Long reads

2022: Not Yet Yes

Philosopher and guest curator Simon(e) van Saarloos imagines queerness without a closet as part of their Not Yet Yes program.

2022: A Personal Pathway: The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia

Vladan Petković makes new meaning in this edition's unprecedented number of films on the history and breakdown of Yugoslavia.

2022: Playing Dead: Notes on Theatre of War and the staged documentary

In response to the Focus Program: Playing Reality, Lola Arias reflects on the poetics of staged documentary via her 2018 film Theatre of War.

2022: Masculinities on screen: Sites of contestation and vulnerability

Anna Backman Rogers considers how the films in the Focus Program: Around Masculinity open up ‘sites of contestation that admit of vulnerability, loneliness, the devastating effects of war on men’s psyches, of self-loathing and torment, as well as performativity and playfulness.’

2021: The Future Tense

On the focus program The Future Tense.

2021: It's a Queer World

On the contemporary queer cinema represented in the IDFA 2021 selection.

2021: The Afterimages of Artavazd Pelechian

On the work of the Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Pelechian.

2021: unConscious Bias

On the unConscious Bias focus program.

2020: A Cinematic Journey into the Real

From Boatman to Notturno, the cinema of Gianfranco Rosi pulsates with a specific vision, writes Nico Marzano, Head of Cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

2020: A world opens up, and a world is closed off

Filming in Morocco inevitably means making a journey through time and space, Abdelkader Benali writes in this essay on the Moroccan films in the IDFA 2020 program

2020: Gianfranco Rosi's Top 10: Beyond category and convention

The ten films chosen by IDFA’s Guest of Honor Gianfranco Rosi reflect his extensive and unique relation to cinema. So does the process through which this compendium of 10 films came about.

2019: Domesticating Reality: Moving Beyond Wonder

Writer Margarita Osipian reflects on the IDFA DocLab theme and program of 2020.

2019: Archive Affection

Documentary master Alina Marazzi explores the stakes of the archive alongside the IDFA 2019 focus program Re-releasing History.

2019: Theaters of Complicity (Or, Are You Loathsome Tonight?)

Film critic Neil Young (The Hollywood Reporter, Sight & Sound) explores the IDFA 2019 focus program The Villain.

2019: The Duty of Memory in the Films of Patricio Guzmán: Resisting Obstinate Oblivion

In the 2019 Retrospective, IDFA paid homage to Chilean master Patricio Guzmán. Pamela Biénzobas delves into his legacy.

2019: The Inheritance of War

Writer Pamela Cohn shares her perspective on the focus program at IDFA 2019, It Still Hurts.

2019: You Are Here: The Space Program

Nicolas Rapold on the ins and outs of Space, the IDFA 2019 focus program.

2019: My selection of 10 films

Patricio Guzmán's first-hand account of curating his Top 10 program in 2019.

2018: Time-Lapse Film as a Story

2018 Guest of Honor Helena Třeštíková discusses her celebrated time-lapse method of filmmaking in detail.

2018: Anagram on DocLab: Humanoid Cookbook

Amy Rose & May Abdalla, the core of award-winning creative Anagram, reflect on the 2018 DocLab theme.

2018: Guest of Honor Helena Třeštíková on her Top 10

"Choosing the 10 most important films of my life is a beautiful but challenging task. Since being given it, I have been thinking about my favorites and watching my life flash before my eyes."

2018: Třeštíková only edits after filming wraps up, even if it takes 37 years

Pamela Cohn on the star guest of IDFA’s 31st edition, Helena Třeštíková.