Interviews

In Karim Sayad’s highly cinematic 2G, world-premiering at IDFA, the Niger government’s ban on unlawful migrant transportation forces four former smugglers to reassess their future prospects, which mainly involves digging for gold in the desert. The film is made with a ‘western’ visual aesthetic, Sayad tells BDE. “They are modern cowboys. Instead of riding horses they drive a Toyota Hilux or ride motor bikes across the desert.”

Elvis Sabin Ngaibino talks to Business Doc Europe about his new film, which concerns living with the stigma of AIDS within the Central African Republic. “The AIDS virus has wreaked too much havoc in Africa and it continues to do so. Among all the continents, Africa has paid the heaviest price. Therefore, I think it’s vital to present [this film] in my country and at African festivals,” Ngaibino explains.

Girl Away from Home follows 13-year-old Nastia, an elite gymnast from Kyiv who, after winning the Ukrainian championship with her tightknit group of friends, is forced to flee to Germany with her grandmother due to war in Ukraine. “What does it mean for a kid to be driven out of their own country? That’s why we decided to follow up in Germany,” Danish Wilmont explains.

In his funny and melancholic “coming of old age” doc, Rogier Kappers looks to overcome a mid-life crisis by making, and going on the road with, a glass organ, a musical instrument comprised of water-filled drinking glasses. “The film is about all these existential questions we all have; love, how to be happy, how to be someone meaningful or what to do with your life, what to dream about, and what the purpose of life actually is,” says Kappers.

It’s now almost exactly 20 years since Saddam Hussein, the toppled President of Iraq, was discovered by US troops hiding in a hole in remote farmland. The story of Alaa Namiq, the farmer who harboured the world’s most wanted man, is told in the new feature doc from Norwegian-Kurdish filmmaker, Halkawt Mustafa. “It took me four years to make him feel sure he wanted to tell his story!” the director tells BDE of his subject.

The IDFA offer to doc professionals is very much in evidence again in 2023, with 64 projects selected for Forum, a Docs for Sale catalogue of 350+ projects and a series of talks that underline the “solidarity” with the filmmakers for whom the festival exists, both to promote and serve. “The filmmakers…are our ears and eyes in society, and it is very important to remember that we should give space to them to make their work possible,” says Industry Head Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen.

Last year, filmmaker Niki Padidar opened IDFA with All You See. This year she is back as Curator of the festival’s Youth Competition. “With adults, you can get away with using big words and metaphors that nobody understands and won’t admit they don’t. But with children, they will never put up with that! They challenge you to be really good at what you do - and when you reach them, it is really rewarding,” she says of her target audience.

What is death? This is one of the questions asked in Ömer Sami’s wry new documentary Eternal Father, about Nasar Ghafoor, a Virgin Media engineer from Rochdale who wants to live forever. Dying is defined in many different ways: clinical and legal among them. Some, including Nasar, refuse to accept these definitions. The director explains more to BDE.

The Ukrainian/German filmmaker team were making a feature documentary about the former US military base at Schweinfurt in mid-Germany when it was re-purposed in Spring 2022 to house displaced mothers and children who had fled the war in Ukraine. In their poignantly titled short doc, in equal part playful and melancholic, we see the world through the eyes of the children now living on the compound. The filmmakers talk to BDE.

Documentary sales powerhouse Autlook arrives at IDFA with a mix of world premieres and titles screening in Best of Fests. Among the latter are two docs in this year’s race for the International Oscar, Asmae El Moudir’s Cannes hit The Mother of All Lies (representing Morocco) and Estonian hopeful Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (which has already won Anna Hints a Directing Award at Sundance). Autlook boss Salma Abdalla talks to BDE.