IDFA 2021

“Returning to cinemas, in my view, is an act of resistance,” Orwa Nyrabia tells BDE ahead of an IDFA that may be presented with a greater degree of sobriety in 2021, but with no less ambition and vigour. “The challenge is that we all come together and share the responsibility, prove together that a film festival can be a serious collective experience, and be safe and healthy, at the same time. That said, being ‘healthy’ is not only a matter of not catching a virus, but also a mental, cultural, political, and philosophical question, and even more so during a pandemic.”

The MTV-backed doc Ascension, which premiered at Tribeca where it won Best Documentary and the Albert Maysles Award, is screening in the market at IDFA. Director Jessica Kingdon discusses the genesis of the documentary with Business Doc Europe.

Chilean filmmakers Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff are used to living in small apartments in Santiago. However, after they shot their 2018 film Los Reyes (which premiered that year at IDFA) and adopted one of its main protagonists - a stray dog called Chola whom they found prowling round the local skate park - life changed radically for the pair. They explain their subsequent Forum pitch-winning project to BDE.

Less is definitely more in Penny Andrea’s engaging and highly original documentary that chronicles her radically altered state after the diagnosis of a brain tumor. With nothing more than her drawings and her monotone voice-over, she creates a fascinating journey both through time and her magnificent mind within a filmic testimony to resilience, creativity and humour.

For two decades the highly talented populist Norwegian politician Trond Giske turned down filmmaker Håvard Bustnes’ requests to be the subject of a fly on the wall documentary. Until 2017, that is, when allegations of sexual harassment were levelled at him, at which point he went on a tour around Norway to resurrect his political career. And this time, as the director tells BDE, the politician could see the benefits of answering Bustnes’ emails…

The third and most prescient of director Peter Nicks’ trilogy of vérité portraits of life in Oakland, California, Homeroom is a film that is, in equal part, impressive, immersive and insightful, and made with real compassion and respect.

With Luminous and Frontlight sections comprised mainly of world prems, the fest also presents first competition selections within Short and Youth Doc Competitions. IDFA also announces titles in its interdisciplinary program IDFA on Stage, chief among them the world premiere of the newly restored Dziga Vertov film The History of the Civil War (pictured). The 34th edition of IDFA takes place November 17-28.

What David Simon did for Baltimore in The Wire and what Fred Wiseman has done with institutions all over the US in his films, Peter Nicks is doing for Oakland, California. Hulu documentary Homeroom is the third in his trilogy set in the city, following on from The Waiting Room (2012), set in a hospital waiting room and The Force (2017), looking at the inner workings of the city police department as it tries to reform.

Meet Oli London, social media influencer, online personality and someone utterly obsessed with South Korean pop culture. London, the subject of Gangnam Beauty (a world premiere at IDFA) may be English-born but has spent a fortune on plastic surgery (including several botched operations) in order to look like a K-Pop idol. Director Tomaszewski faces off with BDE.

The Lightdox IDFA 2021 slate may seem small, but that’s exactly the way company boss Anna Berthollet wants it. What’s more three of those films are in official IDFA selection, including the world-premiere of Serbian Srđan Keča’s Museum of the Revolution in Luminous section. Berthollet explains her rationale to Business Doc Europe.