Instead of being released, the film producer Moataz Abdelwahab has again been imprisoned. We, the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) and its founding institutions, the European Film Academy, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and International Film Festival Rotterdam, are very worried about his health and detention conditions and call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release him.
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Anabel Rodríguez’s acclaimed feature Once Upon a Time in Venezuela is the latest film to receive distribution support from the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF). Following its premiere at Sundance Film Festival and subsequent screenings in IDFA’s Best of Fests section last month, the buzzy Venezuelan documentary will now receive €30,000 to support distribution in the US, Spain, Colombia, and Venezuela.
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Can't get enough of IDFA? While cinemas are now closed until at least February 9, the films listed below can be streamed online at Picl (from The Netherlands only). When theaters reopen, more IDFA titles to screen in cinemas will be added to this page. When cinemas re-open, The Best of IDFA on Tour will also return to theaters.
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Many stories start with silence, before speaking follows. Does a story ever end with silence? When it comes to emancipatory tales – those portraying lgbtq+ experiences, for example – silence is always a start, never an end. How is silence told, without centralizing speech as progress?
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IDFA announced the winners of the IDFA 2020 competition programs on November 26, 2020. All award videos can be watched here.
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Last week, Lahore-born, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Saad Khan enjoyed the world premiere of his film Showgirls of Pakistan in the IDFA Competition for First Appearance. After the premiere, we spoke about everything from the making of the film and drawing inspiration from Pakistani culture to the fluidity of gender performativity and why mujra dancers deserve to have their story told in their own way.
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Throughout the festival, the IDFA programmers present their favorite hidden gems within the program. Today: Laura van Halsema, the senior programmer responsible for the Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, the Competition for Dutch Documentary and the Kids & Docs Competition this year. She recommends Green Bank Pastoral by Federico Urdaneta.
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Last week, Unifrance hosted a special Filmmaker Talk with directors of African films co-produced by France in the IDFA 2020 program. Myriam Bakir of Mothers, Mohamed Said Ouma of Red Card, and Dieudo Hamadi of Downstream to Kinshasa spoke about the benefits of co-productions with Europe, but also of the risks and downsides this often-necessary production approach entails.
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Throughout the festival, the IDFA programmers present their favorite hidden gems from the festival program. Today: Raul Niño Zambrano, the senior programmer behind the IDFA Competition for First Appearance, the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary, and the Queer Day selection—picks The First Woman.
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Throughout the festival, the IDFA programmers will present their favourite hidden gems within the selection. Today: Joost Daamen, the senior programmer who's responsible for the Competition for Feature-Length Documentary and the Paradocs program this year. He recommends Odoriko by Yoichiro Okutani.
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