The 35th IDFA kicks off today, 9 November, running through to November 20, presenting an official selection of 277 films from all corners of the globe, and most places in-between. The festival will again present a panoply of competitive sections (such as International and Envision) and non-competitive sections. These include Luminous which provides a premiere-only lineup that includes “a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental, while the premiere-only Frontlight section takes “an artistic approach to exploring the urgent issues of our time.”
Add to the mix DocLab, (arguably) the world’s leading festival platform for interactive media; the intense Industry program that includes the Forum presentation of 60 dynamic new projects, the Docs For Sale market of new documentaries as well as a smorgasbord of talks, masterclasses, think tanks and networking opportunities, and the Amsterdam experience promises to be as fulfilling (and as exhausting) as ever.
During the festival’s October 20 press conference, Creative Director Orwa Nyrabia referred to this year’s eclectic programme as “united only by originality. Through the subjectivities of these filmmakers, an image of a world in pain emerges—a humanity that is trying hard, that is vulnerable and sincere, that is complex and persistent.” It is, I suggest, a sentence which is almost unbearable to read as it rings so true, wherever you look across the world right now. How then does Nyrabia feel this year’s festival will impact audiences most? Emotionally, artistically, intellectually?
“It is, indeed, a very challenging moment almost everywhere, and that demands respect. As a documentary film festival, we cannot look away. However, the human condition is not made up of emergencies only. We experience the world, and cinema, in complex and diverse ways,” he responds. “IDFA is a large-size event, [which] allows showing a wide spectrum of films. We have a good number of necessary films that might not be easy to watch, and probably should not be. Then, we also have films that are more uplifting, without losing the artistic, nor the ethical, standard.”
“This edition’s program can take one on a roller coaster of emotions and thoughts, in various artistic styles and in many different languages,” Nyrabia continues. “If I am to summarize what I hope our impact would be like, that would probably be to evoke self-reflection and openness towards the Other. Film can offer humanity such an exercise…an exercise of self-doubt, of peace with self-doubt. So, the impact I would hope for is to help us reconcile with vulnerability and hesitation, break out from a binary understanding of ‘good and evil’, of ‘us and them’, ‘me and you’ etc. Cinema is all about that to me. In daily arguments we’re always defensive, but in the dark room, with a good film, we can actually lose our defenses, and be honest with ourselves.”
When Nyrabia joined IDFA in 2018 he promised, and subsequently delivered, a root and branch reassessment of programming in order to source global voices from all corners of the planet as well as demand equal gender representation across all festival sections. Four years on, how does he define the festival’s role and responsibilities in finding, promoting and exhibiting the docs that it does?
“Not an easy question,” he answers. “I believe there’s a necessary role for festivals in inviting the audience, and the industry, to open up and to find their own blind spots. I do not exclude festivals themselves, or IDFA, from this. By selecting films that the industry expects, we contribute to an important economic viability of documentary. Then, by selecting films that cross borders, geographically, stylistically and politically, films that do not necessarily fit into the Western paradigm, or the market’s eternal clichés, we try to contribute to an industry that is stuck within its own loops.”
“Our industry might be kinder than other industries, but it still is patriarchal, capitalist and Euro-centric,” he continues. “I believe we have a responsibility to discuss such matters, to gently invite everyone to think about a more pluralistic, democratic, global future. To welcome the other with modesty, rather than try to be ‘inclusive’ and explain to them how they should be working the right way, our way.”
“I believe in the unity of form and content, of ethics and aesthetics. I am not a fan of the clinical separation of such aspects of filmmaking. Thus, a good film does good in this world. A good filmmaker cares about the world, in their own way, and that might not be the way I know, or the way I’d subscribe to. Good cinema cannot be made by good technicians, and appreciating film cannot be done with preset parameters and rulers.”
“Finally, a core responsibility of an international film festival is to serve and activate an international community. For us, this begins from soli
darity with those colleagues whose safety and wellbeing are being threatened. ICFR (International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk), as a joint initiative of IFFR (Rotterdam), EFA (European Film Academy) and IDFA, is one interpretation of this responsibility. We remember the value of solidarity, of a community, when some of us need the rest of us,” he underlines.
For a few years now, IDFA has eschewed a Dutch Competition, preferring to spread new Dutch docs throughout the other competition and non-competitive strands. Where is Dutch doc right now in Nyrabia’s opinion, in terms of its practitioners (directors/producers) and the level of its output? And how is this reflected across the festival sections? Does he consider the festival still to be the major staging post for Dutch docmakers?
“IDFA is an international film festival. We do not have more Dutch films than French or American or so on. We have recently revamped our program structure to make sure that we do not select a film merely because it is Dutch. This was also to truly support the best Dutch films we select. To make sure it is clear that we’re not selecting them on basis of some ‘special treatment,’” he comments.
“As you well know, most professional festival-goers everywhere avoid the national competition line-up. There’s always an assumption that some of these films were only selected out of pressure or because the line-up should be filled up,” Nyrabia asserts. “The Netherlands has a great documentary film tradition – now also for New Media! The unparalleled audience of IDFA explains that. We serve Dutch filmmakers through many different [professional] programs, some dedicated to them, and then they are always included in our international programs too; young generation[s] with a special talent development scheme; established filmmakers with the annual Prince Bernard Cultural Fund €50K bursary. Only to name a few. So, yes of course IDFA is a major staging for Dutch filmmakers, through a serious selective process, and not out of any form of patriotism!”
As Nyrabia eyes up his fifth IDFA at the creative helm, how does he reflect on this milestone, and what is he looking forward to most during the 2022 event?
“I am proud of what we have achieved as a team over the past four years, and looking forward to developing that further in the coming few. We have revamped our selection processes entirely to break out gradually from a limited Eurocentric worldview. It is not an easy process but we managed, as a team, to reinvent the way we select and curate. It is now a challenging process of discussion that brings together wonderful programmers from the four corners of the world,” he answers.
“Our new program structure opens up to a wider spectrum of films and filmmakers than ever before, “ he goes on. “Our industry offer also expanded to allow for a wider range of projects and different modes of collaboration, production, and funding. Our new Filmmaker Support department, consolidating and developing the offers of both IDFA Bertha Fund and the filmmaker training activities, is maybe what makes me most proud. It is a different kind of filmmaker support set-up. A much more organically open and inclusive platform that is already making a difference to various filmmakers and to many different types of films.”
“At IDFA 2022, maybe I am most looking forward to welcoming the jury members. I am proud of our juries every year! I am also looking forward to some of the conversations I will be having… I will be talking to Laura Poitras, and also to Gianfranco Rosi, among others. I am very much looking forward to observing the audience response to the films of our two main competitions. Then, Short films this year are a great surprise…in both quality and quantity. I will have a conversation with Queer philosopher Simon(e) van Saarloos examining how film festivals deal with their own power, and how they deal with Queer. It will be an open conversation, saving no punches, and that makes me thrilled, curious, but also a bit afraid!”
