Nick Cunningham

In his new project to be pitched at IDFA Forum, Belgian filmmaker Kristof Bilsen asks what it takes to say sorry, whether in macro or micro terms. “Apologies hold the power to heal, both for individuals and society. But what makes a good apology? And can it truly mend deep wounds, whether from childhood bullying or historical atrocities?”

Martijn Blekendaal, whose The Man Who Looked Beyond the Horizon won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Children's Documentary in 2018, discusses the (super)heroic qualities required to remain invisible. “I grew up in a white environment where I always really stood out. I wanted to be invisible. Later, I realized that this desire is a ‘luxury problem’ compared to children who are forced to be invisible because they’re in hiding, being abused, or smuggled across borders,” he says.

Eight projects that are “ready to premiere soon and start their festival lives” will be presented 15.30 at LAB 111. Over the past 13 years, 14 films developed at the dok.incubator rough cut workshop have been selected for Sundance, while two were nominated for Emmy Awards. This year three are selected for Best of Fests at IDFA 2024 (A Sisters’ Tale, Agent of Happiness and We Are Inside).

Dutch filmmaker Miriam Guttmann discusses her remarkable new documentary in which the front line of war and the front row of Ukrainian culture intertwine. “This story distinguishes itself by interweaving the current war in Ukraine with the power of art,” says Guttmann. “The dancers used their talent as a way to preserve their humanity, and rather than fighting on the frontline, they continue their battle on the ballet stage.”

Chiledoc, responsible for the global promotion of Chilean documentary talent, films and series, arrives in Amsterdam with two projects in Forum, the world-prem of Ancestral Secret VR in DocLab, a world and European premiere in Short Film Comp and The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine in Best of Fests. “Europe is a significant territory for Chilean films because it has the most prominent partners for the kind of films we make and because European audiences are very committed to our stories,” says Head of Chiledoc Diego Pino Anguita.

Love may be at the heart of Myrid Carten’s feature documentary debut A Want In Her, but it comes at a price. When the director answered a call to return from London to help find her mother who had gone missing somewhere in Ireland, her response to the crisis was immediate, but so was her reflex to pick up her camera to record the process. Carten talks to BDE about her film, world-premiering in Amsterdam.

Neshoma tells a very particular history using found footage and archive, that of Amsterdam’s Jewish community between the two World Wars. Dutch director Sandra Beerends is of Indonesian heritage and herself married to a Jewish man. “I feel familiar with this wound because my mum had also a war trauma from the Japanese camps in Indonesia,” she says of her film’s subject. “It's not for nothing that I know a lot of couples in Amsterdam where one is Jewish and one is from Indonesia, because there are stories to share of how it is to live in captivity.”

Orwa Nyrabia talks to BDE about his seventh, and final, IDFA as Artistic Director. He speaks about this year’s programme and robustly counters accusations that he has overlooked European filmmakers and their industries during his tenure. He also addresses the opening night events of 2023 when pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the stage. “No matter our good intentions and misunderstandings, we made mistakes last year,” he acknowledges.

What’s in a name? A lot, if you’re called John Smith, and you’ve developed, over the past 70-plus years, a psychological complex about bearing Britain’s most common name. In the very amusing Being John Smith, a recent winner at DOK Leipzig, the viewer is invited inside the mind of the eponymous director to understand what it is like to live with that curse. “Being called John Smith still undermines my sense of individuality and self-worth on an almost daily basis,” the director laments to BDE.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has expressed its “support and deep concern” for Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmehmet, whom the Chinese authorities have sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on politically motivated and unfounded claims of ‘actively participating in terrorist activities.’ “The ICFR strongly condemns the treatment and proceedings of the authorities, and calls on the Chinese government to release Ikram Nurmehmet immediately,” the organisation writes.