First competition titles unveiled alongside Masters and Best of Fests selections

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

19 exceptionally strong films are selected for the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, as a growing number of acclaimed directors turn to the documentary short as an art form in its own right.

The selection welcomes virtuosos such as Martín Benchimol, winner of IDFA’s Mid-Length Competition in 2017, who peers into the souls of Argentine slaughterhouse workers in A Robust Heart. Ruslan Fedotow, one year after winning Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at IDFA, returns with Away, a poignant portrait of two teenage Ukrainian refugees at a school in Budapest. Arun Bhattarai, known from his breakout feature The Next Guardian, is back with Mountain Man, a sensitive look at the world of Bhutan’s only glaciologist through the eyes of his daughter.

Other highlights include Solmatalua, Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade's electrifying dreamscape of memories from the African diaspora, The Porters by Sarah Vanagt, a pensive reflection on colonialism in conversation with Brussels’ young people, and This Was Your Nicest Auntie Ria, in which prolific youth documentary director Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden turns the camera on her own family, filming over a period of seven years.

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

With the most international lineup to date, the Youth Competition showcases 14 films that challenge the definition of youth documentary. For the first time, the selected titles are presented for two distinct age groups: 9- to 13-year-olds, and 14-year-olds all the way to adulthood. A three-person jury, to be announced in late October, will select one award-winner from each group.

In the 14+ category, award-winning filmmaker Marina Meijer delivers Sezer’s Summer, a languidly shot film on the trying dynamics of a mother-son relationship as youth services threaten to intervene. In Fatima, directors Lucia Chicos and Alexandra Diaconu bring a stylistically transgressive feature-length film told from the perspective of an 18-year-old Afghan migrant living in Bucharest.

Among the films for audiences aged 9+, notable titles include Ramboy by Matthias Joulaud and Lucien Roux, a minimalist coming-of-age film on an aging sheep herder and his young grandson set against the rugged Irish landscape, and Oasis by Justine Martin, a miniature portrait of two brothers that is full of love, straddling the spheres of youthfulness and maturity.

Masters

Presenting the latest films by the great documentary auteurs of our time, Masters welcomes the international premieres of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s new music film Personality Crisis: One Night Only and Barbara Kopple’s Gumbo Coalition, as well as the world premiere of Coco Schrijber’s Look What You Made Me Do.

Notably, the selection sees several renowned directors reinventing their cinematic language. Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic trilogy to adapt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with My Imaginary Country, on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film In viaggio, looking to Pope Francis’ travels as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with Music for Black Pigeons, a reflection on aging through jazz music. Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, on the other hand, takes an unprecedented look at a controversial erotic novel through an elaborate casting call.

Other masters remain faithful to their celebrated film languages as they explore subjects of increasing relevance. Among them, Sergei Loznitsa provocatively offers a missing link in history with The Kiev Trial, and Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta shine a spotlight on an all-women gang of oil bandits in their explosive hybrid feature Dry Ground Burning. Final titles to be announced.

Best of Fests

The expansive Best of Fests section brings the highlights of the year’s harvest, presenting the best films from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, Visions du Réel, and CPH:DOX among others.

Ukraine is ever-present in the selection, with several courageous filmmakers delivering urgent perspectives on war, art, and humanity. Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters enters into a Ukrainian children’s home near the frontlines, exploring the characters’ sorrows, expectations, and resiliency. In Fragile Memory, Igor Ivanko resurrects the personal stories from behind the Iron Curtain via his grandfather’s old camerawork. In The Hamlet Syndrome, Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski bring together a Ukrainian theater group to recreate the Shakespearean play in dialogue with their own traumatic reality.

Other films travel the world to pursue heartfelt stories rich in song and dance, as in Cesária Évora, Ana Sofia Fonseca’s tribute to the Cape Verde icon, and Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s shocking portrait of the rising Ugandan pop star-turned-politician. Meanwhile, Beba, the breakout hit by Afro-Latinx New Yorker Rebecca Huntt and Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van Hemelryck bring forward their own musicality, electrifying the screen through young women artists and storytellers who defy all expectations.

Special tribute to Mantas Kvedaravičius

In honor of Mantas Kvedaravičius, the Lithuanian filmmaker who was killed earlier this year during the Mariupol siege, IDFA will present a special tribute event during the festival in which the late director’s films Mariupolis (2016) and Mariupolis 2 (2022) will be screened.

Selected films: IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

The IDFA Competition for Short Documentary showcases a healthy boom for the short film form. A mosaic of styles and themes defines this selection, exploring everything a short documentary can be. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film.

Achewiq, the Song of the Brave Women, dir. Elina Kastler (France), 16’
World Premiere

Away, dir. Ruslan Fedotow (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal), 28’
International Premiere

Budapest Silo, dir. Zsófia Paczolay (Netherlands/Hungary/Portugal/Belgium), 25’
World Premiere

A Country in a Corner, dir. Neema Ngelime (Belgium/Hungary/Portugal/Tanzania), 16’
World Premiere

Dust Away, dir. Tanita Rahmani, Dea Gjinovci (United States/Indonesia/Switzerland), 12’
International Premiere

Is There a Pine on the Mountain, dir. Chongyan Liu (France), 37’
European Premiere

Mother Earth’s Inner Organs, dir. Ana Bravo Pérez (Colombia/Netherlands), 22’
World Premiere

Mountain Flesh, dir. Valentina Shasivari (Switzerland), 18’
World Premiere

Mountain Man, dir. Arun Bhattarai (Bhutan), 22’
World Premiere

My Courtyard, dir. Shrutiman Deori (India), 10’
European Premiere

The Porters, dir. Sarah Vanagt (Belgium), 32’
International Premiere

A Robust Heart, dir. Martín Benchimol (Argentina/United States/United Kingdom), 12’
World Premiere

The Silence of the Banana Trees, dir. Eneos Çarka (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal/Albania), 24’
World Premiere

Solmatalua, dir. Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade (Brazil), 15’
International Premiere

Still Static, dir. Adam Kaplan (France), 22’
World Premiere

This Was Your Nicest Auntie Ria, dir. Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden (Netherlands), 37’
World Premiere

Till the End, dir. Beatrice Perego (Italy), 24’
International Premiere

Violet Gave Willingly, dir. Claire Sanford (Canada), 23’
International Premiere

Wild Wounded Animals, dir. Jakob Pagel Andersen (Denmark), 29’
International Premiere

Selected films: IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

The IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary presents a world-class offering of documentary films for audiences aged 9+ and 14+. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film in each age group.

A Mouthful of Petrol, dir. Jess Kohl (United Kingdom), 35’
World Premiere

Beyond Our Stars, dir. Sara van Oostrum (Belgium), 16’
European Premiere

Elsa, dir. Julia Jansch (United States) 15’
International Premiere

Fatima, dir. Lucia Chicos, Alexandra Diaconu (Romania), 92’
World Premiere

The Garbage Man, dir. Laura Gonçalves (Portugal), 12’
Dutch Premiere

Girl Gang, dir. Susanne Regina Meures (Switzerland), 98’
Dutch Premiere

Home Is Somewhere Else, dir. Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos (Mexico/United States), 88’
Dutch Premiere

Insight, dir. Emma Braun (Austria), 20’
International Premiere

Jasmin’s Two Homes, dir. Inka Achté, Hanna Karppinen (Finland), 14’
World Premiere

The Longest Wait, dir. Lisa Meyer (Sweden), 15'
International Premiere

Oasis, dir. Justine Martin (Canada), 15’
World Premiere

Ramboy, dir. Matthias Joulaud, Lucien Roux (Switzerland), 31’
Dutch Premiere

Sezer’s Summer, dir. Marina Meijer (Netherlands), 42’
World Premiere

Waters of Pastaza, dir. Inês Alves (Portugal), 61’
Dutch Premiere

IDFA's audience program is supported by VriendenLoterij, Deloitte, VPRO, Fonds 21, de Volkskrant, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, WePresent by WeTransfer, Ammodo, NPO, Oxfam Novib, IDFA Friends/Special Friends, Creative Europe Media, Netherlands Film Fund, European Cultural Foundation and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.