IDFA 24

Afghan women are suffering terribly under the rule of the Taliban. But, as is clear in Zainab Entezar’s exhilarating documentary, a small group is fighting back - despite harsh repercussions. The film, shot by some of these brave women, takes you right into the heart of resistance. One can only hope this remarkable, heartfelt cry for freedom will get the attention it deserves.

Do You Love Me is Lana Daher’s personal journey through the fractured historical, social, cultural, and political landscapes of Beirut. Using mainly archive footage, the film weaves together the past and the present in a quest to better understand Lebanon’s history and current status. Business Doc Europe sat down with the helmer, who presented her doc project at this year’s IDFA.

In her experimental film which world-premiered at Venice Biennale and now playing in Amsterdam, the Dutch artist and filmmaker examines, explains and demonstrates our species’ fundamental need for the sensation of touch. “Connect to your sensual and erotic sense,” we are encouraged in the experimental work, and be prepared for an experience that is “playful, open, humorous, symbiotic, sensual.”

The Cinéma du réel professional sidebar event for projects nearing completion “actively supports the distribution, promotion and placement of feature documentaries by linking, at a key stage of the production process, project holders (filmmakers and producers) to industry professionals.” The projects are selected in line with the editorial policy of the host festival, running 26-27 March 2025.

“I didn’t want just to do a movie about the history of locomotives. I wanted to show a deeper truth about the human condition through the journeys on the train," Maciej J. Drygas tells Business Doc Europe about his archive-based, dialogue-free Trains, which world-premiered this week in Amsterdam. “The train is a very peculiar and weird place for me. When you step in a train, you have the desire for something to change.”

A love letter to The Pyrenees, The Shepherd and the Bear sometimes looks and feels like a fairy-tale as it highlights quite beautifully the ongoing battle between environmentalists and traditionalists - or between humans and nature. The film is extraordinary watchable, because of its remarkable characters, its suspense and its dazzling cinematography.

In Afghan Najiba Noori’s captivating and disconcerting portrait of her defiant mother, the director creates a precious and unique document that also chronicles a terrible moment in history (the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal) as seen from the perspective of those who are usually overlooked. It also shows the importance of education and of raising compassionate and supportive men.

Palestinian exile Jamal Hindawi wants to put on a political stage play which features a metaphorical patchwork jacket which represents the feuding interests that have staked a claim over Palestine. When the jacket is lost Jamal determines to find it, in the process demonstrating how the politics and economics of the region have severely affected the lives and livelihoods of its people. Director Mathijs Poppe discusses the film with BDE.

In his new documentary, Egyptian filmmaker Bassam Mortada looks back at just how his father’s imprisonment upturned his own life, and that of his parents. The very personal movie is about the impact of “the big history” of Egypt on the “very small history” of his own family. “It took us five years. We were very lucky we were more able to get backing from a lot of Arab funds that support independent filmmakers,” Elsayed notes of the film’s supporters like the Doha Film Institute.

BDE caught up with Chinese-Dutch film producer Jia Zhao, who spoke about her new documentary project Whispers in May, showcased in the IDFA Forum and helmed by Dongnan Chen. The feature, produced by China’s Tail Bite Tail Films and Dutch outfit Muyi Film, follows Qinghua, a Yi ethnic teen, who sets out on a road trip with her two best friends to find a skirt for the menstruation rite of passage.