Things We Said Today – Andrei Ujica (Romania/France)
Sixty-three projects selected for festival’s co-production and co-financing market, plus new award for best pitch (worth €2,500) and additional category designed to support filmmakers through the pandemic.
Leading Amsterdam-based doc fest IDFA announced October 13 the 63 projects selected to pitch at Forum 2020. The selection includes projects from Maria Ramos, Mila Turajlić and Andrei Ujica while the new media selection includes projects by Klasien van de Zandschulp, Sacha Wares, Toby Coffey, Joe Bini, and Sam Green.
The year’s selection is diverse, the festival points out, with a strong representation of female pitch teams. Women make up 64% of the producers and directors, while in DocLab Forum, 46% are women. The entire Forum selection includes projects from 45 different production and co-production countries.
Established filmmakers at Forum 2020 include Maria Ramos, pitching the investigative project Justice under Suspicion about state rule in present-day Brazil. Other highlights include Things We Said Today (pictured), the new found-footage project from Andrei Ujica about New York daily life during the summer of 1965, when the Beatles came to town for their first concert at Shea Stadium.
A strong slate of emerging directors and producers also join the pitch line-up. Among them are Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu with the project Testament, tracing the colonial atrocities of Kenya, and Everlane Moraes and Felipe Tomazelli with the project Germano Black Society, on the social columnist who is raising the visibility of black culture in Brazil.
15 projects have been selected for IDFA DocLab Forum, the market’s new media strand. Drawing on different disciplines and backgrounds, the selected artists use a wide spectrum of formats in their work: live performances, full-dome experiences, web-based interactives, virtual reality, and dance, plus others.
Klasien van de Zandschulp is joined by Natalie Dixon to present the interactive web series Good Neighbours, on the hilarious and uncomfortable truths of neighborhood-watch communities. Known from the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio, Sacha Wares and Toby Coffey present the exhibition Inside: A Journey Into the World of Outsider Artist Judith Scott on the celebrated 20th century artist.
Newcomers in selection to watch include Sunghwan Lee, presenting the virtual reality project Carving with Memories: Ihyangjeong, and Soumya Mukhopadhyay, presenting the web-based experience A South Asian Queer Pamphlet.
IDFA Forum also presents a new award, the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch (€2,500), to be handed out by an international jury in the market’s film and new media sections.
A new presentation category designed to support filmmakers through the pandemic comprises 14 projects that include How to Build a Library by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, Anhell69 by newcomer Theo Montoya, and Draw for Change!, the new documentary series by Laura Nix, Kim Longinotto, Nada Riyadh, Karen Vazquez Guadarrama, Sama Pana, and Anna Moiseenko.
“We were impressed by the exceptional quality of projects this year. All the productions have been affected by COVID-19 in one way or another, but this selection also shows the resilience of the industry and the creativity of filmmakers and artists. Directors, producers, and makers are still creating outstanding projects, and the Forum is finding new ways to support them in finding production and financing partners to realize their work,” said Adriek Van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of Industry at IDFA.
IDFA Forum selection 2020:
African Space Makers – Vincenzo Cavallo (Kenya/Germany)
Producer: Vincenzo Cavallo for Cultural Video Production (Germany), The Nrb Bus (Kenya)
Airborne – Shaunak Sen (India)
Producers: Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen
Al Haya Helwa (Life Is Beautiful) – Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine)
Producer: KriStine Ann Skaret for Stray Dog Productions AS (Norway), Mohanad Yaqubi for Idioms Films (Palestine)
Alis – Nicolas van Hemelryck, Clare Weiskopf (Colombia/France/Germany/Denmark/Chile)
Producers: Nicolas van Hemelryck and Clare Weiskopf for Casatarantula (Colombia), Charlotte Uzu for Les Films d’Ici (France)
Amalie’s Shadow – Esther Niemeier (Germany)
Producers: Dirk Decker and Andrea Schütte for Tamtam Film GmbH
Ancestral Secret VR – Francisca Silva (Chile)
Producer: María José Díaz for Galgo Storytelling
Anchor Baby – Ana Veselic, Jessica Chermayeff (USA)
Producers: Jessica Chermayeff and Ana Veselic for Cousins, Isabel Castro
Angel – Diary of a Planned Death – Fernando González (Spain)
Producer: Laura Collado Bossi for Producciones del Barrio
Anhell69 – Theo Montoya (Colombia/Argentina/Romania)
Producer: Juan Pablo Castrillón for Desvio Visual (Colombia)
Apollonia, Apollonia – Lea Glob (Denmark/Poland)
Producer: Sidsel Lønvig Siersted for Danish Documentary (Denmark)
The Broom – Nim Shapira (Israel)
Producer: Nim Shapira
Burn the Cuckoo’s Nest – Jo Sol (Spain)
Producer: Jo Sol for Shaktimetta produccions SL
Carving with Memories: Ihyangjeong – Sunghwan Lee (South Korea)
Producers: Rene Hyewon Lee, Mina Hyeon, Jay Kim and Sugon Kim for Giioii, Studio Shelter
Culture Archive – Kidus Hailesilassie and Ainslee Robson (USA/Ghana/Ethiopia)
Producers: Kidus Hailesilassie, Ainslee Robson and Liam Young
Daniel & Daniela – Sofia Pinto Coelho (Portugal)
Producer: Pandora da Cunha Telles and Pablo Iraola for Ukbar Filmes
Diktatura – Sindi Breshani (UK/Albania)
Producer: Sindi Breshani
Draw for Change! – Laura Nix, Kim Longinotto, Nada Riyadh, Karen Vazquez Guadarrama, Sama Pana and Anna Moiseenko (Belgium/USA/Netherlands/Luxembourg/Denmark/France)
Producer: Hanne Phlypo for Clin d’Oeil films (Belgium)
The Driven Ones – Piet Baumgartner (Switzerland)
Producer: Sarah Born for Catpics Ltd
The First 54 Years – Avi Mograbi (France/Israel/Finland)
Producers: Serge Lalou and Camille Laemlé for Les Films d’Ici (France), Annie Ohayon Dekel for 24images (France)
A Fugitive in Cannes – Dimitri Kourtchine, Marie-Christine Malbert (France)
Producer: Estelle Fialon for Les Films du Poisson
Future Rites – Sandra Rodriguez and Alexander Whitley (UK/Canada)
Producers: Alexander Whitley and Donna Meierdiercks for Alexander Whitley Dance Company (UK), Sebastien Grenier-Cartier for Normal Studio (Canada)
Germano Black Society – Everlane Moraes (Brazil)
Producer: Felipe Tomazelli
F@ck This Job – Vera Krichevskaya (UK/Germany)
Producer: Vera Krichevskaya for Six Days Film (UK)
The Garden of Ghost Flowers – Lundahl & Seitl (Sweden/UK)
Producer: Emma Ward
The Golden Thread – Nishtha Jain (India/Netherlands/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Producer: Nishtha Jain for Raintree Films (India)
Good Neighbours – Natalie Dixon, Klasien van de Zandschulp (Netherlands/UK)
Producer: Corine Meijers for Biarritz Studio (Netherlands)
Hide and Seek (Nascondino) – Victoria Fiore (UK/Italy)
Producers: Aleksandra Bilic and Jennifer Corcoran for My Accomplice (UK)
A House Made of Splinters – Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark/Sweden/Finland/Ukraine)
Producer: Monica Hellström for Final C
ut for Real (Denmark)
How to Build a Library – Maia Lekow and Christopher King (Kenya)
Producers: Maia Lekow and Christopher King for Circle and Square Productions (Kenya), Biki Kangwana
INSIDE: A Journey Into the World of Outsider Artist Judith Scott – Sacha Wares (UK/Canada)
Producer: Toby Coffey for National Theatre (UK)
Just For One Day – Dale Herigstad and Johannes Brandrup (Germany/UK)
Producer: Stefan Marx for ZAUBAR (Germany)
Justice Under Suspicion – Maria Ramos (Brazil/France)
Producer: Jose Buarque Ferreira for Nofoco Filmes (Brazil)
Kamay – Shahrokh Bikaran, Ilyas Yourish (Afghanistan/Denmark)
Producers: Ilyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran
Karuara, People of the River – Miguel Araoz Cartagena and Stephanie Boyd (Peru)
Producer: Stephanie Boyd for Asociación Quisca
The Labudovic Reels – Mila Turajlić (Serbia/France/Montenegro/Croatia)
Producers: Mila Turajlić for Dribbling Pictures (Serbia), Carine Chichkowsky for Survivance (France)
Letters from Ms. Iran – Farahnaz Sharifi, Leyla Rouhi (Iran)
Producer: Farahnaz Sharifi
Lili – Sylwia Rosak (Poland)
Producer: Tomasz Morawski for HAKA Films
Loving Highsmith – Eva Vitija (Switzerland/Germany)
Producer: Franziska Sonder and Maurizius Staerkle Drux for Ensemble Film Gmbh (Switzerland)
Made in Ethiopia – Max Duncan and Xinyan Yu (USA/Canada)
Producer: Max Duncan and Xinyan Yu
Mom of the Ring – Yue Wu (China/South Korea)
Producer: Vincent Du for DuGood Productions (China)
Motherland – Hanna Badziaka and Alexander Mihalkovich (Belarus/Ukraine/Sweden)
Producer: Alexander Mihalkovich for Voka Films (Belarus)
Obsessed with Light – Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum (USA/France)
Producers: Zeva Oelbaum for Between The Rivers Productions (USA), Sabine Krayenbühl for Between The Rivers Productions (France)
Of Boys and Men – Anders S Jepsen (Denmark)
Producer: Anne Köhncke for Final Cut for Real
One in a Million – Jack MacInnes and Itab Azzam (UK)
Producers: Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes
The Pulp – Aubrey Heichemer (Germany)
Producer: Aubrey Heichemer for Vr Coven
Queen of Chess – Bernadett Tuza-Ritter (Hungary/Germany)
Producer: Peter Stern for Queenside Pictures (Hungary)
Song of Summer and Winter – Talal Derki (Denmark/Germany)
Producers: Sigrid Dyekjaer for Siggi Production (Denmark), Heba Khaled for Jouzour Film Production UG (Germany)
A South Asian Queer Pamphlet – Soumya Mukhopadhyay (India)
Producers: Soumya Mukhopadhyay for Cherrypix Movies, Patralika Mukherjee
Survival of the Richest – Liz Mermin (Netherlands/France)
Producers: Femke Wolting for Submarine Docs (Netherlands), Christoph Jörg for Pumpernickel Films (France)
Sweeties – Natalie Bruijns, Anneke De Lind van Wijngaarden (Netherlands)
Producer: Iris Lammertsma for Witfilm
Symbiosis – Marcel van Brakel (Netherlands/Italy)
Producers: Corine Meijers and Marieke Nooren for Polymorf (Netherlands)
A Symphony of Noise – Enrique Sánchez Lansch (Germany)
Producer: Stefan Kloos for Kloos & Co. Medien (Germany)
Testament – Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu (USA/Kenya/Portugal)
Producer: Meena Nanji for Twende Pictures (USA), Zippy Kimundu for Afrofilms International Ltd (Kenya)
There Exists – Anrick Bregman (UK)
Producer: Shehani Fernando
Things We Said Today – Andrei Ujica (Romania/France)
Producers: Anamaria Antoci for Tangaj Production (Romania), Andrei Ujica for Modern Electric Pictures (France)
This Is My Moment – Lieven Corthouts (Belgium/France/Netherlands)
Producers: Magalie Dierick for Cassette for Timescapes (Belgium), Emmy Oost for Cassette for Timescapes (France)
Thunder and Drum – François Blouin (Canada/Denmark/Greenland)
Producers: Charles S Roy for La Maison de Prod (Canada), Peter Fisher for Khora VR (Denmark), Emile Hertling Péronard for Ánorâk Film (Greenland)
The Trans Syrian Express – Alina Rudnitskaya (Finland/Poland/Russia)
Producer: Pertti Veijalainen for Illume
The True Film – Christina Zimmermann (Switzerland)
Producer: Susanne Guggenberger for Mira Film GmbH
We Are Inside – Farah Kassem (Lebanon/Denmark)
Producer: Cynthia Choucair for Road2Films (Lebanon)
Witnesses from Shadows – Ousmane Samassekou (France/Mali/South Africa)
Producer: Estelle Robin You for Les Films du Balibari (France)
32 Sounds – Sam Green (USA)
Producers: Josh Penn for The Department of Motion Pictures, Evan Neff
