IDFA 25

IDFA’s focus programme Dead Angle returns this year with a far-reaching thematic deep dive into the structures that shape civic life. This year, programmer Joost Daamen turns the spotlight on institutions — democratic, administrative, medical, colonial — and on the frictions, contradictions and aspirations that define them. The focus is also placed squarely on archives. “Archives tell us a lot about how a society sees itself… how it shapes a narrative,” Daamen tells BDE.

Aiste Žegulytė has a fascination for change and decay…and mould. In her new documentary, world-premiering in Amsterdam, the director immerses herself in the world of these microscopic spore-producing structures. The film is particularly cinematic, both in terms of style and content. “It was important for me to create a metaphor of how mould eats our memories, our visual memory,” she tells Business Doc Europe. “So I was looking for mouldy tapes, and unexpectedly found some super beautifully mouldy archives from a documentary chronicle of my dad's hometown in Lithuania.”

Dutch director Nordin Lasfar dicusses his dynamic new documentary that chronicles the asymmetric relationship in Tangier between Paul Bowles and Mohammed Mrabet, two highly contrasting literary lions. “These were two people that were genuinely interested in each other, but found themselves in a neo-colonial system that wasn't fair,” Lasfar underlines. “Paul was part of the group where the power lies. And Mohammed was part of the group that was suppressed.”

In the Synthetic Sincerity lab, researchers are looking to inject authenticity into AI characters, using folk from Isaacs’ own documentaries to do so. In return, they allow Isaacs to film the process. The film may be hi-tech in concept, but decidedly low in budget. “I made this film for £8,000. There is something about the independence that gives you,” Isaacs tells BDE.

Isabel Arrate Fernandez talks to BDE about her first IDFA as Artistic Director. For her, the next 11 days are about more than audience numbers, box-office revenues and the number of Forum meetings. “IDFA is also about encounters, stepping out of your bubble, making unexpected connections,” she says. “We aim to create a meaningful experience for the audience and for the film professionals that attend.”

Dutch director Maasja Ooms discusses her new documentary, world-premiering at IDFA, about people who hear voices in their heads, and how psychiatric treatment is as much about talking to the voices as to the hosts. It is a film that is ripe for impact. “The beautiful thing is that the people in the film have a mission themselves,” says Ooms. “There's also a whole voice-hearers movement that wants to free itself, so we're going to connect with that and ride along.”

Director Diego Gutierrez and editor Albert Markus discuss their existentialist documentary that chronicles Gutierrez's’s return to his homeland to find answers to some of life’s fundamental questions. Mexico may be the location of the odyssey, but the themes are universal. ‘The sinking boat is the planet,” Gutierrez underlines. “Mexico, I think, is more of a metaphor for the world.”

Five top industry professionals - Martijn te Pas, Cecilie Bolvinkel, Inka Achté, Maarten Schmidt (Belgium) and Iris Olsson - have come together to form Doc Shelter, a consultancy collective dedicated to supporting filmmakers at every stage of the documentary journey. “In just a few months, we’ve grown into a close-knit team with a shared vision and mission, committed to being generous, fair, and approachable,” says co-founder te Pas.

Selections were unveiled October 14 for the main International and Envision competition sections of the upcoming IDFA, running November 13 to 23. The festival also announced selections for the entire IDFA DocLab program, as well as the Luminous and Frontlight sections, and the nominations for all cross-section awards. The festival will open Nov 13 with a selection of short films: As I Lay Dying by Mohammadreza Farzad & Pegah Ahangarani; Intersecting Memory by Shayma' Awawdeh, and happiness by Firat Yücel.

The 33rd edition of the festival’s co-production/co-financing market unveils a “compelling” line-up of projects, welcoming an array of newcomers and seasoned filmmakers. “The selection demonstrates how versatile the domain of the documentary filmmaker and new media artist is,” says Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry. “Through the use of inventive cinematic language and formats, these projects bring underexposed stories while also exploring non-narrative expressions, both of which provide context in a society marked by turbulence and uncertainty.”