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 IDFA

Frown Gone Mad WP

Omar Mismar Lebanon, 2024, 71′

Signed

India, France, Norway, 2024, 105′

In 2020, with Covid on the increase, almost half a million farmers in India rose up in protest against the new farming laws. The �ilm crew spent a year immersed in the daily struggle and the unyielding spirit of this historic and triumphant movement.

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 1

WE �� ����� Pathé City 7

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

SA �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

SU �� ����� ITA: Studio 1

Filmmaker Talk: Lola Arias

An in-depth public interview with Argentine artist Lola Arias, whose practice spans �ilm, theater, literature, and visual arts with an oeuvre that prompts deep re�lections on historical events, geopolitical realities, and contemporary issues surrounding migration and state violence.

TU �� ����� ITA: Studio 1

Filmmaker Talk: Nicolas Philibert

An hour-long discussion with Nicolas Philibert exploring the creative ethos and boundless curiosity underpinning a career that spans more than 40 years, and that has established him as one of the most de�ining visionaries of contemporary French documentary �ilm.

MO ��

Studio 1

In a Lebanese beauty salon, Bouba injects her clients with Botox and �illers. The close-ups of the tortured and bleeding faces are gruesome and intriguing. Customers vent their worries as they paralyze their expressions. Meanwhile, war is at the door.

SA 16 09:30 Pathé City 3 P&I

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

MO �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TH �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

Envision Competition

Garanti 100% Kréol WP

Laurent Pantaleon Réunion, 2024, 63′

Laurent Pantaléon dives into the world of garanti talismans to ensure that his �ilm is successful. On the island of Réunion these objects have an important role to play as a protective mechanism, an insurance policy and an identity symbol.

MO �� ����� Pathé City 2

TU 19 09:15 Pathé City 5 P&I

TU ��

Tuschinski 3 TH ��

Tuschinski 6 FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3 SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

International Competition

The Golden Age IP

L’era d’oro

Camilla Iannetti

Italy, 2024, 98′

The very pregnant Lucy gives up her music studies in England, driven by �inancial struggles and the desire for a family life. What will her future look like now? A sensitive portrait of an unconventional artistic Sicilian family.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA 16 11:45 Pathé City 5 P&I

SA �� ����� Pathé City 1

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5

Grand Theft Hamlet

Best of Fests

Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane

United Kingdom, 2024, 90′

Is it possible to perform an entire theater play in an online multiplayer game? Two out-of-work actors try to do just that. They stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto, with surprising results.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SA �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

WE �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Dead Angle: Borders

The Great Wall Tadhg O’Sullivan Ireland, 2015, 73′

This essayistic documentary maps the borders around Europe in light of the migration crisis, through images that verge on the poetic. Based on a short story by Franz Ka�ka.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 + Talk

International Competition Green Is the New Red WP

De la guerre froide à la guerre verte Anna Recalde Miranda France, Italy, Paraguay, Sweden, 2024, 105′

During Operation Condor, opponents of various US-backed dictatorships in Latin America were kidnapped, tortured and murdered. It paved the way for today’s “soybean republic” and its violent repression of indigenous people and landless farmers.

SU 17 16:30 Pathé City 4 P&I

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

WE �� ����� Pathé City 7

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 8

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Spotlight on Cuba

Guanabacoa: Crónicas de mi familia

Guanabacoa: Chronicles of My Family

Sara Gómez Cuba, 1966, 13′

Join Sara Gómez on a trip to Guanabacoa, a town near Havana where her father’s family come from. Her short impressions form an evocative portrait of Black middle-class life in pre- and post-revolutionary Cuba.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Guest of Honor Talk: Johan Grimonprez

This year’s Guest of Honor at IDFA, artist and �ilmmaker Johan Grimonprez, will deliver an extensive Talk entitled “Maybe the Sky is Really Green, and We’re Just Colorblind”, followed by a conversation with IDFA’s Artistic Director, Orwa Nyrabia.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

International Competition, Dead Angle: Borders

The Guest WP

Gość

Zvika Gregory Portnoy, Zuzanna Solakiewicz Poland, Qatar, 2024, 78′

A Polish family takes in a Syrian refugee who is trapped in the grim border area between Polish and Belarusian pushbacks. Time is running out and there are few options. Despite the language problems, they develop a bond.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU 17 09:30 Pathé City 5 P&I

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4 + Talk

TU �� ����� Pathé City 7

TH �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SU �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Hard to Break

Anna-Maija Heinonen, Krista Moisio Finland, 2024, 81′

Age section 13+ years. Atte, 18, and Jonsu, 16, are popular on Snapchat. It may look like their lives are just one big party, but they each have their problems. Even their relationship comes under threat in this coming-of-age �ilm driven by the energy of the teenagers.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 Youth 13+

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Youth 13+

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Youth 13+

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Youth 13+

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Youth 13+

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

Hey Dad

嗨爸

WeiFan Wang Taiwan, 2024, 6′

Age section 13+ years. In this short, contemplative Taiwanese animation, a young man searches for the courage and the words to reveal the secret that stands between him and his father. After 20 years, has the right time �inally come?

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 Youth 13+

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Youth 13+

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Youth 13+

TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Youth 13+

TH �� ����� Pathé City 1 Youth 13+

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Youth 13+

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Youth 13+

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4 Youth 13+

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Youth 13+

Envision Competition

Higher than Acidic Clouds WP

Balatar az abrhaye asidi

Ali Asgari

Iran, 2024, 71′

In a haunting, autobiographical essay, Iranian �ilmmaker Ali Asgari questions what it means to be an artist, as censorship drains the color from his home city of Tehran, and from his life.

SA 16 11:15 Pathé City 3 P&I

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez Hitchcock Didn’t Have a Belly Button: Karen Black Interview by Johan Grimonprez

Johan Grimonprez

United States, Belgium, 2009, 1′

Actress Karen Black con�irms an online rumor: Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button. In this interview clip, recorded during the research for Double Take, Black turns out to be a gifted storyteller and provides a convincing Hitchcock impersonation.

MO �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4 Shorts

International Competition Home Game WP

Lidija Zelovic Netherlands, 2024, 98′

A self-portrait by Lidija Zelović, who has captured her personal life on �ilm ever since she arrived in Amsterdam from Sarajevo 30 years ago. Shuttling between being Lidija and being a foreigner, she also holds a mirror up to the Netherlands.

FR �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

SA 16 09:30 Pathé City 5 P&I

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 + Talk hosted by TYD

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4 + Talk

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1 Vriendenvoorstelling IDFA Competition for Short Documentary How to Suture the Soil? WP

¿Cómo suturar la tierra?

Wil Paucar Calle

Ecuador, 2024, 17′

A reconstruction by Wil Paucar Calle of his mother’s �light to the north of Ecuador 40 years ago. At the crossroads of memory, dream, self-therapy, and poetic interpretation, he seeks for a connection with his mother and the place she left behind.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

FR �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

SA ��

SU ��

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Pathé City 1 Shorts

Envision Competition Huaquero WP

Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez Ecuador, Peru, Romania, 2024, 78′ Calmly insightful 16mm �ilm exploring the trade in Peruvian and Ecuadorian prehispanic objects. The storytelling navigates the boundary between reality and �iction to reveal the gaping holes torn in indigenous culture.

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

WE �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE 20 19:30 Pathé City 4 P&I

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3

IDFA Dance Night

As there’s not much chance to dance in the cinema, we invite you after watching your marvellous documentaries to the IDFA Dance Nights in Café Kuyl!

SA �� ����� Café Kuyl

SA �� ����� Café Kuyl

IDFA Junior

IDFA Junior

IDFA’s fun family program for children aged nine up. Showing the documentaries What’s the Film About With Grace and the classic Anne vliegt and followed by a conversation with makers and protagonists. This program is in Dutch. Tickets cost €10.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

IDFA Meets Bonne Suits

IDFA Meets joins forces with Bonne Suits to spotlight Russian protest art. Following on from the exhibition curated by Bonne Suits dedicated to activist artist Pavel Krisevich, IDFA presents Queendom, about Russian non-binary performance artist Gena.

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1

IDFA Meets MacGu�in

IDFA Meets is collaborating with interdisciplinary publication MacGu in to together explore the impact of ‘the wall’—not merely as a physical barrier dividing space, but as a socio-political boundary with a profound psychological impact.

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: Het Podium

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Dead Angle: Borders

In the Open

La liberté

Guillaume Massart

France, 2017, 146′

Over the course of the year that �ilmmaker Guillaume Massart spends in a Corsican prison without walls and barbed wire, what begins as an observational documentary develops into a breathtaking quest for humanity.

Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 3

Spotlight on Cuba Indicios, del inscrito

Traces of the Inscribed Rafael Ramirez Cuba, 2017, 4′

An experimental short �ilm based on the poem Indicios, del inscrito by the Cuban poet José Kozer.

Pathé City 3 Shorts

1 Shorts + Talk

Dead Angle: Borders

In�iltrators

Mutasalilun

Khaled Jarrar

Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, 2012, 70′

The Palestinians’ search for openings in the wall at the Qalandia checkpoint is nerve-racking. Unsentimentally, Khaled Jarrar shows both the humiliation and the resistance against the absurdity and repression that de�ine daily life.

Intercepted

Oksana Karpovych

of Fests

Canada, France, Ukraine, 2024, 93′

Images of devastation in Ukraine accompany phone calls between Russian soldiers and their loved ones—intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence. The combination creates a disturbing sense of the sinister psychology of war. FR ��

The Invasion

Sergei Loznitsa

Netherlands, France, United States, 2024, 145′

In scenes without commentary, Sergei Loznitsa observes the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion on every aspect of daily life in Ukraine. The war impacts on the population in countless ways, but never weakens their courage and resilience.

Tuschinski 2

Kriterion

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary The Invisible Ones WP De Onzichtbaren

Martijn Blekendaal

Netherlands, Belgium, 2024, 75′ Age section 9-12 years. An exciting exploration of what life is like for a child needing to be invisible – either in order to survive, or to feel safe. Specially for these children, the �ilmmaker creates a superhero—on screen, but invisible.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

Iron WP

Dzelzs

Vitaly Mansky

Latvia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, 2024, 40′

The commemoration of the Second World War is used by some countries as propaganda for new con�lict. In others, this is countered by defensive saber-rattling. Elsewhere, the partying just goes on.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

Tuschinski 6 Shorts

WE ��

TH �� ����� Pathé City 7 Shorts

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

Spotlight on Cuba

Iré a Santiago

I’m Going to Santiago

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1964, 15′

A celebratory ode to life in the port city of Santiago de Cuba. The population of mulattos and Afro Cubans offers a vibrant blend of cultural in�luences.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

WE ��

Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Spotlight on Cuba

Isla del tesoro

Treasure Island

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1969, 10′

Brief impressions from the eventful history of Isla de Pinos, a former pirate base that became the breeding ground for a new generation in post-revolutionary Cuba.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts

Spotlight on Cuba

Una isla para Miguel

An Island for Miguel

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1968, 22′

Second part of Gomez’s trilogy on Isla de Pinos, where, in the years following the Cuban Revolution, young people were prepared for lives as comrades in this �ledgling Communist society. One of them is the outspoken young man Miguel.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts

Spotlight on Cuba Isla Island

Marcos Pimentel

Cuba, 2004, 10′

A short graduation �ilm in which the director captures the island of Cuba in tranquil shots on 16mm. The camera is used as an instrument to record and retrieve memories.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

Best of Fests

I’m Not Everything

I Want to Be

Ještě nejsem, kým chci být

Klára Tasovská Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, 2024, 91′

A cinematic survey of the life and work of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, combining photographic and diary material. Artistic recognition for her raw and personal work came only later in life.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

The Jacket IP

Mathijs Poppe

Belgium, Netherlands, France, Lebanon, 2024, 71′

Luminous

Palestinian theatre maker Jamal Hindawi, who lives in Lebanon, goes in search of a lost prop. His quest produces a compelling picture of damaged life in south Beirut.

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Jakub

Jana Ševčíková

Lie to Me

Bår Tyrmi

Norway, 2024, 94′

Best of Fests

Fascinating, tense and playfully edited reconstruction of the rise and fall of OneCoin. This crypto currency scheme claimed millions of victims, and entered the history books as the world’s biggest crypto fraud case.

FR ��

SA

Dead Angle: Borders

Czech Republic, 1992, 66′

The life story of Jakub serves as a symbol for the history of the marginalized Ruthenian community in Northern Romania and Western Bohemia. From interviews with other residents of his village, an oral history of a displaced people emerges.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

K-Family Affairs

Arum Nam

South Korea, 2023, 90′

EP

Best of Fests

A wave of national protests in South Korea presents Arum Nam with a stark choice: will she be a patriot like her father or an activist like her mother? A lighthearted re�lection on the director’s political coming-of-age.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SU �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

WE �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

Lanawaru WP

Angello Faccini

Colombia, United States, Mexico, 2024, 16′

A boy learns from his grandfather how rituals in the rainforest are important to maintain the balance between humans and nature. The scenes evoke this spiritual world in strong visual compositions.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

FR �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Signed, Dead Angle: Borders

The Landscape and the Fury

Nicole Vögele

Switzerland, 2024, 138′

A hypnotic essay �ilm about a small border town in Bosnia where asylum seekers are attempting to cross into the EU. At the same time, the local community is still suffering from the after-effects of the battle that took place there three decades ago.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Kleine Komedie

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR �� ����� Pathé City 7

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2

TU �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1

TH

SU

Tuschinski 2

Pathé Noord 7 MO

Kriterion 1 TU

SU ��

Tuschinski 3

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Pathé City 4

Ajuste de pérdidas

Miguel Calderón

Mexico, Uruguay, 2024, 74′

Corruption plagues Pedro’s work as an insurance claims adjuster in Mexico. Hoping to forget his worries, he accepts a role in a theater play with a seductive actress. But that makes things even more complicated. It’s the start of a complex quest.

Best of Fests

Life and Other Problems

Livet og andre problemer

Max Kestner

Denmark, United Kingdom, Sweden, 2024, 99′

What is life? This �ilm is a nuanced and playful philosophical re�lection on that question. The narrative thread concerns Marius, a young giraffe in a Danish zoo whose planned euthanasia sparked global outrage a decade ago.

SA �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 TU ��

WE ��

FR ��

SA ��

Tuschinski 1

De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

Tuschinski 6

Tuschinski 4

Lift Lady WP

Marcin Modzelewski Poland, 2024, 25′

Luminous

A tragicomic portrait of an older woman managing a commuter elevator in a Tbilisi apartment complex. This unique transportation system is an antiquated legacy of bygone Soviet times, screeching and creaking amid a modern Georgian society.

FR ��

SA ��

Tuschinski 6 Shorts

Pathé City 4 Shorts

MO �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

International Competition Light Memories WP Eco de Luz

Misha Vallejo Prut

Ecuador, Germany, 2024, 80′

No one in director Misha Vallejo’s family ever talks about his grandfather. A collection of photographs and slides is the starting point for a visually poignant exploration that digs into the effects of absent father �igures throughout a family tree.

SU 17 14:30 Pathé City 7 P&I

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 6 TU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

TH �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA ��

SU ��

Pathé City 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Machine Boys

Karimah Ashadu

Nigeria, Italy, Germany, 2024, 8′ Drivers of okada motorcycle taxis risk their lives every day on the congested streets of Lagos. Okadas are their source of income and pride, so it’s no surprise when these young Nigerians ignore the blanket ban on them.

Pakistan, Netherlands, Belgium, 2024, 68′

In a photo studio in Pakistan, portraits of clients are pasted onto stock photos. Photojournalist and director Danial Shah shows how these studios sell a lie, but at the same time reveal the dreams and ambitions of their clients.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Mama Micra WP

Rebecca Blöcher

Germany, 2024, 24′

A stop-motion animation about the �ilmmaker’s mother, whose tremendous thirst for freedom compelled her to go into the big wide world. Freedom came at the cost of contact with her daughter, but no damage is irreparable in this affectionate �ilm.

Luminous

Light of the Setting Sun EP

回光返照

Vicky Du

United States, Taiwan, 2024, 73′ Vicky Du goes in search of the story behind the silence of her parents, whose families �led Communist China, and who ended up in the US via Taiwan. Through family interviews, photos and videos, she reveals intergenerational trauma.

Luminous

The Last Expedition IP

Ostatnia wyprawa

Eliza Kubarska

Poland, Switzerland, 2024, 85′

Eye: Cinema 2

Pathé City 2

A portrait of Polish mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz, who conquered eight Himalayan peaks before an apparently fatal fall in 1992—but is she in fact still alive, living in a Tibetan monastery? The search becomes a tribute to an inspirational sportsperson.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 5

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 7 TU �� ����� Pathé City 1 TH �� ����� Pathé City 4

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7

SU �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

WE �� ����� Pathé City 2

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

Kriterion 1

Pathé City 3

Man Number 4

Miranda Pennell

United Kingdom, 2024, 10′

Truly observant people ask questions about what they see. Filmmaker Miranda Pennell did just that when a photograph of a scene in Gaza was posted on social media in late 2023. Answering those questions makes neutrality impossible.

Dead Angle: Borders

Paradocs

Like the Glitch of a Ghost

Paula Albuquerque

Netherlands, Portugal, 2023, 18′

In a 1950s �ilm by the Dutch Reformed Church, ‘Indians’ in Suriname are ‘saved’ by a missionary worker. Paula Albuquerque unmasks the paternalism by radically obscuring the indigenous people in the �ilm from view.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

El mar la mar

Joshua Bonnetta, JP Sniadecki

United States, 2017, 95′

Since the 1990s, thousands of migrants have died in the Sonoran Desert, on the border of Mexico and the United States. A poetic exploration of this inhospitable terrain. SA

Spotlight on Cuba

Mi aporte

My Contribution

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1972, 33′

Re�lections on the effects of women having to go to work in 1960s’ Cuba show the impact of the �ledgling revolution on daily life.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts

Best of Fests

Milk

Miranda Stern

United Kingdom, 2024, 21′

Filmmaker Miranda Stern knows little about her deceased mother. As she navigates recovery from addiction and contemplates motherhood herself, she pieces together the fragmented visual record of her past, embracing rather than concealing its �laws.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

SA �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt Shorts

Frontlight

Missing Rio Doce WP

Saudades do Rio Doce

Claudia Neubern

France, Brazil, 2024, 72′

Nine years after an environmental disaster in Brazil, Claudia Neubern travels to the affected area to meet locals. She �inds people who are resolute and resilient, but nonetheless powerless against a mining company that shirks its responsibilities.

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

WE 20 10:15 Pathé City 7 P&I

WE �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 3

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Paradocs

Misty Man WP

Ansuya Blom Netherlands, 2024, 16′

Ansuya Blom alternates a powerful scene of a young man behind barbed wire with 8mm footage from the family archive and footage shot more recently in Suriname. Physical and mental con�inement form the common thread.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

WE �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

IDFA on Stage Moore for Sale EP

Keith Wilson

United States, 2023, 45′

A playful, live documentary about how Keith Wilson failed to make a �ilm portrait of performance artist and shaman Frank Moore (1946-2013). Can a conventional �ilm about such an unconventional person actually be made?

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal IDFA on Stage

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal IDFA on Stage

A Move

ﻪﻧﻮﺧ

Elahe Esmaili

Dead Angle: Borders

Mutts

Clebs

Halima Ouardiri

Canada, 2019, 19′

Atmospheric shots accompanied by spoton sound design capture the daily life of hundreds of stray dogs in a Moroccan shelter. With resignation they unknowingly wait to be adopted.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

My Homeland

Mawtini

Tabarak Allah Abbas

Switzerland, 2023, 13′

Age section 13+ years. Filmmaker Tabarak Allah Abbas uses imaginative animation to tell the story of how her parents �led Iraq. A moving family portrait, packaged as a high-powered superhero adventure.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Youth 13+

WE �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Youth 13+ TH

Best of Fests

My Sextortion Diary

Diario de mi sextorsión

Patricia Franquesa

Spain, 2024, 64′

When her laptop is stolen, �ilmmaker Patricia Franquesa becomes the victim of digital extortion. She tells the detailed story of the cat-and-mouse game that ensues, and how she ultimately makes a courageous decision to take back control.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 5

WE �� ����� Pathé City 1

FR �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

My Stolen Planet

Sayyareye dozdide shodeye man

Farahnaz Shari�i

Iran, Germany, 2024, 82′

Best of Fests

Best of Fests

The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder

As noites ainda cheiram a pólvora Inadelso Cossa Mozambique, France, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, 2024, 93′

As a child, �ilmmaker Inadelso Cossa was shielded from the cruel reality of Mozambique’s civil war. Now he visits the village of his youth, in a penetrating, sensory search for the ghosts of the past.

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

WE �� ����� Pathé City 7

SA �� ����� Pathé City 2

Los niños lobo

The Wolf Kids

Otávio Almeida

Cuba, 2020, 18′

Spotlight on Cuba

Two brothers playfully retell stories of their father’s war years and the national history of Cuba. The wealth of their inner world contrasts sharply with the poverty of their living conditions.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts + Talk

Best of Fests

No Other Land

Basel Adra, Hamdan Balal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor Palestine, Norway, 2024, 96′

An award-winning documentary about the ceaseless Israeli attacks on a network of Palestinian villages in the West Bank, heroically documented by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli journalists.

SU �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

MO ��

WE ��

TH ��

Kleine Komedie Oxfam Novib Special

Cinema De Vlugt

Bijlmerbios

FR �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

SU �� ����� Pathé City 5

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Noise: Unwanted Sound WP

Frontlight, Dead Angle: Borders On the Border WP

Gerald Igor Hauzenberger, Gabriela Schild

Austria, Germany, Switzerland, 2024, 103′

Three residents of Agadez explain how the international migration crisis has changed their lives. Strict EU policies brought poverty, unemployment, and a drug epidemic to this historic desert city in Niger.

Tuschinski 4

Once Upon a Time in a Forest Havumetsän lapset

Virpi Suutari

Finland, 2024, 93′

Evocative documentary about Ida and Minka, two young Finnish environmental activists. They channel their love for nature into a struggle for biodiversity, which is threatened by the greed of large corporations.

One to One: John & Yoko

Kevin Macdonald

United Kingdom, 2024, 101′

Creative visual collage of historical television and audio material, guiding you through an era when John Lennon and Yoko Ono took a unique approach to making the world a better place. Vibrant, musical, and surprisingly topical. TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Carré IDFA Hit

In her directorial debut, the �ilmmaker re�lects on her life under the Iranian regime after 1979. The lives of countless strangers seep into her story through purchased home videos. Together, they create a single narrative about living in two worlds.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 1

FR �� ����� Kleine Komedie

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SA �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Luminous

Neshoma WP

Nesjomme

Sandra Beerends

Netherlands, 2024, 88′

Best of Fests

United Kingdom, Iran, 2024, 27′ Filmmaker Elahe Esmaili is the only woman in her family who consistently goes without the hijab. This is a concern to her mother in particular, while it turns out not to really matter. Can oppression be something you in�lict upon yourself?

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

SA �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt Shorts

Based on numerous testimonies, this compelling and moving montage of richly varied archive material from the interbellum brings the neshoma, the soul, of Jewish Amsterdam to life.

FR 15 13:30 Pathé City 4 P&I

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1

TU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Hyejin Jung Netherlands, South Korea, 2024, 20′ Hyejin Jung explores the thin dividing line between sound and noise, alternating between her own hearing loss and trade union protests in South Korea, which the authorities condemn as “illegal noise”.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

MO �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Top 10

Off Frame aka Revolution Until Victory

Mohanad Yaqubi

Palestine, France, Qatar, 2014, 63′ Palestinian �ilmmakers regained control over their images through revolutionary cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. This mosaic of long lost archival footage �ills a gap in our collective memory.

WE �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

On the Battle�ield

Best of Fests

Theresa Delsoin, Lisa Marie Malloy, JP Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker

United States, 2024, 16′

A man captures sounds from the past where a housing project once stood in Cairo, Illinois. In these now empty �ields he is building an archive of Black American culture.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

��

Pathé City 6 Shorts SA ��

Pathé City 6 Shorts SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary The Other Side of the Mountain WP

Shirley Yumeng He

United States, China, 2024, 20′

In the hilly city of Chongqing, an painter searches for the old apartment where he and his parents used to live. His daughter documents his journey from behind the camera, as they muse about history, memories, and what it means to see and make images.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts MO �� ����� Tuschinski

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Paci IP

Juliette Roudet

France, 2024, 33′

Choreographer and �ilm director Juliette Roudet returns to the island Corsica after a long absence. She wants to question her estranged uncles about events in the past—but when that doesn’t work, she tries to �ind the truth through dance. SU

1 Shorts

Envision Competition Paradise WP

Paraíso

Ana Rieper Brazil, 2024, 76′

Associative, music-driven video collage that captures the soul of Brazil in words and visuals, revealing that colonial thinking is still deeply rooted in everyday life.

Special Screenings

Parajanov:

The Last Spring

Mikhail Vartanov

Armenia, United States, 1992, 60′

A moving and affectionate portrait of the life and art of �ilmmaker Sergei Parajanov, largely shot in the months before his death in 1990, by his good friend and colleague Mikhail Vartanov.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Envision Competition

Park IP

Taman-taman

Yo-Hen So Taiwan, 2024, 101′

Two Indonesians in Taiwan sit in a park in the evening and talk about their day. They write poems and start a radio station for Indonesian migrant workers, in a gentle, sensitive �ilm that shows the process of its own making.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

MO 18 09:15 Pathé City 3 P&I

TU �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

TH ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2 Sensory friendly

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Best of Fests

Perfectly a Strangeness

Alison McAlpine Canada, 2024, 15′

Somewhere in a desert, three donkeys discover an astronomical observatory, and with it an entire universe. What is more wondrous: the immense brilliance of the Milky Way, or the little �luffy hairs in a donkey’s ear?

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

FR �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Luminous

Personale WP

Carmen Trocker Italy, Austria, 2024, 93′

Endless folding, cleaning, tidying up: behind the scenes at a hotel in the Italian Dolomites, the staff do everything they can to prevent complaints. We see no tourists in this �ilm, only the people who do the dirty work.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

MO 18 12:45 Pathé City 4 P&I

TH �� ����� Pathé City 3

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2 Sensory friendly

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Envision Competition

Pictures in Mind WP

Bilder im Kopf Eleonora Camizzi Switzerland, 2024, 78′

Using �ilm as her impetus, Eleonora Camizzi asks her father with schizophrenia the questions she never wanted or dared to ask before. What begins as an interrogation about the past becomes a meaningful conversation in the present.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA 16 09:15 Pathé City 6 P&I

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

MO �� ����� Pathé City 7

WE �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary A Place to Call Home WP

Parisa Aminolahi

Netherlands, 2024, 10′

Age section 9-12 year. After a journey through Iran, Wales, and the Netherlands, a father and his two daughters settle in a large house in Sweden. They feel lonely and disconnected as they struggle to adapt to their new environment.

TU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Youth 9-12

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5 Youth 9-12

WE �� ����� Pathé City 5 Youth 9-12

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Youth 9-12

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Youth 9-12

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7 Youth 9-12

IDFA on Stage

Planktonium Live

Jan van IJken

Netherlands, 2024, 45′

A hallucinatory, total experience that immerses you in fascinating images and sounds from an underwater world that goes beyond the natural boundaries of our senses. In this live performance the smallest organisms play the leading role.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 IDFA on Stage

Luminous

Please Step Aside! WP

Zurückbleiben bitte!

Raha Faridi

Germany, Iran, 2024, 12′

Filmmaker Raha Faridi re�lects on her forced migration to Berlin. In an experimental stream of consciousness, social media images of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ movement in Iran are superimposed on phone videos of her life in Berlin.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

FR �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

International Competition

The Propagandist WP De propagandist

Luuk Bouwman

Netherlands, 2024, 112′

As the head of the Nazi �ilm guild in the Netherlands during the Second World War, �ilmmaker Jan Teunissen became known as “the Dutch Leni Riefenstahl.”

This revealing portrait also questions the boundaries between documentary and propaganda.

SA 16 10:00 Pathé City 7 P&I

SA �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

SU �� ����� Pathé City 5

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4 + Talk hosted by De Groene Amsterdammer

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez Raymond Tallis | on tickling

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium, 2017, 8′

Neuroscientist turned philosopher Raymond Tallis marvels at the fact that it is impossible to tickle yourself. You really need another person—just as with love and �ights.

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

Paradocs

Reas

Lola Arias

Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, 2024, 82′

In a pastel-colored musical about a women’s prison in Buenos Aires, a diverse cast of non-professional actors reenact their prison lives. Through �ictionalization, the ex-convicts share their fears and dreams.

FR

4

Red Army/PFLP:

Top 10

Declaration of World War

Sekigun-PFLP: Sekai sensô sengen Adachi Masao, Wakamatsu Koji Japan, 1971, 71′

A newsreel-style propaganda �ilm from 1971 about the Palestinian resistance. This ‘international declaration of war’ combines militant voice-overs with footage of everyday life to reveal invisible power structures.

WE

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel TH

Kriterion 1

Respite

Aufschub

Harun Farocki

Germany, 2007, 40′

Dead Angle: Borders

An essay documentary using intertitles to comment on the infamous Westerborkfilm, an unreleased propaganda �ilm about life in Westerbork, the Dutch World War II transit camp. What information can be gleaned from the images, and what remains hidden?

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

SU ��

MO

SA

Pathé City 2 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez Shorts

Curated by Johan Grimonprez, this program is made up of two shorts and one mid-length �ilm: every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the politics of Love; What I Will Raymond Tallis | on tickling and Blue Orchids

FR ��

TH ��

SA ��

Real

Oleh Sentsov

Ukraine, Croatia, 2024, 90′

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, activist and �ilmmaker Oleh Sentsov enlisted with the Ukrainian forces. Real-time footage from a battle�ield trench brings home the reality of war.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

MO �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TU �� ����� Pathé City 2

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6

REAL

Adele Tulli

Italy, 2024, 83′

Best of Fests

Rising up at night

Tongo saa

Nelson Makengo

Belgium, Germany, Burkina Faso, Qatar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2024, 96′

Collection of stories about people living in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, which was left without electricity when inundated by �looding in late 2022. Despite their precarious lives, the community manages to reinvent itself.

FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

Dead Angle: Borders Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in PalestineIsrael

Michel Khlei�i, Eyal Sivan France, 2003, 272′

A Palestinian and an Israeli �ilmmaker travel together along the partition lines that divided Palestine according to the UN resolution of 1947. The people they meet each have their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors.

SU �� ����� Kleine Komedie WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

International Competition Rule of Stone WP

Danae Elon

Canada, Israel, 2024, 84′

If Jerusalem Stone could speak, it would tell a story of civil occupation and expansion.From Imperial British bylaws to the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, and architecture’s role in covering the city’s history in a thin coat of limestone.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

MO 18 09:45 Pathé City 2 P&I

MO �� ����� Kleine Komedie + Talk

TH

Best of Fests Sabbath Queen

Sandi DuBowski

United States, 2024, 105′

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Rialto VU: Zaal 4 Shorts

Paradocs

Revolving Rounds

Johann Lurf, Christina Jauernik Austria, 2024, 11′

Time and space dissolve in this cinematographic exploration of a winter �ield and a young pea plant, to the sound of a rattling projector. From tranquility to an explosion of colors in a threedimensional experience without 3D glasses.

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Riefenstahl

Andres Veiel

Best of Fests

The digital revolution has opened up boundless possibilities. Are we the freest generation ever, or are we prisoners in a virtual universe deprived of true connection?

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

WE �� ����� Pathé City 1

FR �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2

Germany, 2024, 115′

Signed

An in-depth analysis of the controversial life and work of �ilmmaker and photographer Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003), who worked for the Nazis. Can her aesthetics be seen separately from the underlying message, as she herself claimed?

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

As New York drag queen and human rights activist, Amichai has a complex relationship with his prominent Orthodox Jewish family, his religious faith and native country of Israel. In this portrait, �ilmed over 21 years, he chooses for love and inclusion.

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA ��

Save Our Souls

Jean-Baptiste Bonnet

France, 2024, 92′

In this tribute to compassion, we follow events on a ship belonging to aid organisation SOS Méditerranée, sailing along the Libyan coast. Now close to safety, boat refugees share their often terrifying escape stories.

Frontlight

The Shadow Scholars IP

Eloïse King

United Kingdom, 2024, 98′

Tens of thousands of young, well-educated Kenyans are hired online by undergraduates and doctoral students at Western universities to write their essays and theses. Oxford professor Patricia Kingori embarks on a search for these “shadow scholars.”

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Shadow World

Johan Grimonprez

United States, Denmark, 2016, 90′

A shocking analysis of the international arms trade. Shedding light on how our everyday reality is being constructed, the �ilm argues that we have privatized the function of war.

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

FR �� ����� Pathé City 1

International Competition

She Dances by the Sea WP

Jian Fan, Isabella Zang China, Netherlands, 2024, 108′

Chinese poet Xiuhua Yu has cerebral palsy and didn’t �ind true love until she was 46. In this sequel to the award-winning 2016 documentary Still Tomorrow, we follow her tumultuous journey as she falls in love for the �irst time.

FR 15 13:00 Pathé City 2 P&I

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

TU ��

TH ��

FR ��

SU ��

Kriterion 1

Cinema De Vlugt

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Pathé City 3

The Shepherd and the Bear IP

Le berger et l’ours

Luminous

Max Keegan France, United Kingdom, United States, 2024, 101′

An old shepherd and a young nature lover live in the Ariège region, in the French Pyrenees, where the brown bear has been reintroduced. The nuisance caused by the protected animal leads to �ierce confrontations between its supporters and opponents.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4

FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests Shorts: A Sense of Belonging

These vibrant, heartwarming �ilms invite you into three close-knit communities to celebrate their traditions, culture, and life. This compilation program consists of Cohabitants, Echoes Within, and The Tunes

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Luminous Shorts: Beyond Words

In these touching �ilms the directors use cinema, dance and poetry to explore emotions and stories that cannot fully be expressed in words. This compilation program consists of Unwritten Letter, Before Then, and Paci

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 3

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1

TH �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

Luminous, IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests Shorts: Drastic Measures

The protagonists in these powerful �ilms re�lect on what they’ve gained and what they’ve lost in their search for liberation and meaning. This compilation program consists of Please Step Aside! Mama Micra, and Am I the Skinniest Person You’ve Ever Seen?

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

FR �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests Shorts: Hidden Histories (a)

Through painstaking excavation, the directors of these captivating �ilms expose histories that have been hidden, ignored or suppressed. This compilation program consists of The Other Side of the Mountain; The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing; On the Battlefield; and Entretierra

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests, Luminous Shorts: Hidden Histories (b)

Through painstaking excavation, the directors of these captivating �ilms expose histories that have been hidden, ignored or suppressed. This compilation program consists of The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing; On the Battlefield; Entretierra; and Whoever Deserves It, Will Be Immortal

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Best of Fests, IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Shorts: Mystical

Landscapes

Four wonderfully cinematic �ilms that navigate personal narratives, geological transformations, and spiritual realms through landscapes and universes. This compilation program consists of Perfectly a Strangeness; Lanawaru; How to Suture the Soil?; and Archipelago of Earthen Bones – To Bunya

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6

TH �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

FR �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

Best of Fests, IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Shorts: Next of Kin

In these poignant �ilms about hope, joy and grief, the directors creatively explore complex family dynamics and tensions. This compilation program consists of Milk; A Move; and Tough Love

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt + Talk hosted by NMNW & Women Cave

Luminous, IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Frontlight Shorts: Out of Order

In these arresting �ilms, personal, mechanical and societal systems are crumbling and failing the very people who depend on them. This compilation program consists of Lift Lady; Noise: Unwanted Sound; and The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4

MO �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3

Shorts: Paradocs

Zainab Entezar

Afghanistan, 2024, 70′

A portrait of women in Afghanistan �ighting against Taliban oppression, largely �ilmed clandestinely. They hope to attract the attention of the international community through their demonstrations.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU 19 18:45 Pathé City 4 P&I

WE �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Spotlight on Cuba

Si no puedo bailar, esta no es mi revolución

If I Can’t Dance, This Is Not My Revolution

Lillah Halla

Cuba, 2014, 16′

Five Cubans dance in their own bedrooms to songs that sum up their lives. The music is inaudible to the viewer. Indirectly, these intimate portraits create a picture of the socioeconomic situation in Cuba.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts + Talk

Luminous

Silent Observers WP

Eliza Petkova

Bulgaria, Germany, 2024, 96′

A poetic and at times tragicomic look at life in a remote, run-down Bulgarian village viewed from the perspective of animals. The �ilm explores superstition, traditions in decline, and the interdependence of humans and animals.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1

MO 18 11:45 Pathé City 7 P&I

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

WE �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR ��

SA ��

Sobre horas extras y trabajo voluntario

Extra Hours and Voluntary Work

Sara Gómez Cuba, 1973, 9′ Castro and Che also do their part—in propaganda footage. Cuban workers are still quick to criticize the economic plans for unpaid work. A playfully edited report of the 13th Cuban trade union congress of 1973. SA ��

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Eye: Cinema 1 Shorts

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Somewhere to Be WP

Sara Fattahi Netherlands, 2024, 8′

Age section 13+ years. A vertical phone screen, �ilmed for eight minutes. That’s all this short �ilm needs in order to show what it means to have every trace of your former existence erased. A powerful illustration of the far-reaching effects of state repression.

Songs of Slow Burning Earth

Pisni zemli, shcho povilno horyt’ Olha Zhurba Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, France, 2024, 95′

Powerful audiovisual report on two years in Ukraine, close to and far from the front line. From the panic surrounding the invasion to the resigned acceptance of war as a part of everyday life. FR

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

ITA: Rabozaal

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Sensory friendly

Pathé City 7

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Simply Divine

Pur și simplu divin

Mélody Boulissière

France, Romania, 2024, 15′

Age section 13+ years. Accompanied by beautiful oil painting-style animations and archive footage, 91-year-old Nușa talks about a relationship she had with a soldier when she was young. She lost contact with him while he was at the front, but has never forgotten him.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Youth 13+

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Youth 13+

WE �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Youth 13+

TH �� ����� Pathé Noord 7 Youth 13+

FR ��

Pathé City 7 Youth 13+

Best of Fests

A Sisters’ Tale

Khaahar

Paradocs

Compilation program featuring extraordinary �ilms from the Paradocs selection: Like the Glitch of a Ghost; Misty Man; and Being John Smith

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3

WE �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1

Leila Amini Iran, France, Switzerland, 2024, 94′ Nasreen wants to become a singer—a far from obvious choice for a woman in Iran. Her sister Leila �ilms Nasreen’s transformation from a vulnerable stay-at-home mother to a woman who takes matters into her own hands.

FR ��

SU ��

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Pathé City 4

Sleep #2

Radu Jude Romania, 2024, 62′

Signed

Andy Warhol’s grave has become a tourist attraction that’s live streamed 24 hours a day. This impressionistic desktop �ilm comprising screen recordings shows the grave at various times.

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Johan Grimonprez Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2024, 150′

Master essayist Grimonprez unravels the colonial and capitalist motives behind the involvement of Belgium and the US in the murder of Congo’s �irst prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Jazz features as both a smokescreen and a means of protest.

SU

Tuschinski 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Tuschinski 1

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Eye: Cinema 2

Space Is the Place

John Coney

United States, 1974, 82′

Top 10

The avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra travels through time and space to lead the African American community to a utopian planet. This 1974 science �iction �ilm, blending �iction with concert recordings, became the kick-off for Afrofuturism.

De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Tuschinski 3

Spiritual Voices

Dukhovnye golosa

Alexander Sokurov Russia, 1995, 328′

Top 10

A tranquil evocation of the daily lives of Russian border guards facing the ever-present threat of an invisible enemy. Sokurov follows the soldiers on daily patrols and depicts their suffocating routine in aesthetic form.

SA ��

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Spotlight on Cuba Spotlight on Cuba: EICTV 1

Selected by Juliana Fanjul, documentary chair at the International Film and TV School (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. This program consists of �ive short �ilms: Abecé; Isla; El enemigo; La Bonita; and Los viejos heraldos

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4

Spotlight on Cuba

Spotlight on Cuba: EICTV 2

Selected by Juliana Fanjul, documentary chair at the International Film and TV School (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. This program consists of �ive short �ilms: Si no puedo bailar, esta no es mi revolución; El árbol; Indicios, del inscrito; Los niños lobo; and La despedida

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 + Talk

Spotlight on Cuba Spotlight on Cuba:

Sara Gómez 1

This screening, part of the dedicated program Spotlight on Cuba, explores the work of Cuban �ilmmaker Sara Gómez. It consists of the short �ilms: Isla del Tesoro; Una isla para Miguel; Sobre horas extras y trabajo voluntario; and Mi aporte

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 TU

Eye: Cinema 1

Spotlight on Cuba Spotlight on Cuba:

Sara Gómez 2

This screening, part of the dedicated program Spotlight on Cuba, explores the work of Cuban �ilmmaker Sara Gómez. It consists of the short �ilms: Iré a Santiago; Y... tenemos sabor; De bateyes; and Guanabacoa: Crónicas de mi familia.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Star�ilm IP

Johann Lurf

Austria, 2017, 128′

Top 10

A chronological collage of excerpts from �ilm history accompanied by their original soundtracks, in which only a starry sky is visible. This raises an ever-expanding number of questions and, for those who are lucky, cosmic answers.

MO �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

State of Silence

Estado de silencio

Santiago Maza Stern Mexico, 2024, 80′

Best of Fests

Sudan, Remember Us

Soudan, souviens-toi

Hind Meddeb

France, Tunisia, 2024, 76′

Despite arrests and the bloody putdown of protests in 2019, young activists use music and poetry to energize their struggle for a livable and democratic Sudan. “Words are stronger than bullets,” is their mantra.

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

MO �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 + Talk hosted by De Groene Amsterdammer

TH �� ����� Pathé City 3

FR �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things

Signed

Mark Cousins

United Kingdom, 2024, 89′

In his essay �ilm about the British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, director Mark Cousins explores the unique way she looked at the world, focusing less on biographical details.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

MO �� ����� Pathé City 7

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

FR �� ����� Pathé City 4

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Sugarcane

Best of Fests

Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie United States, Canada, 2024, 107′

The discovery of unmarked graves leads to a searching investigation into the abuse of indigenous children placed in a boarding school by the Canadian state. The �ilm gradually exposes the role of the Catholic Church in a colonized society.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1 hosted by National Geographic Documentary Films

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1

WE �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Surprise Screening

Attend an extra screening of a �ilm that was a resounding success during the festival.

TH �� ����� Kriterion 1

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SA

8 SA

Dead Angle: Borders

There Are So Many Things Still to Say

Il y a tant de choses à raconter

Omar Amiralay

Syria, France, 1997, 49′

Shortly before his death, the celebrated Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous re�lects on the Israeli-Palestinian con�lict. A poetic farewell to a generation of intellectuals whose political identity is based on con�lict and disillusionment.

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� Kleine Komedie

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Toroboro: The Name of the Plants IP

Toroboro: El nombre de las plantas

Manolo Sarmiento

Ecuador, Brazil, 2024, 103′

Twenty-�ive years after a renowned ethno-botanical study in the Ecuadorian Amazon region inhabited by the Waorani, the central �igures involved reunite. Members of the community talk about the genocidal colonization that still threatens their people.

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

WE �� ����� Pathé City 2

Kriterion 1

FR ��

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Top 10

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

Steven M. Martin

United States, United Kingdom, 1993, 83′

A portrait of the remarkable life of Léon Theremin (1896-1993) and his most successful invention, the theremin. Hollywood fully embraced the uncanny sound of this electronic musical instrument in the 1940s and 50s.

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Things That Happen on Earth IP

Luminous

Cose che accadono sulla terra

Michele Cinque

Italy, Germany, 2024, 83′

A family of Italian cowboys are doing everything they can to make their cattle ranch climate-proof, animal-friendly and ecologically responsible. But regulations, shareholders and especially the encroaching wolves don’t make it easy for them.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SA 16 11:15 Pathé City 6 P&I

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 FR

Eye: Cinema 2 SA ��

Pathé City 4

Best of Fests this is (not) your ocean aquest (no) és el teu oceà Jordi Wijnalda

Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, United States, 2024, 14′

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

Tough Love WP

Pat Heywood

United States, 2024, 16′

A short experimental documentary in which �ilmmaker Pat Heywood explores his feelings in the wake of his grandmother’s death. What can death teach us about life?

SA

SU

International Competition

Trains WP

Pociągi

Maciej J. Drygas Poland, 2024, 81′

A contemplative journey through the twentieth century, composed entirely of archival �ilm footage. In this wordless �ilm, full of beauty and bitterness, the excitement of adventure becomes a curse, and tears of joy mingle with the pain of despair.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SU 17 10:30 Pathé City 7 P&I

SU �� ����� Pathé City 5 TU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

�� ����� Pathé City 7

�� ����� Pathé City 3 SA

Victoria Verseau

Sweden, France, 2024, 72′

Best of Fests

Four Mexican journalists talk about their work. Their lives are in danger because they expose links between the worlds of crime and politics. But they see no other choice in this country where the right to information is under seige.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3

TU �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 8

A Strange Colour of Dream WP

Yasemin Akinci

France, Turkey, 2024, 74′

Luminous

An engaging portrait of the retired architect Ertil, who passionately designs �ictional building projects. He looks back on his life and the developments in his city of Istanbul, while �ighting against the announced demolition of his own house.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3

MO 18 10:00 Pathé City 7 P&I

TU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

WE �� ����� Pathé City 4

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

8 SA

8

Sympathy for the Devil

One Plus One

Jean-Luc Godard

United Kingdom, 1968, 110′

Top 10

Godard’s controversial, key �ilm of the 1968 counterculture era tracks the creation of the classic Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil” in the studio, intercutting extraordinary �ictional scenes packed with radical political and cultural statements.

TU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

FR �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

Teaches of Peaches

Best of Fests

Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer Germany, 2024, 102′

More than 20 years after the release of her iconic electroclash album Peaches still has a lot to teach us, as this rousing document proves. A portrait of a feminist icon, queer �ighter and all-round who-gives-a-shit.

FR �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2

TU �� ����� Pathé City 6

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 6 TH �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 1

Their bodies yearned for each other, their hearts were one, but they were never together. One of the lovers is now dead. Memories of a love experienced online, experimental and poetic, captured in images and text.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

SA ��

SU

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal Shorts

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Signed

To Be Continued. Teenhood. IP Turpinājums. Pieaugšana. Ivars Seleckis, Armands Začs Latvia, 2024, 97′

Following a break of seven years, two Latvian documentary makers return to the �ive children they �ilmed in 2015. How are the 14-year-olds feeling now, with the responsibilities of adult life on the horizon?

Victoria Verseau travels back to the hotel room in Thailand where she stayed during her gender-a�irming surgery. Her memories provide the loose structure for re�lections on femininity, loss, and death.

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 7

SU �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4 TU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel + Talk hosted by Stichting Prisma Group

Pathé City 3

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 2

Tripoli / A Tale of Three Cities WP

Raed El Rafei

Lebanon, 2024, 88′

In this contemplative urban symphony, a queer director returns to his hometown of Tripoli, Lebanon to interview a cross-section of the population about their ideas and beliefs.

SU ��

Tuschinski 5 MO ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 TU 19 13:30 Pathé City 7 P&I TH ��

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Tokkotai Paquetá WP

Cao Guimarães Brazil, 2024, 28′

An observational documentary about the tranquil Brazilian island of Paquetá. Director Cao Guimarães �inds poetry in details—often related to nature—but war is never completely out of mind.

Best of Fests

The Tunes

Les rengaines Pablo Guarise Belgium, 2023, 25′

Heartwarming portrait of a Brussels café and its customers, who sing chansons and karaoke to break the drudgery of everyday life—the popular traditional music helps forge close friendships.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

TH ��

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

Best of Fests

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other

Jacob Perlmutter, Manon Ouimet United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, 2024, 100′

An intimate, observational dual portrait of an aging artist couple. With the inevitable end in sight, frustrations and existential questions arise that reveal the complexities of their long-term relationship.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 1

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 WePresent Night

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 8

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Two Travellers to a River

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium, 2018, 2′

Fragments from two poems by Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), regarded as the national poet of Palestine, re�lect on how things could have been, juxtaposed by two opposing images: one of scorched earth and one of a home.

SA �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Shorts

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

FR �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Signed TWST /

Things We Said Today

Andrei Ujică

France, Romania, 2024, 85′

It’s August 1965 and the Beatles are in New York. While they are driving their fans wild in that city, images of the Watts riots emerge from the other side of the country, in Los Angeles. The result is unembellished realism with a poetic touch.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 1

The Typewriter and Other Headaches

Signed

La machine à écrire et autres sources de tracas

Nicolas Philibert France, 2024, 74′

Closely following volunteers offering practical help, Nicolas Philibert compassionately, respectfully and patiently focuses on Goulven, Muriel, Gad and Frédéric, four �igures from his earlier �ilms about psychiatric patients in Paris.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SU ��

Pathé City 4

Frontlight

Undercover: Exposing the Far Right IP

Havana Marking

United Kingdom, 2024, 95′

The British advocacy group Hope Not Hate investigates the working methods and �inances of various far-right organizations. They regularly go undercover, because members of these groups only really speak their minds behind closed doors.

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 1

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

Union

Brett Story, Stephen Maing United States, 2024, 104′

Best of Fests

A �ly-on-the-wall documentary following an attempt to unionize an Amazon distribution center in New York City, over a period of a year. Amazon tries to torpedo the initiative with disinformation and litigation.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 + Talk hosted by OneWorld

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SA �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Luminous

Until the Orchid Blooms WP Polen Ly Cambodia, France, 2024, 103′

The Bunong, indigenous inhabitants of Cambodia, are trying to maintain their traditional way of life. But their efforts are being thwarted by deforestation, land grabbing and the construction of a dam. An account of depopulation in slow motion.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

SU 17 19:00 Pathé City 4 P&I

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TU �� ����� Pathé City 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Unwritten Letter WP

Querido mío

Silvana Alarcón Sánchez Peru, 2024, 5′

A collection of poems by the Peruvian poet Blanca Varela is the starting point for a beautiful cinematic letter about traces of absence and restrained emotions in an un�inished love story. What is transient and what is preserved?

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

WE �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

TH �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Best of Fests

Valentina and the MUOSters

Valentina e i MUOStri

Francesca Scalisi

Switzerland, Italy, 2024, 80′ Valentina lives in rural Sicily. She is 27, and wants to escape the sometimes suffocating love of her parents. On the nearby American military base, meanwhile, communications satellites are causing dangerous radiation.

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4

Spotlight on Cuba

Los viejos heraldos

The Olden Heralds

Luis Alejandro Yero Cuba, 2018, 23′

An elderly couple leading a simple existence in the Cuban countryside watches an old TV set that’s thrusting a new political era into their lives.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

International Competition

A Want in Her WP

Myrid Carten

Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, 2024, 81′

A compelling exploration of the messiness of family love. When her troubled mother goes missing, Irish �ilmmaker Myrid Carten returns home to �ind her, but risks losing herself.

FR 15 15:30 Pathé City 1 P&I

What’s the Film About?

Poorva Bhat

India, 2024, 16′

Age section 9-12 years. Rehaan (11) and Mitra (8) don’t feel like the conversation that their mother, the director of this �ilm, tries to start during their camping trip: she wants to tell them about inappropriate touch. It leads to comic and unexpectedly frank moments.

Tuschinski 1

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2 SA ��

Tuschinski 2

Pathé City 7 SA ��

Eye: Cinema 1

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Best of Fests War Game

Jesse Moss, Tony Gerber United States, 2024, 94′

How do you prevent a coup? How to deal with events like those that took place during the storming of the US Capitol? American political and military veterans participate in a simulation in which they are called on to avert a civil war.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SA �� ����� Pathé City 2

TU ��

WE ��

FR ��

When the Body Says Yes

WP

melanie bonajo

Netherlands, Germany, 2024, 44′

Can touch can be a powerful remedy for the modern epidemic of loneliness? When the Body Says Yes invites the audience to re�lect on the meaning of touch and intimacy in relation to their own bodies.

Pathé City 3

De Balie: Grote Zaal

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Luminous

The Water Eyed Boy WP O menino d’Olho d’Água

Lirio Ferreira, Carolina Sá Brazil, 2024, 74′

The universe of the famous Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal translated into a visual sound poem. Sounds of nature, instruments made from trash, teacups, horses’ hooves, the hubbub of the market: everything is music.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

MO �� ����� Pathé City 4

TU 19 17:00 Pathé City 4 P&I

WE �� ����� Pathé City 3

TH ��

SU ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Pathé City 4

Ways to Traverse a Territory

Best of Fests

Formas de atravesar un territorio

Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba Mexico, 2024, 72′

In southern Mexico, a family of Tsotsil women tend their sheep while honoring the memory of their land. Less a portrait than an encounter, the �ilm evolves into an associative examination of the relationship between humankind and the landscape.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 5

TU

Kriterion 1

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 1

We Are Inside

Nahnou �il dakhel

Farah Kassem

Where Dragons Live IP

Suzanne Raes

Netherlands, United Kingdom, 2024, 82′

Four adult siblings return to their parental home to clear it out following their mother’s death. The time has come to dissect the fairy tales of their unorthodox youth and look their monsters in the eyes.

4 + Talk hosted by TYD Luminous

A While at the Border IP Una temporada en la frontera Ile Dell Unti

Argentina, 2024, 143′

Argentine sisters Julia and Claudia studied architecture until Claudia �led to Sweden in 1977 during the dictatorship. Their letters, read aloud and accompanied by everyday cityscapes, follow their two increasingly divergent lives.

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 1

The White House

Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos, Jon Shenk

Best of Fests

Lebanon, Qatar, Denmark, 2024, 180′ Filmmaker Farah Kassem is just as loving, funny and hardheaded as her father, the elderly poet Mustapha. She returns to Tripoli after many years and tries to bridge the generation gap by surprising his poetry club with a poem of her own.

FR ��

United States, 2024, 97′

A �ilm made up of archive footage about how the US has handled climate issues since the 1970s. The fossil fuel lobby has turned the broad consensus on the need for intervention into a political battleground.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Pathé City 2

Rialto VU: Zaal

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

What I Will

Johan Grimonprez

United States, Belgium, 2013, 1′

In this excerpt from Grimonprez’s Shadow World, poet and activist Suheir Hammad recites her poem “What I Will,” accompanied by footage of military parades and anti-aircraft guns. “I will not dance to your war drum.” FR

Zaal 4 Shorts

Luminous

Whoever Deserves It, Will Be Immortal WP

Será inmortal quien merezca serlo

Nay Mendl Cuba, 2024, 19′

Sergio, Ubaldo, Yolexquis and Winston belong to different generations of the Cuban gay community. In this student �ilm, they re�lect on a time during the Cuban Revolution when homosexuals were sent by train to concentration camps.

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

WE �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal Shorts

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

With Grace WP

Julia Dahr, Dina Mwende Norway, Kenya, 2024, 29′ Age section 9-12 years. An upbeat tale in which 13-year-old Grace shows how her close-knit family, who live in rural Kenya and are completely dependent on the seasonal weather, are dealing with the consequences of climate change.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5 Youth 9-12

WE �� ����� Pathé City 5 Youth 9-12

TH �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Youth 9-12

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Youth 9-12

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7 Youth 9-12

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 IDFA Junior

Best of Fests

The Wolves Always Come at Night

Gabrielle Brady Mongolia, Australia, Germany, 2024, 96′

Climate change and deserti�ication force a Mongolian herder and his family to move from the Gobi desert to the big city. The loss of their animals severs their connection with nature.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SA �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

MO �� ����� Kriterion 1

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SA ��

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Dead Angle: Borders Would You Have Sex with an Arab?

Yolande Zauberman

France, 2011, 85′

A documentary �ilmmaker dives into the nightlife of the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv with a simple, yet thorny, political and deeply loaded question: would you have sex with an Arab?

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

International Competition

Writing Hawa WP

Najiba Noori

France, Netherlands, Qatar, Afghanistan, 2024, 84′

An intimate portrait of Najiba Noori’s Afghan mother, who was married off at the age of 13, and 40 years later wants to learn to read and write to start her own business. Meanwhile, a new Taliban takeover is looming.

SU 17 12:30 Pathé City 5 P&I

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 3

WE �� ����� Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

FR �� ����� Pathé City 7

SA �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

Spotlight on Cuba

Y... tenemos sabor

And We’ve Got Flavor

Sara Gómez

Cuba, 1967, 30′

An affectionate celebration of Cuban music in all its rich variations, with rumba singer and songwriter Alberto Zayas explaining the origin of the traditional range of instruments—and of course plenty of irresistible music too.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Luminous

Yalla, Baba! IP

Angie Obeid

Belgium, Lebanon, Netherlands, Qatar, 2024, 102′

From Brussels to Beirut, but then through a changed world. Memories, disagreements, a reunion. Filmmaker Angie Obeid invites her father Mansour to repeat the road trip he made 42 years ago.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH �� ����� Cinema De Vlugt

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 SU �� ����� Pathé City 5

Yintah

Best of Fests

Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano Canada, 2024, 110′

The Wet’suwet’en people tirelessly resist the construction of oil and gas pipelines traversing their ancestral lands. An insider’s account.

Rialto VU: Zaal 4

Best of Fests

You Are the Truck and I Am the Deer

Max Ferguson Belgium, Hong Kong, 2023, 5′

A short �ilm that uses a variety of visual techniques, disruptive sounds and an ever-quickening pace to create a visual and auditory poem about pain, transformation and rebirth.

FR

SA

Pathé City 3 Shorts

Kriterion 1 Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts WE

FR ��

SU ��

Pathé City 1 Shorts

Meervaart Blauwe Zaal Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Youth 13+: Hey Dad & Hard to Break

Two �ilms for 13+. In Hey Dad, a young boy �inds his father in an enchanted forest. Can he �inally tell him his secret?

In Hard to Break, Instagrammer Atte (18) tries to juggle his socials, addiction and relationship. Is all this freedom a blessing, or a curse?

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3

SU �� ����� Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Youth 13+: Things I Didn’t

Tell

Three �ilms for 13+. In Crushed, Camille (18) shares her love story that has turned violent. In Everything Will Be Alright, Samrawit (18) reenacts �leeing her home all by herself when she was eight. In Hey Dad, a boy �inds his father in an enchanted forest. Can he �inally tell him what’s bothering him?

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 TU �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

Youth 13+:

Too Pretty to Break

Four �ilms for 13+. In Somewhere to Be Sara’s online account and identity are deleted. My Homeland is a cyborg anime celebrating heroes who have to �lee. The Daughter of Both Women is a visual teen diary about hating your mom. Simply Divine tells a love story about the one you just can’t forget.

SU

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

Youth 9-12:

The Invisible Ones

Youth 9-12. What if, as a child, you had to learn to navigate life while always going unnoticed? In The Invisible Ones, the director attempts to create an invisible superhero who can act as a guardian angel for everyone who feels they can’t be seen. MO

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

Youth 9-12:

When Things Change

Four �ilms for 9-12. The Flower by the Road is a dreamy journey without words, allowing us to make up our own story. In What’s the Film About?, two brothers and sisters refuse to talk about sex education. In A Place to Call Home, two young girls �ind themselves in an Alice in Wonderland-type world, searching for home. In With Grace, a family shows us how any setback can be overcome with a sense of humor.

Writing Hawa

Browse more films in our online catalogue: VLAAMS CULTUURHUIS DE BRAKKE GROND

ONDERDEEL VAN IDFA: ON STAGE

Films from Finland in IDFA 2024

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary HARD TO BREAK

By Anna-Maija Heinonen & Krista Moisio

Produced by Polygraf

Signed

ONCE UPON A TIME IN A FOREST

By Virpi Suutari

Produced by Euphoria Film Sales: Autlook

IDFA Forum

THE BEAUTY OF ERRORS

By Jukka Kärkkäinen

Produced by Mouka Filmi

New Media & Performances A-Z

Beyond the �ilm program, IDFA explores the boundaries of the documentary art form with interactive and immersive projects and performances presented by IDFA DocLab and IDFA on Stage. Find an overview below of all the extended reality (XR) projects, installations, live performances, and other special presentations from the program.

International Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight About a Hero WP

Piotr Winiewicz

Denmark, Germany, United States, 2024, 84′

After a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the �ilm is not what we expect…

IDFA Hit

FR �� ����� Carré

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

MO 18 11:30 Pathé City 3 P&I

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 DocLab Screening TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight AI & Me

mots

Germany, 2023, 4′

Can AI know me just by looking at me?

This provocative installation investigates the human willingness to be judged by machines purely on the basis of their appearance.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight All I Know About Teacher Li

Zhuzmo

United States, 2024, 20′ Countless paper planes �illed with censored lockdown messages from China �loat towards you in this interactive VR �ilm. Toss them back and feel what it’s like to start an online revolution, like Teacher Li did in 2022.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Ancestors WP

Steye Hallema, The Smartphone Orchestra Netherlands, 2025, 70′

Using AI, a simple sel�ie becomes a lifelike vision of the future. During this interactive group experience, the abstract idea of “generations to come” is brought home in a striking way.

Regular ticket sale

FR 15 19:00, SU 17 13:15, FR 22 19:00, SA 23 19:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Ancestral Secret VR IP

Secreto ancestral VR

Francisca Silva, Maria Jose Diaz Chile, Germany, 2024, 20′

A VR in which the user participates in �ilmed rituals of the Q’ero Nation in Peru, descendants of the Incas. Seeking harmony between humans and nature, the rituals in the Andes summon forces that appear as animations.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

Bad Trip

Emese Pálovics

Hungary, 2023, 10′

An immersive dome experience in which a family photo evokes disturbing memories for a lonely boy. Hunting for the dark creatures that increasingly emerge, he sinks into the shadowy recesses of his home, as well as his subconscious mind.

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Homes Unbound

SU 17 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA

DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Burn from Absence WP

Emeline Courcier

France, Canada, 2024, 30′

A video installation and fulldome experience that present the Vietnamese family history of artist Emeline Courcier as a polyphonic narrative. Family photographs and stories are processed by AI to �ill the gaps in this auto-�ictional work.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Lost Stories, New Codes SA 16 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab at the Planetarium:

Homes Unbound

Experience a special evening under the impressive dome screen in the ARTIS Planetarium. Featuring the dreamy Sincerely, Victor Pike; a subversive virtual dollhouse in DOLLHOUSE for Queer Imaginaries; and the breathtaking full-dome experience Bad Trip

SU 17 21:00-22:30 ARTIS Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab at the Planetarium:

Lost Stories, New Codes

Experience a special evening under the impressive dome screen in the ARTIS Planetarium. Featuring a unique full-dome screening of Burn From Absence; the 360-degree experience Limbophobia; and an ‘online universe in a book’: Google volume 2

SA 16 21:00-22:30 ARTIS Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Exhibition

Play, explore, and experience interactive documentary projects that use VR, AR, AI, games, new media, digital storytelling, and performances. Free entrance. Please reserve online to secure your spot.

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab: Exhibition, Fragile Home, and VR Gallery

Alongside IDFA DocLab’s main location at de Brakke Grond, the exhibition continues just a short walk away at gallery @droog. Here, you can explore even more interactive documentary works. Free entrance.

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab Playroom: Handle with Care

Come and play with new technology and prototypes in the new DocLab Playrooms. Ontroerend Goed tests the prototype of Handle with Care: a theater performance without actors, with only audience members and a big box on stage. By invitation only!

MO 18 15:00 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Playroom: How to Not Make It About AI

Come and play with new technology and prototypes in the new DocLab Playrooms. Groundbreaking AI-makers open the hood of their machines and invite you to create something together that AI is not capable of—yet. On-going free walk-in, but capacity is limited.

TU 19 15:00 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Playroom: The Body Amorphous

Come and play with new technology and prototypes in the new DocLab Playrooms. The award-winning studio Anagram takes us beyond the limits of our own body with foam, velcro, jelly, balloons, and phantom limbs. On-going free walk-in, but capacity is limited.

SA 16 13:00 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab: VR Gallery

Immerse yourself in new worlds: in the VR Gallery you have �ifty minutes to explore multiple virtual reality projects of your choice. If you want to experience all the works, you’ll need to book three time slots.

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction DOLLHOUSE for Queer Imaginaries WP

Queer.Space

South Africa, 2024, 15′

What does a safe space for queer people look like? This VR project invites visitors to playfully explore the virtual dollhouse, raising questions about what makes a place a home.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Homes Unbound SU 17 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Drift WP

Nienke Huitenga, Hay Kranen, Lieven Heeremans Netherlands, 2024, 750′

In a generative audio experience, Drift connects rising sea levels and the climate crisis to the rise of AI. The story world combines the imaginary with factual sources at the pace and rhythm of the lunar phases and the tides.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA on Stage, IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Drinking Brecht: an Automated Laboratory Performance WP

Sister Sylvester

United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, 2024, 60′

Using DNA extracted from a hat worn by actors in Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, this interactive installation explores the past and present of genetics and synthetic biology. A documentary in a drink, Drinking Brecht is a celebration of science for the people.

Regular ticket sale FR 15 to TU 19 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00 Brakke Grond

WE 20 to SA 23 17:00, 19:00 Brakke Grond SU 24 14:00, 16:00 Brakke Grond

Eno

Gary Hustwit

United States, 2024, 87′

Brian Eno, former keyboard player with Roxy Music and producer of Bowie and U2, has been at the forefront of using generative computer systems to create his music. In keeping with this spirit, Eno is a �ilm that changes with every screening.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 SU �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

�� ����� DLM: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA

DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Entropic Fields of Displacement IP

Pegah Tabassinejad Canada, 2024, 37′

A game installation based on the idea of wandering as an act of resistance. In a video installation the artist explores, via different women, the cities in which they live. In an interactive performance, the audience guides her avatar through Amsterdam.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA on Stage

A Family Portrait

2014/2024 WP

Een familieportret 2014/2024

sander breure and witte van hulzen Netherlands, 2024, 160′

In this long-term project the artists portray an average Dutch family. While inviting re�lection on the nature of language and time, the performance can also be enjoyed as an entertaining piece of reality theater—a farce that is true to life.

FR �� �����

SA ��

SU �� �����

Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

Stedelijk MuseumHet Auditorium IDFA on Stage

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight Fragile

Home

Ondřej Moravec, Victoria Lopukhina Czech Republic, 2024, 30′

An emotive mixed-reality tour of a Ukrainian living room in which elements appear— borscht on the table, a cuddly cat on the sofa—before, during and after the whole area is dragged into the war.

Regular ticket sale

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Future Botanica WP

Marcel van Brakel, Hazal Ertürkan, POLYMORF, Studio Bleu Netherlands, 2024, interactive

Nature and technology are increasingly merging. In an installation during IDFA, this augmented reality app allows you to design botanical lifeforms and thus explore desires and fears regarding the future of nature.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Google volume 2 WP

Felix Heyes, Ben West France, Lithuania, 2024, interactive

Ten years after the release of Google, Volume 1, this second edition once again displays the �irst Google Image result for each of the 21,110 words in the English Pocket Dictionary. It sheds light on the changes in our visual culture over the last decade.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Lost Stories, New Codes

SA 16 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

Grand Theft Hamlet

Best of Fests

Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane United Kingdom, 2024, 90′

Is it possible to perform an entire theater play in an online multiplayer game? Two out-of-work actors try to do just that. They stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto, with surprising results.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

SA �� ����� ITA: Rabozaal

SU �� ����� Pathé City 7

WE �� ����� Pathé Noord 4

FR �� ����� Rialto VU: Zaal 4

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

Impulse: Playing with Reality

Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla United Kingdom, France, 2024, 38′ Chaotic, reckless, dangerous—living with severe ADHD can be a constant battle. This interactive VR experience translates this into a personal experience as four candid narrators share their world, sometimes from the brink of the abyss.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Limbophobia WP

An Mian Wen-Yee Hsieh Taiwan, 2024, 25′

Join this wild and unsettling trip into a murky dystopia rocked by explosions and collapsing buildings, gliding through terrifying twilight zones as a physically intense VR experience or as a dome projection of devastating vistas.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Lost Stories, New Codes

SA 16 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction The Liminal WP

Alaa Minawi

Netherlands, Lebanon, Palestine, Norway, 2024, 15′

A sound installation surrounds a wall. It seems like a partition, but if you listen carefully you can hear a community. In the wall live those who decided to leave the current world with all its oppressive systems. In the wall they �lourish.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA on Stage, IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Me, a Depiction WP

Lisa Schamlé

Netherlands, 2024, 30′

As a living part of her performance/ installation, Lisa Schamlé confronts both herself and her audience. Is it possible to look at her body without judgement? As you watch, she looks back.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

Live performances - regular ticket sale

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

IDFA on Stage Moore for Sale EP

Keith Wilson

United States, 2023, 45′

A playful, live documentary about how Keith Wilson failed to make a �ilm portrait of performance artist and shaman Frank Moore (1946-2013). Can a conventional �ilm about such an unconventional person actually be made?

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal IDFA on Stage

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal IDFA on Stage

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Oryza: Healing Ground WP

Tamara Shogaolu

Netherlands, United States, 2024, 15′

This immersive installation places a hidden chapter from world history in the full glare of the spotlights. Experience the resilience, inventiveness and historical in�luence of African farmers within a relentlessly oppressive system.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA on Stage

Planktonium Live

Jan van IJken

Netherlands, 2024, 45′

A hallucinatory, total experience that immerses you in fascinating images and sounds from an underwater world that goes beyond the natural boundaries of our senses. In this live performance the smallest organisms play the leading role.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 IDFA on Stage

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction RAPTURE II - PORTAL WP

Alisa Berger

France, Ukraine, Germany, 2024, 19′

Structured as a hypnosis session, this is a trip through an abandoned apartment in the Ukrainian region of Donbas. Vogue dancer Marko guides us through his home while he sees it for the �irst time since 2018, shortly before he �led the war.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction ROAMance WP

Stanislaw Liguzinski, Ibrahim Quraishi Netherlands, Germany, 2024, 40′

A playful VR experience in which you go on an adventure with an unknown fellow user. You meet in dreamlike surroundings and get to know each other in a way that’s entirely different from real-life interactions or dating apps.

Regular ticket sale

FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Sena, and Their Garden WP

Jisoo Lim

South Korea, 2024, 20′

A playful two-part interactive project about queer acceptance among Christians in South Korea. In Sena, you witness the personal struggles of a young lesbian woman, while in Their Garden you accompany the mother of a queer child on her journey.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Sincerely, Victor Pike WP

Gregor Petrikovič

United Kingdom, Slovakia, 2023, 12′

Audio recordings are combined with AI-generated visuals to form a collective memory. In a hodgepodge of recollections and anecdotes, AI is used as a means to portray something as subjective as memories.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog

SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Homes Unbound SU 17 21:00 ARTIS-Planetarium

Signed

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary Somewhere to Be WP

Sara Fattahi

Netherlands, 2024, 8′

Age section 13+ years. A vertical phone screen, �ilmed for eight minutes. That’s all this short �ilm needs in order to show what it means to have every trace of your former existence erased. A powerful illustration of the far-reaching effects of state repression.

SU

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Speechless Witness of a Wandering Tree WP

Aphra Taghizadeh Iran, 2024, 15′

Throughout history, rulers have used blinding as a tool of oppression. In an immersive recreation of a protester’s experience, we �low with her melancholy and resistance while accompanying her quest from her room to a desert.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA on Stage,

Thanks for Being Here

& Com-

Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devriendt Belgium, 2024, 80′

This innovative and exciting performance—a blend of video and theatre, with the audience playing a central role— accessibly demonstrates that a common perspective is an illusion.

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Töngö sondi WP things about language (identity) Ruben Cabenda Suriname, 2024, 1′

A short surrealist animation about language and oppression, inspired by the story of the Tower of Babel. Within an immersive installation, as intense as it is minimalistic, the �ilm depicts the intimate entanglement of language and identity.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Walking Alone, Text You When I’m Home WP

Vincent Abert Germany, 2024, 15′

Feeling unsafe in public places is an all-too-familiar experience for most women. The young woman in this immersive, contemplative VR documentary addresses this theme through a variety of recognizable situations.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 @droog SU 24 11:30-18:00 @droog

Sleep #2

Radu Jude Romania, 2024, 62′

Andy Warhol’s grave has become a tourist attraction that’s live streamed 24 hours a day. This impressionistic desktop �ilm comprising screen recordings shows the grave at various times.

FR ��

Kleine Komedie SA

Pathé City 4 SU

Kriterion

Tuschinski 6

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling You Can Sing Me on My Way WP

Seán Hannan

Netherlands, 2024, interactive

The Irish Gaelic sean-nós singing that this sphere produces does not originate from the distant past, but is generated automatically by AI. A celebration of Irish cultural heritage with the help of innovative technology.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 15 to SA 23 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SU 24 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

IDFA Talks

An IDFA festival experience is not complete without �ilmmaker Q&As, where the �ilms and the stories behind their making are explored in depth. IDFA Talks form the heart of the festival, with hundreds of �ilmmakers from around the world gathering in Amsterdam for ten days to present and discuss their work with audiences. In addition to numerous Q&As, where the audience can engage directly with the �ilmmakers, IDFA also hosts several Film Talks. Experienced moderators from the Netherlands and beyond interview �ilmmakers, and sometimes the subjects of the �ilms, right after the screenings.

No Other Land

Filmmakers Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham will be in conversation with IDFA’s Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia and IDFA's 2022 Guest of Honour and �ilmmaker Laura Poitras.

November 17 at 20:45, Carré

Parajanov: The Last Spring

Film curator and writer Dorota Lech will be in conversation with Martiros Vartanov, the son of �ilmmaker Mikhail Vartanov and head of the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. This �ilm serves as a beautiful yet uno�icial companion piece to The Color of Pomegranates, which is also screening at IDFA.

November 19 at 16:15, Tuschinski

Home Game

Filmmaker Mati Diop will be in conversation with artist and activist Quincy Gario about the �ilm and the topic of restitution.

November 18 at 18:30, Tuschinski

Filmmaker Talks

Another key pillar of the Talks program is the Filmmaker Talks, focusing on the guest's body of work through an in-depth interview. Renowned and emerging �ilmmakers dive into their craft and approach, offering insights for anyone interested in the art of documentary �ilmmaking. Find our Filmmaker Talks in the A-Z on page 39.

Filmmaker Lidija Zelović will be in conversation with �ilm journalist Dana Linssen.

November 20 at 17:00, Tuschinski

More about IDFA Talks at idfa.nl/talks or scan the QR code

Partners of the Industry Program and IDFA Talks

PARTNERS OF THE INDUSTRY PROGRAM AND IDFA TALKS

Guests Meet Guests are hosted by

IDFA Markets are supported by

Docs for Sale Happy Hour is hosted by

Producers Connection drinks are hosted by

IDFA Markets Drinks are co-hosted by

Forum Producers Breakfast is hosted by

Industry Program is hosted by

Film Talks are hosted by

Producers Connection is supported by

French Doc Drinks are hosted by

Forum Lunches are hosted by

Filmmakers’ Dinner is hosted by

Industry Program

Introduction

During the festival, the Industry Program gathers the world’s documentary community to discuss the evolution of our industry, offer surprising new perspectives, and build long-lasting connections. The extensive program of high-pro�ile talks, presentations, consultancies, and think tanks runs for �ive days, annually welcoming some 3,000 documentary �ilmmakers and professionals.

As the world goes through tectonic political and social changes, it urges us to consider that our industry, creators, and audiences require more than super�icial changes and symbolic adjustments. We need a whole paradigm shift that takes us beyond our comfort zone. In that, the Industry Program extends an invitation for us all to critically examine the responsibilities of cultural institutions in today’s social and political contexts.

This

This year’s program tackles a wide range of urgent themes, including sharing of Indigenous and anti-colonial practices of �ilmmakers from around the world and their experiences in seizing narrative sovereignty. In the face of the rise of populist regimes across Europe, the program additionally re�lects on how institutions and �ilmmakers can resist these repressive policies and protect their freedoms. With the growing impact of Arti�icial Intelligence, the program explores the technology’s immense potential for documentary �ilm, alongside the ethical implications and questions on how to know what is real.

Finally, the Industry Program also includes three dedicated Industry Talks on the �ilmmaking career of Yolande Zauberman, on the cinematography of Viktor Kossakovsky and on editing with Atanas Georgiev, project presentations by American Film Showcase, Canadian

and Indigenous, Catalan, Colombian, Korean, Palestinian, and Polish delegations and Industry Sessions promising hands-on knowledge on �ields such as strategic audience engagement and sustainable and green producing.

IDFA remains committed to its goals—providing a platform of freedom of expression to independent �ilmmakers from across the globe. By inviting the industry to broaden its horizons and challenge the status quo, we open a space where diverging opinions and approaches can be shared and discussed safe from fear and judgement. By understanding and listening to each other with compassion that we display in intimate conversations, we can move towards a climate where the �ilmmaking community and institutions can point the way for leading structures and society.

year’s program tackles a wide range of urgent themes, including sharing of Indigenous and anti-colonial practices of �ilmmakers from around the world and their experiences in seizing narrative sovereignty Find more information at idfa.nl/industryprogram or scan the QR code See the full Industry Program A-Z on page 59 and the Industry schedule by day on page 63

Industry Program A-Z

ARTE presents: Generation Ukraine –Incarnating the vocation of a European public broadcaster

Join us as ARTE lifts the veil on Generation Ukraine, a unique initiative born after the full-scale invasion to support the Ukrainian documentary film industry, and to bring unique stories to European audiences. With President of ARTE Bruno Patino and Ukrainian filmmakers.

MO 18 Nov, 17:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project

Presentation: American Film Showcase

American Film Showcase invites you to meet our delegation of global filmmakers during a pitching session of selected projects.

TU 19 Nov, 14:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project

Presentation: Canadian and Indigenous Showcase

A presentation by the Canadian and Indigenous documentary delegation of their slate of projects, as well as opportunities for inter-country and inter-nation collaboration.

MO 18 Nov, 15:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Presentation: Korea Pitching Day

K-DOCS would love to invite you to meet the Korean Delegation during ‘Korea Pitching Day’, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT), organized by EIDF Industry and co-organized by the Korea Communications Agency (KCA).

SA 16 Nov, 14:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project

Presentation: Palestine Film Institute Showcase

The Palestine Film Institute (PFI) returns to IDFA to amplify Palestinian narratives in the face of genocide. This year, we are proud to showcase projects by four Palestinian female directors.

SU 17 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Presentation: Polish Docs Pro Showcase

Organized within the framework of the Polish Delegation, the Polish Docs Pro Showcase presents Polish creative documentary projects-in-progress.

MO 18 Nov, 13:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Presentation: Savor Colombian flavors

Stories in every flavor: Get a taste of Colombia’s documentary delights!

Organized by Proimágenes Colombia in collaboration with the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Knowledge of Colombia and with the support of the National Film Development Fund (FDC), the Colombian delegation shows a compelling array of documentary projects, led by visionary female creators, with a special focus on indigenous and afro-Colombian filmmakers.

SU 17 Nov, 16:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Presentation: Unveiling Reality by Catalan Films

Discover our upcoming documentaries at Unveiling Reality by Catalan Films. Join industry professionals in an exclusive showcase of groundbreaking films that highlight the unique voices of Catalonia’s top talent.

TU 19 Nov, 16:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

DocLab R&D Summit

The DocLab R&D Summit is a think tank event for professionals in the interactive and immersive sector. The plenary program at Tobacco Theater features research �indings from R&D partner MIT, and other sector updates, followed by a networking lunch.

SU 17 NOV, 10:00, Tobacco Theater By invitation

DocLab R&D Summit: Closing Drinks

All participants in the DocLab R&D Summit are invited to come together for closing drinks at the end of the afternoon in De Brakke Grond. Let’s, for one casual moment, turn R&D into Relaxation and Drinks!

TU 19 Nov 17:00 De Duif By invitation

DocLab R&D Summit: Round Tables & Sessions

The round table conversations and industry sessions invite participants to go in-depth with fellow professionals and IDFA’s R&D partners. A program to discuss research insights, case studies, and current topics facing the new media industry. Invite only!

SU 17 NOV, 13:00, @droog By invitation

Guests Meet Guestshosted by Canon

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by Canon.

FR 15 Nov, 18:00, Felix Meritis: Big Concert Room Passholders only

Guests Meet Guestshosted by ITA – Italian Trade Agency and Doc/it

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by ITA – Italian Trade Agency and Doc/it.

SA 16 Nov, 18:00, Felix Meritis: Big Concert Room Passholders only

Guests Meet Guestshosted by Polish Docs

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by Polish Docs.

SU 17 Nov, 18:00, De Duif Passholders only

Guests Meet Guests –hosted by ARTE

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by ARTE.

MO 18 Nov, 18:00, De Duif Passholders only

Guests Meet Guests –hosted by Catalan Films

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by Catalan Films.

TU 19 Nov, 18:00, De Duif Passholders only

Guests Meet Guests –hosted by CNEX

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events are a great moment to connect with other delegates and keep your finger on the pulse of the festival.

Hosted by CNEX.

WE 20 Nov, 18:00, Café Kuyl Passholders only

Industry Meetup: Supporting Documentary Makers through Film Supervision

“How can I best support my participants while also supporting myself?” Docs are facing a crisis in mental health and ethical practice – but what can we do about it?

We invite you to help us co-design our support service for documentary makers.

SU 17 Nov, 13:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Industry Meetup: The Solutionaries Session, Impact Producers Map the Field

The Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA) hosts an interactive session on the challenges and opportunities facing the impact field. Let’s seek solutions together.

TU 19 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer By invitation

Industry Session: AI and documentary filmmaking

In this fascinating session, Director of UAL’s AKO Storytelling Institute Francesca Panetta, and producer and cross-media technology innovator Mads Damsbo share their experiences and practical tips on the use of AI in documentary filmmaking.

SA 16 Nov, 11:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Photography by Melle Meivogel.

Photography by Roger Cremers.

Industry Session: Engaging Your Film’s Audience - Strategic Planning for Success

Joanna Solecka, a seasoned film marketing expert who has created campaigns for award-winning films such as Smoke

Sauna Sisterhood; Apolonia, Apolonia; and Favoriten will guide you through essential tools and techniques for understanding your audience.

MO 18 Nov, 11:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Industry Session: How to plan and produce sustainable documentaries - Strategies for a greener future

The global film industry is increasingly developing tools and guidelines for sustainable filmmaking. This practical session, led by Green Filmmaking pioneer Katja Schwarz, serves to inform filmmakers of various initiatives that support these e orts.

SU 17 Nov, 12:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Industry Talk: Artistic research - Politics of Intimacy and Intimacy of Politics

A conversation on artistic research in cinema as a vital incubator for innovative filmmaking, away from standardized narratives, through the project Politics of Intimacy: a collaboration between Norwegian Film School and HFBK University of Arts Hamburg.

MO 18 Nov, 15:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Dutch Docs Day

Dutch Docs Day brings together professionals from the Dutch documentary industry to critically reflect on the current state of documentary production the Netherlands. This year, the day focuses on the question: Less is more—but more of what?

TH 21 Nov, 14:00, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: Het Podium By invitation

Industry Talk: Europe Conference - Independence and resistance in times of repressive populism

Populist European regimes are curbing freedom of speech and artistic expression by instituting new directives on public funding and coercing codes of conduct. How can the institutions and filmmakers resist these policies and protect their freedoms?  In collaboration with Arte France

TU 19 Nov, 15:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Finding the compassThe responsibilities of documentary institutions in today’s world

Building on the international symposium hosted by IDFA in August 2024 under the same title, we invite IDFA guests to continue the examination process in the form of an open discussion.

SU 17 Nov, 16:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Good intentions?

How to avoid harmful stereotypes in youth films

We make youth films with best intentions, but what kind of biases are we communicating unconsciously? Funny, interesting and e ective examples shared by protagonists, directors and experts to make us more aware of our simplistic thinking.

TU 19 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Lessons of Indigenous and anti-colonial practices - Filmmaking as a tool of narrative sovereignty

Filmmakers from around the world share their Indigenous and anti-colonial practices and experiences in seizing narrative sovereignty, and assert the healing power and beauty of creating their own cinema against obstacles they face under oppression.

SA 16 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: NCE Masterclass on editing with Atanas Georgiev

An in depth conversation with internationally acclaimed editor, producer and director Atanas Georgiev (Honeyland, Hollywoodgate) exploring the art of documentary storytelling in the editing room. Atanas will o er rare insights into deleted scenes and his editing timelines, while also revealing some of his producer’s strategies for bringing documentaries to global audiences.

SA 23 Nov, 12:30, Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: Het Podium Passholders only

Industry Talk: NSC Masterclass on Cinematography with Viktor Kossakovsky

The Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and IDFA have initiated a Prof Talk Camera at this year’s festival, marking the fulfilment of a longstanding wish. During this inaugural edition, we will dive into the work of Victor Kossakovsky.

SU 17 Nov, 10:00, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel Passholders only

Industry Talk: Resonating archivesHow sound drives archive documentary films

Sound is often the starting point for archive-based documentaries. In a session hosted by Sound & Vision, four directors with films addressing thorny political issues discuss their very di erent approaches to the use of sound.

WE 20 Nov, 15:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Shifting European distribution landscape and future audiences

In this talk hosted by REACH’M, arthouse distributors and exhibitors from Belgium, Poland, and the UK will discuss the present and the future of the distribution landscape, as well as data insights in audience behavior following recent shifts in the field.

WE 20 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: The Humans Have Entered the Chat

AI can supercharge creativity and generate collective insights, or it can obscure human labour and destabilise truth. Join a panel of artists who are critically engaging with AI, as we try to find the humans at the centre of these technologies and dance the line between intelligences, real and artificial.

SA 16 Nov, 15:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Yolande Zauberman on her filmmaking career

In a session hosted by LaScam, French filmmaker Yolande Zauberman will speak about her career of breaking taboos in her fiction films and documentaries, and how she deals with authors’ rights and royalties. Moderated by film critic Neil Young. MO 18 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Photography by Coen Dijkstra.

Photography by Melle Meivogel.

Photography by Jakob van Vliet.

Audience & Industry Schedule

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6 Eye: Cinema1

Cinema2

Ernest Cole, Lost and Found

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7 Eye: Cinema1 Eye: Cinema2 Carré Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

ITA: Rabozaal

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Kleine Komedie

Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

@droog

Brakke Grond @droog

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7 Pathé Noord4 Pathé Noord7

Kleine Komedie

Public screenings Saturday 16 November

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

@droog

ARTISPlanetarium

Café Kuyl

Amorphous

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Public screenings Sunday 17 November

Kleine Komedie

Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

@droog

Industry program Sunday 17 November

Pathé Noord 4

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

ITA: Studio 1 ITA: Koninklijke Foyer ITA: Pleinfoyer

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Public screenings Monday 18 November

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Pathé Noord4

Pathé Noord7 Eye: Cinema1 Eye: Cinema2

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Rialto VU: Zaal4

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond de Brakke Grond:

de Brakke Grond

Public screenings Tuesday 19 November

de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

@droog

Frascati 1

ITA: Studio

Industry program Tuesday 19 November

Pathé

Pathé

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Public screenings Wednesday 20 November

Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

@droog Frascati 1

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Tuschinski

Podium Mozaïek

Public

screenings Thursday 21 November

Cinema De Vlugt

Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

Bijlmerbios

Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

@droog

Industry program Thursday 21 November

ITA: Rabozaal

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: Het Podium

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Pathé Noord4

Pathé Noord7

Pathé Noord8

Cinema1

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Rialto VU: Zaal4

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

ITA: Rabozaal

DeLaMar: Mary

ITA: Rabozaal

Public screenings Friday 22 November

DeLaMar: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

DeLaMar: Wim Sonneveld Zaal

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De Vlugt

Meervaart Blauwe Zaal

Bijlmerbios

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel de Brakke Grond

@droog

Stedelijk Museum - Het Auditorium

Sudan, Remember Us

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Pathé Noord1

Pathé Noord4

Pathé Noord7

Pathé Noord8

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Public screenings Saturday 23 November

DeLaMar: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

DeLaMar: Wim Sonneveld Zaal

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De Vlugt

Bijlmerbios

Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Het Documentaire

Paviljoen: Het Podium

de Brakke Grond

@droog

Café Kuyl

Stedelijk Museum - Het

Industry program Saturday 23 November

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: Het Podium

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

DeLaMar: Mary Dresselhuys Zaal

Public screenings Sunday 24 November

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De Vlugt

Het

Documentaire

de Brakke Grond

@droog

Stedelijk Museum - Het Auditorium

Paviljoen: De Spiegel Until the Orchid Blooms

IDFA Youth Day

Join the IDFA Youth Day on Tuesday, November 19 to explore more daring cinema and more diversity in youth films.

Industry Talk: Good intentions? How to avoid harmful stereotypes in youth films

We make youth �ilms with best intentions, but what kind of biases are we communicating unconsciously? Funny, interesting and effective examples shared by protagonists, directors and experts to make us more aware of our simplistic thinking.

TU 19 10:00 ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry screening: Youth

A preview of some innovative IDFA 2024 Shorts for Youth that celebrate creative stubbornness: Figure, the Flower by the Road, A Place to Call Home, What’s the Film About? and Headprickles. Followed by a Talk.

TU 19 12:00 De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

IDFA Institute

In addition to the annual festival, IDFA is active throughout the year with audience programs, supporting new documentary projects and new talent, raising awareness for persecuted �ilmmakers, and establishing educational programs. Read more about our activities as an institute.

Het Documentaire Paviljoen

IDFA is located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Vondelpark in Het Documentaire Paviljoen. The building gives IDFA the opportunity to develop as an institution in Amsterdam and remain visible year-round. The program offers a dynamic range of screenings, workshops, talks, school screenings, and more for general audiences, �ilm professionals, emerging talent, and students and school children. idfa.nl/paviljoen

Festival

Each year in November, IDFA celebrates documentary �ilms through screenings, events, and awards: bringing together �ilmmakers and audiences from around the world, offering a variety of programs, including premieres and retrospectives. With more than 3,000 professionals and a wide audience that accounts for almost 300,000 festival visits. idfa.nl/festival

Education

With school screenings, IDFA seeks to contribute to the creation of a media-savvy generation who are able to remain critical while appreciating our chaotic world with wonder and awareness: all of which are essential in a society dominated and polarized by media and technology. With its education activities, IDFA reaches a large, young and diverse audience: made up in 2022 of no less than 50,000 school students. idfa.nl/education

Photography by Coen Dijkstra.

Photography by Roger Cremers.

Photography by Tom Philip Janssen.

Photography by Karlijn van Diepen.

New Media

IDFA DocLab is an interdisciplinary platform for interactive and immersive documentary art, founded in 2007. It pushes the boundaries of non-�iction by blending art, reality, and technology, becoming a key global platform for interactive documentaries. DocLab pioneers digital storytelling, virtual reality, live performance, and AI, offering a new generation of creators a space to invent their own narrative languages and forms of presentation. idfa.nl/doclab

Training and Funding

IDFA provides a range of training and funding opportunities to support documentary �ilmmakers at various stages of their careers. This includes IDFAcademy for emerging talent, IDFA Project Space for project development, and the IDFA Bertha Fund, which supports �ilmmakers with documentary projects from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. IDFA’s support aims to enhance documentary storytelling across diverse global voices.

idfa.nl/trainingfunding

Creative documentary �ilms provide insight into society, open eyes, and stimulate critical thinking. IDFA is committed to addressing urgent social issues by presenting documentaries from around the world that re�lect on the most pressing questions of our time.

Advocacy

In 2018, IDFA's artistic director Orwa Nyrabia took the initiative to launch the International Coalition of Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), in cooperation with the European Film Academy (EFA) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Its mission is to advocate for and to act in solidarity with �ilmmakers at severe and acute risk. The Coalition acts in cases of persecution or threats to the personal safety of these �ilmmakers and will defend their right to continue their work, by mobilizing the international �ilm community. idfa.nl/advocacy

Markets

Each year, IDFA welcomes 3,000 international documentary professionals to come together, to gain knowledge, do business, network and pick up inspiration at the festival. IDFA has two markets for professionals. IDFA Forum is a co�inancing and co-production market where �ilmmakers can pitch their projects to potential partners. Docs for Sale is an online platform where completed �ilms are made available to buyers, allowing �ilmmakers to connect with sales agents, broadcasters, and distributors from around the world.

idfa.nl/markets

Photography by Bernard Kalu.

Photography by Coen Dijkstra.

Photography by Roos Trommelen.

Photography by Coen Dijkstra.

Navigating International Theater Amsterdam (ITA)

Navigating Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA)

First

First

Second

Second

Second

Third/

Navigate IDFA

Welcome to another edition of IDFA, taking place from November 14 to 24, 2024.

Find an overview of key information tickets, locations, screenings and work spaces below for accredited guests. For an overview of all festival and industry locations, see the IDFA 2024 map on page 92.

For the latest information on our Industry Program, locations, and opening times, visit our website at idfa.nl/navigate

Get started

FIND OUR FESTIVAL CENTER

Location: ITA (International Theater Amsterdam)

Located in the heart of the city, ITA is open to all accredited guests and visitors to meet up, catch a �ilm or performance, and attend a wide range of Industry Talks and project presentations. Visit ITA for the Guest Desk, Industry Desk, Consultancy Desk, Press Desk, and plenty of social and meeting spaces.

GUEST DESK

Location: ITA (ground �loor)

Accredited guests can pick up their pass and get general information about the festival at the Guest Desk.

Opening days and times:

Nov 13 | 12:00 – 20:00

Nov 14 | 09:00 – 20:00

Nov 15 – Nov 17 | 09:00 – 21:00

*Note: Access to ITA is limited on Nov 17 from 14:30–16:00 due to Sinterklaas parade Nov 18 | 08:00 – 21:00

Nov 19 – Nov 21 | 09:00 – 20:00

Nov 22 | 10:00 – 20:00

Nov 23/24 | Desk closed. Guest Services reachable via phone on +31202620762

GUEST LIST

Looking to �ind out who else is attending IDFA? Find company pro�iles, bios, and contact information of all accredited guests at idfa.nl/guestlist

INDUSTRY DESK

Location: ITA (ground �loor)

At the Industry Desk, we can help you with any questions regarding IDFA’s activities for professionals. We can help guide you through the industry side of the festival, and keep you informed on our array of talks, sessions, and meetings.

Nov 15–20 | 9:00 – 17:00

PRESS DESK

Location: ITA Hall (ground �loor)

The Press Desk is ready to welcome members of the press. The Press Desk can provide information about the festival programs and guests. For interview requests, please contact one of our press o�icers:

International press: Lorenzo Ormando (lorenzoormando@idfa.nl or press@idfa.nl)

Dutch press: Chantal Verhoeven, Berber Scholte (pers@idfa.nl)

New Media press: Michel Langendijk (michellangendijk@idfa.nl)

Nov 14–22 | 10:00 – 13:00

CONSULTANCY DESK

Location: ITA, Pleinfoyer (�irst �loor)

We have multiple consultants on-site for you to ask questions about all aspects of documentary �ilmmaking, from distribution and festival strategy to grant writing, impact producing, and more. Visit the Consultancy Desk to inquire into the availability of our industry consultants or queue for a last-minute seat.

Nov 16 – 20 | 10:00 – 16:00

Screenings for accredited press and guests

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS

Location: Pathé City

All �ilms selected for the International and Envision Competitions, all world premieres from Luminous and Frontlight are available to accredited press and industry.

Passholders must reserve a free ticket online to gain admission. Tickets are available the day before the screening starts and will be uploaded onto your pass.

Nov 15 – 20

PRESS & INDUSTRY LIBRARY

Watch �ilms from the IDFA 2024 selection online and on demand. Please note that �ilms only become available in the Press & Industry Library after their premiere at idfa.nl/library

Nov 14 – 24

Photography by Jakob van Vliet.

MARKET SCREENINGS

Location: Pathé City & Pathé Noord

Market Screenings for award season campaigning take place at several of our main cinemas as part of the Press & Industry Screenings schedule. These screenings are accessible to all accredited guests.

Nov 15 – 20

FULL PROGRAM FOR ACCREDITED GUESTS AND AUDIENCES

Location: See locations map on page 92

Find the full IDFA program accessible to all accredited guests and audiences at idfa.nl/program

Get your tickets

HOW TO BOOK A TICKET FOR A SCREENING OR EVENT

Tickets can be booked at idfa.nl. Log into your MyIDFA account and your tickets will be automatically uploaded to your pass.

To avoid empty seats, please cancel your ticket if you can’t make it to a screening. Complimentary tickets can easily be returned through your MyIDFA account or by emailing service@idfa.nl.

Note: There is no admission after the screening start time.

For more information on your accreditation, visit idfa.nl/accreditations

Where to work and meet

MEETING AND WORK SPACES

If you are looking to set up a meeting or to �ind a workspace, we have spaces available at both ITA and Het Documentaire Paviljoen for you to make use of.

Het Documentaire Paviljoen – De Huiskamer

Nov 14 – 24 | 08:30 – 18:00

Het Documentaire Paviljoen – Festival Living Room

Nov 15 – 20 | 08:30 – 16:00

ITA: Brasserie – Meeting space

Nov 14 – 24 | 09:00 – 00:00*

*Note: Nov 18 | 09:00 – 21:00

ITA: Gijbrechtbordes – Meeting and workspace

Nov 16 – 20 | 09:00 – 17:00

Café Kuyl – Meeting space

Nov 14 – 24 | 11:00 – 00:00

Felix Merits – Restaurant

Nov 17 – 20 | 10:00 – 18:00

@droog: café upstairs – Meeting and workspace

Nov 15 – 24 | 10:00 – 17:00

IDFA’S MARKETS

Location: Felix Meritis

IDFA’s Markets are only open for Docs for Sale and Forum pass holders.

IDFA FORUM

Nov 17 – 20

*Note: Rough Cut screenings will take place at Pathé City

DOCS FOR SALE

Nov 16 – 20

IDFACADEMY

Location: De Balie

IDFAcademy is only open to IDFAcademy passholders and invited guests.

Nov 14 – 17

IDFA DocLab and IDFA on Stage

HOW DO I GET IDFA DOCLAB AND IDFA ON STAGE TICKETS?

The main exhibition of IDFA DocLab at de Brakke Grond is free of charge. It does require a prebooked ticket to attend the day of your choice. Register for a free ticket at idfa.nl/doclab

While the majority of works are free to visit in the exhibition at de Brakke Grond, some experiences have limited capacity and require you to book a ticket in advance. This includes the VR Gallery in @droog, special performances and installations, and IDFA on Stage. Book all tickets at idfa.nl

DOCLAB EXHIBITION

Locations: de Brakke Grond Free admission, reservation required @droog Free admission, no ticket needed

Visit the DocLab Exhibition to experience a selection of new interactive documentaries, XR installations, and performances.

Nov 15-23 | 11:30 – 20:30

Nov 24 | 11:30 – 18:00

SPECIAL INSTALLATIONS & PERFORMANCES

Locations: @droog, de Brakke Grond Ticket required

Several installations and performances in the IDFA DocLab program have limited capacity. We recommend you book your ticket in advance. Find more information at idfa.nl/doclab

VR GALLERY

Location: @droog Ticket required

Find the VR Gallery in DocLab's new location @droog, a short walk from de Brakke Grond. Each ticket gives you a 50-minute time slot to view VR projects of your choice. If you want to see all projects, you need to book three time slots.

Nov 15 – 23 | 11:30 – 20:30

Nov 24 | 11:30 – 18:00

IDFA ON STAGE AND DOCLAB AT THE PLANETARIUM

Locations: ARTIS-Planetarium, De Balie, de Brakke Grond, Eye Filmmuseum, Frascati, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Ticket required

From fulldome screenings at DocLab at the Planetarium to live performances and experimental theater at IDFA on Stage, these are one-of-a-kind experiences.

Nov 15 – 24

DOCLAB PLAYROOMS

Location: de Brakke Grond Free admission, but capacity is limited

Come play with new technologies and prototypes in this year's allnew DocLab Playrooms.

Nov 16, 18 & 19

Need help?

On our website you can �ind a live chat. Our team is ready to support you and answer your questions. More information and opening times at idfa.nl.

Visit the Canon Europe website for more information on how Canon’s filmmaking solutions can benefit your production.

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/ professional-video-solutions/filmmaking/

Editor

Roxy Merrell

Artistic Director

Orwa Nyrabia

Editorial board

Isabel Arrate Fernandez

Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen

Orwa Nyrabia

Project Manager

Laura Das

Writers

Ricardo Acosta

Sarah Dawson

Khaled Jarrar

Dana Linssen

Oksana Sarkisova

Julia Scott-Stevenson

Design

Emiel Efdée

Theo Imhoff

With additional contributions from Mark Baker (Industry Program Copy Editor), Ellen Bannink (Development Coordinator), Joost Daamen (Head of Program), Isabella DiBernardo (Development Producer), Yvonne Djissi (Festival Producer New Media), Nina van Doren (New Media Research & Communication), Martine van Duijn (Head of Marketing, Communication and Press), Laura van Halsema (Senior Programmer), Sasja Koetsier (Film description Coordinator), Ron Ma (Program Coordinator), Antigoni Papantoni (Senior Talks Producer), Camila Arriaga Torres (Industry Talks Producer), Jenni Tuovinen (Head of Operations New Media), Danny Veekens (Communications Coordinator New Media)

Colophon Festival campaign

For the third consecutive year, IDFA has invited artists to create the festival’s campaign, asking them to capture their interpretation of IDFA, the art of documentary �ilmmaking, or both. This year’s campaign was entrusted to Ehsan Fardjadniya and Raul Balai. The duo, who merge art and activism, crafted a campaign that re�lects their critical stance towards cultural institutions—IDFA included—and how they address diversity, inclusion and accountability. From an idyllic picnic scene disrupted by distant explosions to AI-generated symbolism, the campaign is a visual critique of how these social issues are often marketed but not fully embraced. Read the interview with visual artists Raul Balai and Ehsan Fardjadniya at idfa.nl/campaign.

Scan the QR code for the festival trailer

Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba (2024).

Vondelpark

Filmstill: In Praise of Nothing by Boris Mitić