IDFA Unveils First Competition Titles, IDFA Forum Selections, Alongside Lineups for Best of Fests, Signed Sections

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has revealed its lineups for the competitions for short documentary and youth documentary, as well as the rosters for its Best of Fests section and its newly minted Signed section. In total, 100 films have been included in the IDFA program to date. In addition, IDFA Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, has expanded to a total of 64 projects, including seven by Ukrainian filmmakers.

The 36th edition of IDFA runs from Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam. The competition for short documentary showcases a healthy boom for the short film form.

A mosaic of styles and themes defines this selection of 15 films, exploring everything a short documentary can be. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film. Pegah Ahangarani returns to IDFA with a personal telling of family history and their experience of the Iranian revolution in “My Father,” and Nastia Korkia and Vlad Fishez’s essayistic “Dreams About Putin” traverses the nightmares and hopes of many Russians.

Other highlights include Esy Casey’s “A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars of the Seas,” a visually ingenious partly dual-channel film that tells the story of the many women from the Philippines who are trafficked all over the world to support their families. Returning to IDFA after the 2017 world premiere of his film “We Will Maintain,” Festus Toll uses archive materials and striking design in his new film “The Story of Ne Kuko” to explore the disruptions and consequences caused by the colonial looting of art. The youth competition showcases 15 films that challenge the definition of youth documentary.

For the first time this edition, IDFA invited a filmmaker to curate the selection, with Niki Padidar, the director of IDFA 2022’s opening film “All You See,” initiating this new approach. The selected titles are presented for two distinct age groups: 9+ and 12+. A three-person jury, to be announced in late October, will select one award-winner from each group.