IDFA Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia and IDFA Bertha Fund director Isabel Arrate Fernandez responded November 9 to the open letter published November 7 by Docudays articulating concern over the festival’s selection of Russian films this year.
In their reply Nyrabia and Arrate Fernandez stress how the festival stands “in unwavering solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues during this atrocious full-scale invasion, the loss of life and the humanitarian disaster it caused.”
They also restated the festival’s firm programme policy. “Our position has not changed. Inclusion, diversity, polyphony, and solidarity: Showing and developing films and projects from around the world, made from a diverse and non-dominant perspective for a diverse audience without excluding people only based on nationality,” they write.
Nyrabia and Arrate Fernandez further underline how, “any films by Russian filmmakers whose political positions are not clear to us, being critical to the Russian war on Ukraine and the Russian discourse of trying to justify it, will not be welcome at IDFA.”
They also assured that the online description of the Russian film Mud (Envision Competition), to which Docudays had objected, had been amended.
The full wording of the IDFA response reads as follows:
“Dear Colleagues,
“We appreciate your concerns and welcome your critique.
“Our position has not changed. Inclusion, diversity, polyphony, and solidarity: Showing and developing films and projects from around the world, made from a diverse and non-dominant perspective for a diverse audience without excluding people only based on nationality.
“We stand in unwavering solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues during this atrocious full-scale invasion, the loss of life and the humanitarian disaster it caused.
“We continue to do our best so that this solidarity is not made only of words, but of useful supportive actions too. This year’s edition of IDFA will again show proof of that.
“IDFA will not be welcoming any Russian films connected to the Russian government or any of the organizations associated with it, including oligarch funds and the likes. Any films by Russian filmmakers whose political positions are not clear to us, being critical to the Russian war on “Ukraine and the Russian discourse of trying to justify it, will not be welcome at IDFA. Our team has been very thorough examining each film in consideration, and we can assure you and everybody that no exceptions were made. In the case of IDFA 2023 program, there are no films by filmmaker who reside in Russia, and no films with any financing from the Russian state funds or funds associated with it.
“As for the way that film descriptions on IDFA’s website are written. We inform you that no film description on our website is written by the film team. All descriptions are written by freelance film professionals contracted by IDFA. Thus, any mistake there is ours, we apologize for any oversight that anybody would find improper or misguided, and assure you it came from a place of good intentions, not from disrespect. In any case, the text you refer to in your letter has been changed immediately on our website.
“Should there be such issues in the future, we encourage you to start from asking us simply.
“Best regards,
“On behalf of the IDFA Team,”
Orwa Nyrabia
Isabel Arrate Fernandez
