Sixty-six titles have been added to the program for the International documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) as the event unveils the Luminous and Frontlight sections, in addition to titles for live cinema section IDFA on Stage, experimental art section Paradocs and queer cinema section Contagious & Queer. IDFA’s 36th edition runs Nov. 8 to 19.
Luminous, which presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental, has 23 titles, of which 22 are world or international premieres.
Several films tell powerful feminist stories. Through vivid recollections and a wealth of archival footage, “Helke Sander: Cleaning House” by Claudia Richarz invites audiences to revisit the filmmaker and feminist’s work and activism. “Atirkül in the Land of Real Men” by Janyl Jusupjan tells the story of age-old Central Asian traditions and one Kyrgyz woman’s determined defiance, as she resists the roles laid out for her and follows the call of the wild.
The selection also includes nuanced and complex examinations of indigenous communities and the living effects of colonial history. Against the background of Suriname’s fight for independence, “Mother Suriname – Mama Sranan” by Tessa Leuwsha uses a stream of archival footage to tell the life story of the filmmaker’s grandmother. Drawing parallels between the migration of the Cuvivi bird and that of the region’s indigenous communities, Joe Houlberg Silva’s “Ozogoche” paints a stark scene of the impact of climate crisis along the Andes’ Ozogoche lakes. The film received IDFA Bertha Fund support in 2022.
Frontlight showcases 18 films that reflect on political events and socio-political realities. Sixteen of the selected titles are world or international premieres.
“Stamped From the Beginning” by Roger Ross Williams explores the dark history and stark reality of racism in American society. “Invisible Nation” by Vanessa Hope features Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen, and charts her country’s fight for their right to exist independently. Nahid Persson’s “Son of the Mullah” follows activist and journalist Roholla Zam as he bravely works to expose the corruption and hypocrisy of the Iranian regime, at the risk of his own life.
Exposing the deeply rooted prejudice against women in sports, “Copa 71” by Rachel Ramsey and James Erskine questions why the immensely popular yet unofficial 1971 Women’s World Cup was written out of sporting history.
Other films shift perspective to examine the world more closely. From the viewpoint of a citizen journalist on the frontline, “Donga” by Muhannad Lamin uses video excerpts to take us through 12 years of Libyan history and the aftermath of the revolution. “In Wolf Country” by Ralf Bücheler documents the return of wolves to Germany, and the polarizing and political debates that ensue in the name of safety.
With the theme “Phenomenal Friction,” IDFA’s new media section explores friction in all its forms. The program invites audiences to look beyond technological efficiency and convenience, to explore the resistance that propels creativity forward and the conflict that reveals life’s complexities. The selection will showcase more than 30 interactive and immersive documentary works that use or comment on emerging technology in new and innovative ways.
The IDFA on Stage selection presents its boundary-breaking program of live cinema events — nine projects bridging film, new media and the performing arts.
Highlights include “Simple as ABC #7: The Voice of Fingers” by Thomas Bellinck, a multimedia performance and documentary theater play examining fingerprint technology as an instrument of control and symbol for inequality. Starting from the tiny ridges of our fingertips, the performance looks into how the administrative tool enables the free crossing of EU borders to some, and the exclusion of others.
Exploring the intersection of documentary art and new media, “(this conversation is) Off the Record” by Nirit Peled presents an immersive performative lecture that unveils the complexities of algorithmic systems employed by the Dutch police to predict youth crime.
In the immersive dance performance “One Two,” Christian Bakalov invites audience to participate in a primeval ritual involving music, rhythmic breathing and pitch darkness. With the world premiere of “The Last Year of Darkness – Live Edit Party,” Bobby Moser and Gennady Baranov present a multimedia experience that uses live editing of over 600 hours of footage from Ben Mullinkosson’s films, music and performances to invoke Chengdu’s underground club scene.
This year’s queer cinema program is titled Contagious & Queer and is once again curated by Simon(e) van Saarloos. “By exploring queerness as a contagious inevitability, by letting queerness loose as a viral fight against norms, Contagious & Queer will move beyond simply defending queer and trans lives and their experience, inviting audiences to push for visibility and participate in a trans viewing practice,” the festival said.
The interdisciplinary program will unfold over the course of six days in the new IDFA Vondelpark Pavilion location and will include a selection of film screenings, workshop sessions and performances.
Ten works are selected for Paradocs, showcasing the year’s experimental documentary art. Visual artist Fiona Tan turns to film in “Dearest Fiona,” an archival work that laces together her father’s letters written in the ‘80s and century-old scenes with the present.
Lois Patiño’s “Samsara” captures the sensory journey toward reincarnation using sound and light. Emerging artists in the selection engage with reality in innovative ways. In “And How Miserable Is the Home of Evil,” Saleh Kashefi presents a reimagined experience; real footage of the Iranian leader of the Islamic Republic is shown in a fictional downfall.
Additional titles have been added to previously announced Best of Fests and Signed sections, as well as the Fabrications program.
