The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced October 13 the main competition line-ups for its 39th edition, running November 12 to 22. Newly unveiled selections include the International and Envision Competitions, Luminous, Frontlight, the IDFA DocLab competition selections, and the nominations for all cross-section awards. The IDFA 2026 official selection includes 253 titles from 80 countries.
IDFA 2026 opens with the world premiere of White Tiger Column by Robert Mentov, Dwight Jantzi and Bryan Dickie, which closely follows a group of recruits through 45 days of training with Myanmar’s resistance movement. In a training camp deep in the jungle, the filmmakers capture the daily lives of young volunteers as they prepare to fight for their freedom. A “striking example of documentary cinema,” the film offers a moving portrait of a courageous generation, the festival writes of the film, which ios selected for International Competition and nominated for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The International Competition brings together works that “invite curiosity and critical reflection on our world today,” the festival writes. “Across a wide range of subjects and filmmaking approaches, these films offer complex, layered perspectives on the present. The selection of 13 titles brings together established veteran voices next to first-time filmmakers, with 12 films presenting their world or international premieres.
- Bardi, dir. Tala Hadid (Morocco), 108’ – European Premiere
- Crack in the Head, Crack in the Sky, dir. Mehran Tamadon (France), 120’ – World Premiere
- Down the River, dir. Ruslan Fedotov (Germany), 79’ – World Premiere
- Hazara Town, dir. Khadim Dai (Belgium/Australia/Germany), 103’ – World Premiere
- Here Where the Fire Burns, dir. Juan Manuel Sepúlveda (Mexico), 97’ – World Premiere
- An Incomplete Day in the History of Georgia 10.06.93, dir. Salomé Jashi (Georgia), 100’ – World Premiere
- Lonan Tché, dir. Joël Richmond Mathieu Akafou (France/Italy/Ivory Coast/Senegal), 95’ – World Premiere
- Mangabangabaka, dir. Michaël Andrianaly (France/Madagascar/Burkina Faso), 92’ – World Premiere
- Morro Grande, dir. Isabel Joffily, Rita Toledo (Brazil/Netherlands), 88’ – World Premiere
- Still Night, Burning House, dir. Carol Nguyen (Canada), 76’ – International Premiere
- White Tiger Column, dir. Robert Mentov, Dwight Jantzi, Bryan Dickie (Canada), 95’ – World Premiere
- Women and War, dir. Elwira Niewiera (Germany/Poland/Ukraine), 103’ – World Premiere
- The Year of the Ghost, dir. Louis Hothothot (Netherlands/China), 95’ – World Premiere
ENVISION COMPETITION
The Envision Competition offers 13 unparalleled films, “each of them stylistically arresting, as visionary filmmakers forge new cinematic languages,” IDFA writes. “The selection brings together titles in which form drives the narrative. Through distinctive visual approaches and formal choices, the filmmakers deconstruct and reframe the complexities of our world, offering new ways of seeing and understanding the subjects they explore.”
- Bahía Honda, dir. Alejandro Alonso Estrella (Cuba/France/Norway), 85’ – World Premiere
- Between Revolutions, dir. Ruben Desiere (Belgium/Netherlands), 78’ – World Premiere
- The Black Box Is Orange, dir. Yuula Benivolski (Canada), 89’ – International Premiere
- Drop! Cover! Hold On!, dir. Stéphanie Roland (Belgium/France), 77’ – World Premiere
- Lyrical Vengeance, dir. wendelien van oldenborgh (Netherlands), 111’ – World Premiere
- Memories, dir. Anna Falguères (Belgium/France), 78’ – World Premiere
- Memories of Lightning, dir. Riccardo Giacconi (France/Italy), 73’ – International Premiere
- My Own Personal Gulag, dir. Lina Gorbaneva (Spain), 84’ – World Premiere
- Radiant Mountain, dir. Miguel Moraes Cabral (Belgium/Portugal/France), 75’ – World Premiere
- Ragazzi al fiume, dir. Pablo Briones (Switzerland), 75’ – World Premiere
- Rivers of Memory, dir. Shishir Jha (India), 72’ – World Premiere
- Vertigo Garden, dir. Lei Lei (Hong Kong / SAR /China), 73’ – World Premiere
- You Don’t Die Two Times, dir. Ager Oueslati (Algeria/Germany/Netherlands), 90’ – World Premiere
LUMINOUS
“The premiere-only section Luminous presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental. Across both feature-length and short films, the titles grapple with big questions of life through deeply personal, lived experiences,” IDFA writes. “Among the selection of 21 films, 19 titles are world or international premieres, including nine debut feature films.”
- Agaar, dir. Bo Yang (China/France), 117’ – European Premiere
- Alter Ego, dir. Mohammad Ali Atassi (Lebanon/France), 72’ – World Premiere
- Back Before 3 P.M., dir. Gaël Lépingle (France), 74’ – International Premiere
- The Blood of the Covenant, dir. Fábio Silva (Portugal), 64’ – World Premiere
- The Brush in Your Hand, dir. Charlotte Dumas (Netherlands), 51’ – World Premiere
- Cuscú, dir. Risseth Yangüez Singh (Panama/United States), 83’ – World Premiere
- Dreams of the Wild Oaks, dir. Marjan Khosravi (Iran/Spain/France), 78’ European Premiere
- Every Death Diminishes Me, dir. Sergii Bazhenov (Ukraine), 80’ – World Premiere
- How Much Longer, dir. Niels van Koevorden (Netherlands), 83’ – World Premiere
- The Last Season, dir. Yohan Guignard (France), 25’ – International Premiere
- Mentor, dir. Krzysztof Tomaszewski (Poland), 14’ – International Premiere
- The Middle Room, dir. Enrico Maisto (Italy/Switzerland), 79’ – International Premiere
- A Modern Roma Fairytale, dir. Raluca Lupaşcu (Netherlands), 80’ – World Premiere
- The Sacred Circle, dir. Elahe Esmaili (Iran), 36’ – World Premiere
- Scenes from Departure, dir. Ray Kamhei Chan (Taiwan/Hong Kong), 82’ – International Premiere
- She Was Not Alone, dir. Hussein Al-asadi (Iraq/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/United States), 88’ – World Premiere
- Tonight is Forever, dir. Fernando Souza (France/Spain/Japan), 93’ – World Premiere
- Up in the Air, dir. Oksana Koklonska (Ukraine/Czech Republic/Lithuania), 93’ World Premiere
- Waves of Time, dir. Weicheng Hua (China), 87’ – World Premiere
- We Had a Plan, dir. Suzanne Raes (Netherlands/Philippines), 96’ – World Premiere
- Where the Sun is Born, dir. Laura Bermúdez, Jorge García (Honduras), 74’ – World Premiere
FRONTLIGHT
The premiere-only section Frontlight showcases 16 films, from critically examinations of the truth and urgent issues of our time to portraits of artists and their work. Fifteen of the selected titles are world or international premieres. “Several films offer immediate responses to critical current events, while others take time to reflect, examining the social realities and challenges shaping people’s lives,” the festival writes.
- The Big Boom!, dir. Gabriel Tejedor (Switzerland), 79’ – World Premiere
- A Derailment, dir. Nathan Truesdell (United States), 26’ – International Premiere
- The Dome Sessions, dir. Firas El Hallak (Lebanon), 61’ – World Premiere
- Hold Your Breath, dir. Vincent Sparreboom (Netherlands), 75’ – World Premiere Jenin & the Nakba Between Us, dir. Serene Husni (Canada/Jordan), 89’ – World Premiere
- The Message, dir. Guylaine Maroist, Eric Ruel (Canada), 105’ – World Premiere
- A Minute of Silence, dir. Laurent Pantaleon (Réunion/France), 87’ – World Premiere
- No Man’s Air, dir. Peter Delpeut, Gerco de Ruijter (Netherlands), 42’ – World Premiere
- Notes From a Besieged City, dir. Mateusz Mularski (Poland), 78’ – International Premiere
- Regarding Memory and Neglect, dir. Ricardo Martensen (Brazil), 86’ – World Premiere
- Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage, dir. Deborah Riley Draper (United States), 82’ – International Premiere
- Small Expectations, dir. Alexandru Solomon (Romania/Belgium), 118’ – World Premiere
- Tehran, Under the Skin, dir. Afsaneh Salari (France/Iran/Sweden), 83’ – European Premiere
- Then I Saw a Beautiful Horse, dir. Altay Erlik (Turkey/Germany), 3’ – World Premiere
- Water Cooler, dir. Emma V.F. (United States), 12’ – International Premiere
- Wood Street, dir. Caron Creighton (United States), 100’ – International Premiere
IDFA DOCLAB COMPETITION FOR IMMERSIVE NON-FICTION
With ten titles, the IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction “boldly expands the horizons of the documentary genre, pushing immersive media beyond conventional boundaries,” IDFA writes. Across VR, live theater performances, fulldome experiences, and multisensory works, the selection “explores how immersive art can alter the way we encounter reality—offering unexpected perspectives and opening up new possibilities for agency and resistance.”
Several artists use immersive experiences to bring audiences into close, embodied encounters with realities that may otherwise feel distant. Other works deal with the corporeal and the body, from digitally altering our perception of ourselves and inviting our microbiomes to a feast, to examining grief through magnifying the decomposition of a loved one’s body—turning grief and death into a profound reflection on how humans are but a part of a larger ecosystem.
IDFA DOCLAB COMPETITION FOR DIGITAL STORYTELLING
The nine-title IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling “expands the possibilities of documentary through digital art, games, interactive installations, and live performance,” IDFA writes. With artists from across disciplines bringing traditional forms into dialogue with new media, the selection showcases a new wave of cross-disciplinary experimentation.
“Several works confront the digital systems shaping contemporary life, subverting algorithms and finding room for human error and agency. Other works invite audiences into interactive open worlds, adapting game and world-building technologies to create participatory experiences that radically depart from everyday reality. Elsewhere, artists explore the ever-evolving relationship between the physical and digital, investigating how technology fundamentally shapes our experience of intimacy, desire, and connection,” the festival adds.
ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAM
The program announcement also includes additions to the Signed, Dead Angle: Common Ground, IDFA DocLab Spotlight, Best of Fests and Special Screenings selections. Recent additions to Signed include Alex Gibney’s Musk, an incisive look at the power and influence of Elon Musk; Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s You Can See Everything, a complex portrait of notorious Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes; and Sixteen Moments of My Life by Albert Serra, spotlighting Ingrid Caven singing live at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.
The Special Screenings section brings an Eye Filmmuseum restoration of John Leerdam’s 30 mei, 1969 (gritu di un pueblo), that revisits the historic uprising in Curaçao and the colonial inequalities and racial discrimination that fuelled it.
The IDFA DocLab Spotlight selection announces several titles, including In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, Darren Emerson’s landmark VR experience (IDFA 2022) revisiting Britain’s late-1980s rave scene, presented in a new collective, multi-user format for DocLab’s 20th anniversary.
CROSS-SECTION AWARDS
IDFA has also announced the nominations for the cross-section awards—distinct awards that transcend the program sections to recognize outstanding artistic achievement across the festival program.
The IDFA Award for Best First Feature celebrates the most remarkable debut feature- length films, recognizing works that reveal a distinctive creative voice and the promise of an evolving signature. Drawn from the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight, the award is accompanied by a €5,000 prize, awarded by an international jury.
The films nominated for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature are also eligible for the FIPRESCI Award, chosen by an international jury of film critics. The IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film highlights exceptional Dutch filmmaking talent across the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight selections. The winning filmmaker with receive €5,000, awarded by an international jury.
The Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for Best Creative Use of Archive honours outstanding archival film, selected from across the film program. The winning film will receive a €5,000 prize, awarded by an international jury.
The winners will be announced during the IDFA 2026 Awards Ceremony on Thursday November 19.
