Foreword

IDFA brings many worlds together. Literally, in terms of films and makers from almost 80 countries. But countless different cultures, topics, perspectives, film styles and professions are also brought together during the festival. Talents from IDFAcademy meet those who have inspired them and, at DocLab, new media makers meet their colleagues from the world of film. At IDFA Forum, financiers listen to inspirational creative ideas, and thousands of (school) students get to know international filmmakers, who in turn meet Dutch audiences, who come out in vast numbers. Borders blur or fall away; everyone speaks the same language.

At least—that’s how it always was. Now, worldviews are increasingly clashing. And if society is caught up in fervent discussions, these will be seen and heard straight away at IDFA: on our film screens, in our venues and in the cafés and restaurants where festivalgoers meet. Programming IDFA is the ultimate exercise in presenting many different voices. This means allowing protests to be heard, and established names to be critically questioned. It means giving a platform to less common genres and styles. But there are always, of course, red lines that cannot be crossed: discrimination, intimidation, violence and stirring up hatred.

The latter seems to have become the preeminent domain of another space: social media. A virtual space where ‘pushers’ have free reign and hate speech and fake news are circulated, in search of ‘joiners’. Those refusing to join up are seen as cowards and may face an army of trolls that intimidates and threatens them. Frequently the aim, as once expressed by Trump-whisperer Steve Bannon, is: "Flooding the zone with shit." If you just spray enough nonsense at the world, the media spend their time rushing from incident to incident, and there’s no space for concentration and thought. Which is all the more terrifying now that more and more people get the majority of their news from social media and consider influencers to be more important than newspapers. The media environment as we knew it is no more—and that has consequences. We shouldn’t get nostalgic about this, but rather we need to take up a position.

To that end, IDFA will continue to enrich the public debate with documentary film and new media as a space where people come together, instead of falling apart in fragmentation and polarization. With empathy instead of indifference, and with deeper understanding instead of rushed judgments and paranoid doubts. In 2025, IDFA did this, as always, through wonderful award-winners such as A Fox Under a Pink Moon and Past Future Continuous, the Dutch documentary My Word Against Mine and the DocLab installation Under the Same Sky. Without exception, works that hold a mirror up to our times, and combat hateful ideas with clear images. That these are not empty words was confirmed once again by an impact study we conducted this year, which conclusively showed that visitors to IDFA are affected both intellectually and emotionally by IDFA documentaries and that these films lead to a connection with both the audience in the theater and the characters in the film. If that isn't enrichment, what is?