The Balcony Movie
The sidewalk in front of his apartment is the stage at which director Pawel Lozinski directs his camera. Passersby stop for a chat, tell their life story, and collectively paint a picture of contemporary Poland.
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Pathway: Life in Europe
The Life in Europe Pathway at IDFA 2021 is supported by the European Cultural Foundation.
So many questions face our great continent today—particularly in times of a pandemic and many social and political challenges. How we deal with the questions of our economy, immigration, education, the rise of the far right, and more will define tomorrow’s reality. Together with the European Cultural Foundation, we invite you to watch these films and to contemplate and discuss our Life in Europe.
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Darkness There and Nothing More
Bosnia-born director Tea Tupajic invites two Dutch war veterans who served during the fall of Srebrenica to spend a night in her company. She wants answers to painful questions, but also tries to discover something in the two men that can give her hope.
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The Empty Center
For her 1998 graduation film, Steyerl turned her perceptive gaze to the history of central Berlin. After the fall of the Wall, this former no man’s land became Europe’s biggest construction site, a place where new, invisible walls were built.
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Flee
The story of Amin, a gay man who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s, is told mostly in animation. Flee shows the unforgiving environment in which he lived, and the scars that remain from living as a second-class citizen.
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Futura
Italian teenagers talk about their dreams and fears in an incisive portrait of a generation that feels ignored and misunderstood. A film packed with thoughtful, moving, and confrontational perspectives on today’s world.
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The Home Front – A Journey in Italy with Domenico Quirico
Humans may have made great technological strides, but has humanity itself progressed? Journalist Domenico Quirico travels to various Italian cities to shine a light on modern poverty.
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In Flow of Words
What does translating gruesome court testimony do to you? Three interpreters at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague discuss the disconnect between professionalism and the intense emotion generated by their work.
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Judges Under Pressure
In Poland, judicial independence is under serious pressure from the right-wing government: judges are being vilified, fired, or arrested. Judge Igor Tuleya becomes the face of the protest movement and fears for his job and his life.
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Letter from Eusapia
The son sends robotic cameras into the sewers of Brussels; the father performs keyhole surgery in Ecuador. Both are investigating disease and decline, which affects them personally when the Covid-19 pandemic makes their separation palpable.
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Mr. Bachmann and His Class
A monumental portrait of a teacher whose students learn far more than the standard curriculum: the capacity for self-reflection, how to build self-confidence, and the musical skills for a shaky but heartwarming rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven's Door.”
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Name of the Game
The Norwegian Labor Party politician Trond Giske was for many years expected to become prime minister, until allegations of sexual abuse and assault brought about his downfall. Now he goes all out for a comeback.
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A People’s Radio – Ballads from a Wooded Country
An array of images of summery Finnish landscapes, in the city as well as the countryside, accompany cries from the heart from various listeners to a popular radio program, offering insights into the Finnish soul.
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The Treasures of Crimea
Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson Museum inadvertently finds itself involved in an international wrangle over a loaned collection of art. This multifaceted reconstruction sheds light on the affair from every angle: political, legal, and emotional.
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The Voice of the People
Four MPs from the right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) are followed for three years. A close look on their communication strategies gives insight into the realism of their claim that they’re just an ultra-conservative party.
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We
Alice Diop stops at stations along the RER B train route and meets a car mechanic, a district nurse, a writer, and a band of hunters. All these slices of life ultimately form a compelling whole—creating a possible ‘we’.
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When We Were Them
A powerful indictment of the inhumane treatment of refugees in Bosnia. How can it be that people who in the recent past were themselves subjected to deadly hatred should now treat refugees as criminals?
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