The It’s All True documentary festival has announced a December 18 deadline for submissions for its 26th edition. The hybrid event will take place between April 8 and 18 2021, in line with the guidelines of the Brazilian health authorities.
“We plan to resume the festival in theaters in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as cinema is a social experience, but we must not disregard the growth catalyzed by the emergency expansion of online projections,” said founder festival director, Amir Labaki. He added how, since 2017, the festival has successfully organised specially curated cycles “exclusive to the virtual universe.”
The 2020 festival was forced to restructure its 25th edition less than two weeks before the officially opening in March, due to the closure of cinemas in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The festival was subsequently divided into two stages. The first, between March 25 and April 5, featured special and retrospective programmes, with more than 60 hours of free online programming. The second stage (September 24-October 4) was set to go hybrid until organisers were again forced to go online.
Nevertheless, the 2020 two-pronged event attracted a record audience of 116,677 viewers across both stages. Alexander Nanau’s Collective was voted best feature of the International Feature and Medium Length Competitions. Diógenes Muniz’s Libelu – Down with the Dictatorship won the Brazilian Feature and Medium-Length Competition. Washerwomen’s Daughters, directed by Edileuza Penha de Souza, and My Country So Beautiful by Grzegorz Paprzycki, were awarded Best Brazilian and Best International Short Film respectively.
“The celebration of our 25th anniversary was marked by the mourning of the victims of the pandemic and the inability of personal interaction determined by health restrictions,” continued Labaki. “Despite everything, there was a lot to cheer. We reached a record audience and saw our international recognition expanded, with the new partnership, in July, with Cannes Docs of the Film Market and the inclusion of It’s All True among the 21 festivals on the expressway list for the Oscar contest feature documentary at the invitation of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.”
