IDFA Program Guide | 2025

Partners of IDFA

Club IDFA

ABN AMRO Bank NV, AC&R, Andersson Elffers Felix, Everaert Advocaten, Evers Soerjatin, Freshfields, Human Rights Watch, JBR, Jean Mineur Mediavision, Loyens & Loeff, Nestlé, Rohé Frames, Rotaform, Transformation Forums, UNHCR, and Workx Advocaten.

Donations

Better Places, BNNVARA, Buma Music in Motion, HUMAN, KRO-NCRV, LaScam, and See NL / Eye Filmmuseum Travel & Stay Donations Cinecittà, Embassy of Portugal, and Embassy of Sweden.

Suppliers

Accuraat, Alex in Wonderland, Alvero, ARTIS-Planetarium, Atabix, BeamSystems, BiciCare, Bijlmerbios, Boels Rentals, Café Kuyl by NH Schiller, CBOX Containers, Choo-Choo, Cinema De Vlugt, Cinema the Pulse, Conscious Hotels, De Balie, @droog, Event Engineers, Eye Filmmuseum, Festivaltickets, Filmtechniek BV, Fiona Online, FlexIt, Green Producers Club, Héman, Holon Events, Het Ketelhuis, INDYVIDEO, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA), inVision Subtitling, Jonk Sign, Kanarie Club, Koninklijk Theater Carré, Kriterion, Leonardo Hotels Benelux, MacBike, Man & Van, Mausolos, Plantscapes, Podium Mozaïek, Prinsengracht Hotel, Reflower, Rex International, Rialto, Riwi-collotype, Smart Business Travel, Sterk Staaltje, Stewart & Sally, Stichting Audiovisuele Toegankelijkheid, VBVB Cultuurautomatisering, Vers van Gijs, Vertigo, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Volkshotel, WeMakeVR and Xebia.

Distribution festival trailer

Mobility partner

IDFA thanks All volunteers, Friends(+), the Young Doc Circle, Special Friends(+) and Patrons who make the festival possible.

University of Applied Sciences, ARTIS-Planetarium, Beeld & Geluid, Diversion cinema, Droog, Onassis ONX, PHI, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Voices of VR and We Make VR.

Table of contents

Foreword

Isabel Arrate Fernandez

Page 5

How to navigate IDFA

Page 8

Location map

Page 10

Guest of Honor: Susana de Sousa Dias

María Campaña Ramia

Page 11

Focus Program: Dead Angle: Institutions

Dana Linssen

Page 14

Rethinking documentary practice

by May Abdalla, Matthew Carey, Sushmit Ghosh, Judy Kibinge, Brigid O’Shea

Page 16

DocLab is off the internet

Dana Linssen Page 18

Building fair co-productions

Vladan Petkovic

Page 20

Industry Program A-Z

Page 26

Films & Events A-Z

Page 31

New Media A-Z

Page 40

Audience & Industry schedule per day

Page 44

48 by Susana de Sousa Dias (2009)

Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista by Collective AMiXR (2025)

We need the voices of �ilmmakers and artists more than

ever

As we gather as a documentary �ilm community, the world seems to spin faster than we can make sense of it. We meet at a time when we are confronted daily by images of war, injustice, violence, and the genocide in Gaza—images that demand our empathy, confront us with the limits of what we can comprehend, even stretching our belief in humanity itself.

Finding the space and peace of mind to feel and understand what is happening around us is crucial to resisting oppression and resisting apathy—therein lies the power of cinema and art. In these uncertain times we need the voices of �ilmmakers and artists more than ever. Transcending borders and experiences, they offer works that move us to look closer, to challenge our thinking.

The works in the IDFA 2025 program—from �ilms and new media projects to the projects in IDFA Forum—open spaces for re�lection and connection. They bring together form and feeling, art and inquiry, bearing witness as much as they invite re�lection—urging us to not only see differently, but to stay engaged, to act, with renewed attention. These stories invite us to expand our perspective, to see beyond the dichotomies, to seek nuance in experiences—the tones that make us human. They challenge us to listen differently, to imagine alternative perspectives, and to maintain our curiosity in a world that drives many towards indifference.

The program presents a selection of �ilms that do not offer ready-made answers, but invite surprise, discomfort, and questioning. Take the �ilms by this edition’s Guest of Honor, Susana de Sousa Dias. In her work, she exposes hidden histories and shows how fragile our collective memory can be. With her poetic gaze and sharp observations, she focuses attention on personal stories. In doing so, she asks questions that resonate to this day: who decides which stories are told, and which remain unseen?

Transcending borders and experiences, they offer works that move us to look closer, to challenge our thinking.

The focus program Dead Angle: Institutions extends this line of questioning. How do institutions function, where do they falter, and what role might they play in shaping our future? Documentary �ilmmakers delve into their histories, expose contradictions, and reveal how these structures in�luence our daily lives.

The IDFA DocLab program, always pushing the boundaries of documentary art, explores how technology shapes our ways of seeing, feeling, and relating. With this year’s theme, Off the Internet, it turns that lens inward: inviting us to pause and ask—how did we get here? What does it mean to disconnect in a world de�ined by constant connection? Through immersive VR works, interactive installations, and digital storytelling, artists in DocLab confront our dependencies and desires, questioning how the digital realm mirrors—and distorts—our sense of reality and humanity.

Alongside the screenings and project presentations, the talks and panels in the Industry Program extend the dialogue—between �ilmmakers and audiences, between creation and context, between the reality of production and ‘the market’. Together with professionals from across the globe, the Industry Program asks how documentary can respond to its time, and how the �ilm community can sustain itself through collaboration, solidarity, and shared imagination.

With our program, we invite you to join the conversation: to look closer, listen deeper, and make sense of the world—together.

Isabel Arrate Fernandez Artistic Director

House of Hope (100% Film)

How to navigate IDFA 2025

Photography by Roos van Drommelen

We are thrilled to welcome you to yet another edition of IDFA taking place from November 13 to 23, 2025. To help accredited guests �ind their way, we have compiled an overview of practical information below.

For the latest information on our Industry Program and opening times, visit our website at idfa.nl/industryprogram

Get Started

Your �irst stop: ITA

Location: ITA (International Theater Amsterdam) Visit ITA to pick up your accreditation pass and visit the Guest Desk for practical information.

Guest Desk

Location: ITA, Ground �loor

Accredited guests can pick up their pass and get general information about the festival at the Guest Desk.

Opening days and times:

Nov 12 | 12:00–18:00

Nov 13 | 09:00–20:00

Nov 14 | 09:00–21:00

Nov 15 | 09:00–21:00

Nov 16 | 08:00–21:00 *

*Note: Access to ITA is limited on Sunday, Nov 16 from 14:30 to 16:00, due to Sinterklaas parade

Nov 17 | 08:00–21:00

Nov 18 | 09:00–20:00

Nov 19 | 09:00–20:00

Nov 20 | 10:00–20:00

Nov 21 | 10:00–18:00

Nov 22 | Desk Closed**

Nov 23 | Desk Closed**

**Guest Services reachable via phone on +31202620762

Guest List

Looking to �ind out who else is attending IDFA? Find company pro�iles, bios, and contact information of all accredited guests at idfa.nl/guestlist

Industry Desk

Location: ITA, Ground Floor (next to Guest Desk)

At the Industry Desk, we can help you with any questions regarding IDFA’s activities for professionals. We can help guide you through the industry side of the festival, and keep you informed on our array of talks, sessions, and meetings.

Nov 14–20 | 9:00–17:00

Consultancy Desk

Get expert advice on all aspects of documentary �ilmmaking—from distribution and festival strategy to grant writing, impact producing, and non-�iction XR— or consult with delegation representatives from around the world on ways of collaboration with them.

Locations:

ITA (Plein Foyer, �irst �loor)

Nov 15 | 09:30–17:15

Nov 16 | 12:30–16:30

De Balie (Ground �loor)

Nov 17–19 | 09:45–17:30

Press

Press can pick up their passes at the Guest Desk on the ground �loor of ITA. For interview requests, booking interview spaces, or other inquiries about the festival program and guests, please contact one of our press o�icers. Film stills, trailers, logos, and press releases are available at idfa.nl/press or by email at press@idfa.nl.

International press: Lorenzo Ormando (lorenzoormando@idfa.nl or press@idfa.nl)

Dutch press: Martine van Duijn (martine@idfa.nl or pers@idfa.nl)

New Media press: Michel Langendijk (michellangendijk@idfa.nl)

Screenings for accredited press and guests

Press & Industry screenings

Location: Pathé City

All �ilms selected for the International and Envision Competitions, all world premieres from Luminous and Frontlight are available to accredited press and industry. Passholders must reserve a free ticket online to gain admission. Tickets are available the day before the screening starts and will be uploaded onto your pass.

Find an overview of screenings in the industry schedule per day starting on page 44 or idfa.nl/pressscreenings

Nov 15–20

Press & Industry Library

Location: idfa.nl/library

Watch �ilms from the IDFA 2025 selection online and on demand. Films become available in the Press & Industry Library after their public premiere at the festival.

Nov 13–23

Market screenings

Location: Pathé City and Pathé Tuschinski

Market Screenings for award season campaigning take place as part of the Press & Industry Screenings schedule. These screenings are accessible to all accredited guests.

For more information and the schedule visit idfa.nl/marketscreenings Nov 14-19

Full program for accredited guests and audiences

Location: See locations map on page 10

Find the full IDFA program accessible to all accredited guests and audiences at idfa.nl

Accessibility at locations and screenings

During IDFA, there are various screenings with accommodations or additional facilities, including sensory-friendly screenings, and �ilms with audio description and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. We also have an overview of accessibility at the various festival locations in Amsterdam. Would you like to visit IDFA with a wheelchair? After purchasing your ticket, please send the title, time, and location of the screening to service@idfa.nl.

More info at idfa.nl/accessibility

Get your tickets

How to book a ticket for a screening or event

Tickets can be booked at idfa.nl. Log into your MyIDFA account and book the screening of your choice. Once booked, the tickets will be sent to your inbox and will automatically be added to your pass. Find all your tickets in your MyIDFA account. To avoid empty seats, please cancel your ticket if you can’t make it to a screening. Complimentary tickets can easily be returned through your MyIDFA account or by emailing service@idfa.nl.

Note: There is no admission after the screening start time.

Where to work and meet

Meeting and workspaces

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Huiskamer Nov 14–23 | 08:30–18:00

Café Vertigo Nov 14–23 | 09:00–23:00

ITA: Brasserie Nov 14–23 | 09:00–00:00*

*Note: Nov 18 | 09:00–21:00

ITA: Gijsbrecht bordes

Nov 15–16 | 09:00–17:00

De Balie: entresol Nov 17–19 | 09:00–17:00

Café De Brakke Grond Nov 13–23 | 11:00–23:00

The Heineken Hoek Nov 14–23 | 09:00–00:00

Café Kuyl Nov 14–23 | 11:00–00:00

Attending IDFA’s Markets & IDFAcademy

IDFA’s Markets are only open for Docs for Sale and Forum passholders. This year, activities will take place across several locations on different dates.

IDFA Forum Nov 16–19

Rough Cut Presentations

Location: Pathé City

Sunday, Nov 16

10:30–14:00

Forum Pitch & Producers Connection Presentations

Location: ITA

Monday to Tuesday, Nov 17–18

09:00–13:00

DocLab Forum Pitch Presentations

Location: @droog

Monday, Nov 17

09:00–13:00

One-on-one Meetings

Location: ITA

Monday to Wednesday, Nov 17–19

DocLab One-on-one Meetings

Location: @droog

Monday-Tuesday, Nov 17–18

Docs for Sale

Location: Het Documentaire Paviljoen

Saturday to Wednesday, Nov 15–19

IDFAcademy

Location: De Balie & ITA

IDFAcademy is only open to IDFAcademy passholders and invited guests.

Thursday to Sunday, Nov 13–16

Need help?

Visit our Guest Desk or our live chat on our website. Our team is ready to support you and answer your questions. More information and opening times at idfa.nl/helpdesk

Nothing to See Here by Celine Daemen (2025)

IDFA DocLab

How do I get IDFA DocLab tickets?

Admission to the DocLab Exhibition at de Brakke Grond requires a pre-booked ticket, available on a Pay-What-You-Want basis: visit the main exhibition to freely experience a wide range of documentary art, including games, VR, and installations.

Various performances, screenings, DocLab at the Planetarium, and slots at the VR Gallery require you to book a ticket in advance.

Book all tickets at idfa.nl/doclab

DocLab Exhibition

Location: de Brakke Grond

Book a ticket online (Pay-What-You-Want)

Visit the DocLab Exhibition to experience a selection of new interactive documentary projects, games, VR, installations, and performances.

Nov 14–21 | 11:30–20:30

Nov 22 | 11:30–18:00

DocLab Interactive Cinema

Location: de Brakke Grond

In the Interactive Cinema you can freely play games and web-based projects on the big screen; a collective space for a shared digital experience.

Nov 14–21 | 11:30–20:30

Nov 22 | 11:30–18:00

Special installations, live performances & screenings

Location: de Brakke Grond

Book a ticket online

Several performances, screenings, and experiences in the IDFA DocLab program have limited capacity. We recommend you book your ticket in advance. Find more information at idfa.nl/doclab

VR Gallery

Location: de Brakke Grond

Book a ticket online

The VR Gallery, you can explore various virtual reality projects. Our VR booth in the DocLab Exhibition is open for walk-ins. Just drop by!

Nov 14 – 21 | 11:30-20:30

Nov 22 | 11:30 – 18:00

DocLab at the Planetarium

Location: ARTIS-Planetarium Book a ticket online

The fulldome screenings at ARTIS-Planetarium are one-of-a-kind experiences. Capacity is limited, so make sure to book a ticket in advance.

Nov 15 | 20:30–22:15 (with Q&A)

Nov 18 | 20:30–22:00

DocLab Playrooms

Location: de Brakke Grond Free walk-in, but capacity is limited

Meet the makers and play with new technologies and prototypes in the DocLab Playrooms.

Nov 15 | 14:00–17:00 | IDFA DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

Nov 17 | 14:00–17:00 | IDFA DocLab Playroom: I Feel Zine

Nov 18 | 14:00–17:00 | IDFA DocLab Playroom: Hacking Reality

Full program and more information idfa.nl/doclab or scan the QR code.

Tram/metroline

Cinemas/Theatres

De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10

Bijlmerbios Kraaiennest 80

Cinema The Pulse Clara Schumannstraat

Cinema De Vlugt Burgemeester de Vlugtlaan 125

Het Documentaire Paviljoen Vondelpark 3

Eye Filmmuseum IJpromenade 1

Het Ketelhuis Pazzanistraat 4

Koninklijk Theater Carré Amstel 115-125

Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 26 (Box o�ice)

Kriterion Roetersstraat 170

Pathé City Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 15-19 (Press and Industry)

Pathé Noord Buikslotermeerplein 2003

Podium Mozaïek Bos en Lommerweg 191

Rialto de Pijp Ceintuurbaan 338

Rialto VU De Boelelaan 1111

DocLab locations

@droog Groenburgwal 44

ARTIS Planetarium Plantage Kerklaan 38-40

Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond Nes 45

Professionals venues

@droog Groenburgwal 44 (DocLab Forum)

De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10 (IDFAcademy & Industry program)

Het Groene Paleis Rokin 65 (Forum lunches)

Het Documentaire Paviljoen Vondelpark 3 (Docs for Sale)

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam Leidseplein (Guest Desk, Forum, Industry program)

Kanarie Club Bellamyplein 51 (Guests Meet Guests)

Pathé City Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 15-19 (Press & Industry screenings)

Cafés

Café Kuyl Rembrandtplein 26

Café Vertigo Vondelpark 3

Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond Nes 45

Hotels

Eden Hotel Amsterdam Amstel 144

Leonardo Hotel Amsterdam City Center Tesselschadestraat 23

Volkshotel Wibautstraat 150

Want to travel easily between IDFA's different locations? With the GVB Day Ticket, you can travel anywhere in the city for 24 hours.

Susana de Sousa Dias

The archive of metamorphosis

BY MARÍA CAMPAÑA RAMIA

With an uncompromising signature, Susana de Sousa Dias has reshaped the traditional methods that documentary �ilmmakers usually employ to narrate the past. Her �ilms rigorously dissect historical events of great magnitude with an unmistakable artistic vision, where conceptual precision encounters the individuality of every character with sensitivity.

At IDFA, Susana de Sousa Dias’s �ilms invite us to reconsider the relationship between cinema and history. Her counter-archival approach interrogates how images shape memory, exposing the lingering effects of authoritarian regimes and colonial enterprises. Her Retrospective offers a rare opportunity to encounter her work in full, tracing a trajectory that connects Portugal’s past with global histories and contemporary re�lections. Through her �ilms, alongside her Top 10 selection, viewers are challenged to confront both historical realities and their ongoing echoes in the present.

The Portuguese authoritarian regime (1926-1974) is the cornerstone of de Sousa Dias’s �ilmography—one that explores how the shadow cast over Portugal and its former colonies by the longest-running dictatorship in Europe continues to spread into the present. In recent years, de Sousa Dias has extended her re�lection on colonialism and suspended spaces by meticulously exploring the consequences of the neo-colonialist endeavour set by Henry Ford in Fordlândia, Brazil, back in 1928.

Susana de Sousa Dias is not only a prominent �ilmmaker, but also a respected scholar and visual artist whose work has been featured and awarded at prestigious international �ilm festivals, as well as �ilm seminars, universities, and cultural institutions.

She was born in Lisbon in 1962, twelve years before the Carnation Revolution brought down the Estado Novo in Portugal. As a result, her youth unfolded in a time of political awakening and a restored sense of freedom. She studied Cinema at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, followed by a BA in Fine Arts-Painting at the Lisbon Fine Arts School. In 2005, she earned an MPhil in Aesthetics and Art Philosophy from the University of Lisbon with a dissertation on Cinema, Archive and Memory, and in 2014, she concluded her doctoral studies in Fine Arts / Video at the same university with a thesis titled Archive footage and Decelerated Movement. Filmmaking and academic research have always gone hand in hand in de Sousa Dias’s career: the making of �ilms has prompted questions that evolved into academic research, and the other way round.

IDFA audiences were relatively late to encounter de Sousa Dias’s work, with her �irst feature Still Life (2005) shown as part of the Re-releasing History focus program at IDFA 2019. The �ilm was preceded by Criminal Case 141/53 (2000), a mid-length documentary that employs more conventional procedures in the use of archives to address the sadistic modus operandi of Salazar’s regime through

the story of two Portuguese nurses who dared to defy the codes of conduct of the time.

Now, 25 years later, the director re�lects on this �irst attempt at documentary making with Post Criminal Case (2025), a mid-length essay set to premiere at IDFA. This �ilmic replica questions the notions of documentary cinema, storytelling, and archival footage through a contemplation on image, time, memory, and history— the elements that would decisively mark all the director’s subsequent work.

“I always consider Still Life my �irst �ilm, because it was the one that was born from something very profound (my encounter with the archives) and it was the �irst in which I sought to develop my own cinematic language, in a total immersion. But this immersion was only possible due to the shock I felt while making Criminal Case 141/53 and the feeling that something wasn’t quite right,” de Sousa Dias explains.

Without using words, Still Life draws on war reports, newsreels, political propaganda, portraits of political prisoners, and unpublished rushes to unveil the con�licted opacity of the o�icial imagery. The camera wanders in slow motion through those materials—stopping, reframing, going back and forth—affecting the viewer while disrupting the original purpose of those brutal documents produced by the political machine. In the director’s own words, Still Life “was a �ilm ‘found’ through a process of theoretical re�lection and practical experimentation, with many advances and retreats and phases of intermittency in the editing process.”

It is necessary to dig to �ind out what was buried by the action of time, but also to dig to see what was inscribed over time.

Her following �ilm, 48 (2009), became her most acclaimed work to date. The feature-length essay takes its name from the duration of the Portuguese dictatorship and has become not only one of the most renowned documentary �ilms made about that 48-year period, but also one of the most distressing.

In 48, de Sousa Dias seeks to show how the authoritarian system tried to perpetuate itself through violent mechanisms. The �ilm is composed entirely of anthropometric photographs of political prisoners taken by the Portuguese International and State Defense Police (PIDE) to catalogue their anatomical characteristics. She recontextualizes these portraits, presenting them alongside harrowing oral testimonies given off-screen by the same people featured in those images, many years later (we never see them in the present day). Memories of abuse, torture, and prison violence accompany a detailed examination of the photographs through soft camera movements, as if the lens were searching the photographs for gestures of humanity suppressed by the police.

Fordlândia Panacea by Susana de Sousa Dias (2025)

For the viewer, the portraits become much more than static frames assembled during editing: they are moving faces that reclaim ownership of their own trajectories when magni�ied on the cinema screen. Behind the minimal dispositive of 48 lies a tactful method of interviewing, sophisticated techniques of recording, and a meticulous conception of editing and sound design.

“It is necessary to dig to �ind out what was buried by the action of time, but also to dig to see what was inscribed over time,” says the director in her article Excavated Time: Uses of the Archive in Obscure Light, which delves into the method deployed in the aforementioned �ilm.

A set of �ilms that, among other things, makes us think about something we thought had remained in the past and that, ultimately, haunts our present: the metamorphoses of fascism.

Obscure Light (2017) originated from an identi�ication portrait of a political prisoner, seen carrying a baby on her neck—an image from 1961, and the only anthropometric portrait in the Portuguese political police archive to feature a child. “This image sparked my interest in the children of political prisoners, as society says little about them. Who are these children today? How do they live with their memories?” de Sousa Dias explains.

Obscure Light is also based on photographs taken by the Portuguese political police, but, unlike 48, it shows the people who testify alongside their police portraits or juxtaposed with the o�icial photographs of family members. In a striking procedure, the �ilm reveals how, in a cruel and mechanical manner, the authoritarian system not only dismantled the intimacy of individuals but how it disrupted the emotional, psychological, and mental state of entire families.

Her following �ilm, Journey to the Sun (2021), co-directed with Ansgar Schaefer, premiered at IDFA’s feature-length competition the same year. It expanded the conversation around childhood during the dictatorship by telling the stories of Austrian children sent to Portugal in the aftermath of World War II, in search of a sunny land and affectionate carers who could help them to rebuild their lives torn apart by war. The �ilmmakers use archives of different sources and tonalities—not only o�icial material, as in her previous works, but also home movies taken by the wealthy foster families. The images coexist with, and often counterpoint, the testimonies of the characters, now elderly, who revive with astonishing clarity the bleakest times of the post-war period.

Journey to the Sun portrays the characteristic �indings of de Sousa Dias’s work: the change of speed of images, reframing, slow fades into black that encapsulate sequences, a soundtrack composed of dissonant sounds, as well as an expanded silence. All these devices pave the way for the testimonies that arrive promptly, �illed with emotion and unresolved pain.

Fordlandia Malaise (2019) and Fordlândia Panacea (2025) form a new chapter in the director’s artistic practice. These mid-length �ilms explore the memory and present of Fordlândia, the company town Henry Ford founded in the Amazon rainforest in 1928 to break the British rubber monopoly and supply materials needed for U.S. automobile plants. Today, however, the remains of the site and the re�lections of its inhabitants remind us of the failure of this disproportionate enterprise.

Even though the diptych introduces a partial rupture of the formal devices rigorously explored in her previous works, the re�lection on colonialism continues, unfolding further scars in latitudes new to her work. Fordlândia, as a setting suspended in time, also presented her with new narrative possibilities, such as the use of drones and sensory experimentation.

Fordlândia Panacea will have its world premiere at IDFA’s Envision Competition. The �ilm highlights the spiritual (and feminine) connection of the characters with the land, elevating the principle that only their profound communion with nature and spirit has prevented the colonialist project from exterminating the ancestral land, because a stronger force persists. And so, a �ilm that can be seen as formalist and conceptually rigorous, opens almost magically to an existential questioning.

The Susana de Sousa Dias Retrospective comprises eight �ilms, accompanied by a Top 10 specially curated by her. When asked about the motivations behind her selection, she explains that “instead of ‘showing’ the world, these �ilms interrogate the devices that make it visible and audible.”

“Several possible constellations exist in dialogue with one another: archive and counter-archive; regimes of visibility and subterraneanities; colonialism and solidarity; the politics of sound and the politics of listening, etc.”, she adds. For her, “the selection can be organized into two movements: ‘From the sky to the underground’ and ‘From �ilm to public activation’.”

When placed together with her own works, de Sousa Dias’s selection takes on a wider resonance. The words with which she concludes the justi�ication also �it her oeuvre like a glove, inviting us to approach all �ilms critically, as living pieces of today: “A set of �ilms that, among other things, makes us think about something we thought had remained in the past and that, ultimately, haunts our present: the metamorphoses of fascism.”

Guest of Honor Talk with Susana de Sousa Dias and Artistic Director

Isabel Arrate Fernandez Sunday, November 16 15:30, Tuschinski 1

Still Life by Susana de Sousa Dias (2005)

Fordlândia Panacea by Susana de Sousa Dias (2025)

Top 10 by Susana de Sousa Dias

In her Top 10 selection, Susana de Sousa Dias presents an exploration into collective memory and �ilmmakers rewriting their political narratives—looking to archives to reveal what was hidden in dominant versions of history.

As Armas e o Povo (nostalgia)

Colectivo dos Trabalhadores da Actividade Cinematográ�ica - Portugal1975 - 81 min

The coup on 25 April 1974 brought Portugal’s fascist dictatorship to an end.

On 1 May that year, throngs of people �looded the streets of Lisbon to celebrate their newfound freedom—the beginning of the Carnation Revolution, captured in real time.

Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death

Arthur Jafa - United States - 20168 min

A powerful video collage set to Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam,” made from home videos, found footage, and archival material. Footage of African-American icons from sports, music, and politics intertwines with civil rights protests and police violence.

Hollis Frampton - 1971 - United States36 min

Hollis Frampton reminisces about twelve photographs, which one by one catch �ire. The voice-over and images are out of sync: each story belongs to the photograph that follows, not to the one you are seeing, causing a dual experience of time.

Harun Farocki - West Germany1989 - 75 min

In this essay �ilm, artist Harun Farocki analyzes aerial photographs taken over Auschwitz alongside portraits of Algerian women, and takes a penetrating look at the complex relationship between image, perception, and history.

Mohanad Yaqubi - Palestine, Belgium, Qatar - 2022 - 71 min

Militant �ilms made between 1960 and 1980 presented the Palestinian struggle as a shining example to Japanese people opposed to US hegemony. An epilogue questions the boundary between sympathy, propaganda and identi�ication.

Tatiana Mazú González - Argentina2020 - 82 min

An unusually composed account of women’s resistance in a male-dominated mining town in Patagonia. The women’s stories, including the founding of a feminist radio station, add color to the struggle of the “coal women.”

See the Top 10 selection at idfa.nl/top10 or scan the QR code.

Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi - Italy, West Germany1986 - 96 min

Italian �ilm pioneer Luca Comerio spent the early decades of the 20th century travelling the globe as a cinematographer. Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi unravel the imperialist and colonial ideology inscribed on—and between—every image.

Sarah Maldoror - France, Angola1968 - 16 min

An absurd language mix-up leads to an Angolan man being mistaken by the Portuguese occupiers for a dangerous, armed freedom �ighter. Incarcerated, his expressions of despair resemble a modern dance.

Forensic Architecture - United Kingdom - 2025 - 31 min

Palestinian historian Salman Abu Sitta worked with Forensic Architecture to create a reconstruction of his vanished birthplace, al-Ma’in. They discovered that the Israeli army has brought the old route from al-Ma’in back into use.

Margarida Cordeiro, António ReisPortugal - 1989 - 88 min

This �ilm essay evolves as a collage of texts, symbols, and visual poetry among the rocks and valleys of the mountainous Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal—a landscape where history leaves its traces and is transformed into myth.

Río Turbio

Rosa de Areia

Images of the World and the Inscription of War Monangambééé

R 21 aka Restoring Solidarity

Return to al-Ma’in

From the Pole to the Equator

Institutions

Looking through the lens of time

BY DANA LINSSEN

All around the world, institutions are under pressure—from universities and parliaments to libraries and botanical gardens, the places where power, knowledge, and community are constantly being negotiated. Sometimes they embody their ideals, sometimes their limitations, and often they expose a society’s dead angles: what we would rather not confront, or what drifts beyond our direct �ield of vision. The focus program Dead Angle: Institutions brings together �ilms that make these arenas of tension palpable, using documentary as both a magni�ier and a mirror, showing both the vulnerability and the resilience of the structures that support our community.

“History is therefore never history, but history-for,” a young person reads aloud from a piece of paper. He is perched on the edge of a memorial tablet in the Botanical Gardens in Madrid, �ilmed on a quiet day. The chirping of crickets blends with the whispering of sprinklers. An idyllic paradise, it seems—but there is nothing untamed or unrestrained about this scene. Every tree and bush has been painstakingly placed; the gardens were laid out with what was then considered scienti�ic precision.

This opening scene from the Peruvian �ilm essay Estados Generales (2025) by Mauricio Freyre is, of course, quoting the famous words of Belgian-French cultural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, from his book La pensée sauvage (1961, translated into English as The Savage Mind in 1966 and as Wild Thought in 2021). There, Lévi-Strauss proposes a concept of history that is neither �inite nor de�inite, but dynamic and human—and in which every attempt to write history is inevitably seen through the lens of its own time.

Estados Generales is one of some twenty �ilms made between 1965 and 2025 selected for the themed program Dead Angle: Institutions, in which IDFA uses documentary cinema to reveal what remains outside our direct �ield of vision. Many of the �ilms included in the program belong to an observational tradition. The effect is mesmerizing, particularly in the context of institutions: you can only start to recognize patterns and habits, hidden structures, power dynamics, and hierarchies after you’ve spent a long time watching them.

After last year’s �irst installment of Dead Angle, which focused on Borders, this year’s program places institutions in the spotlight—institutions as embodiments of the systems that structure a society. Botanical gardens are a prime example—technically, a science-based collection of plants—which, like modern libraries and art collections, often originated in colonial practices. Today, their collections and archives are being reexamined to reveal what systems of knowledge and histories they truly represent. As the �ilm progresses, we bear witness to the return journey of a small package of seeds that, in the eighteenth century, was transported from what we now call Peru to Spain; �inally, they are allowed to return to the soil they were plundered from all those centuries ago.

Kenyan �ilm How to Build a Library (2025) by Maia Lekow and Christopher King presents a similar decolonizing perspective. It follows writer Shiro Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka in their attempts to transform a library in Nairobi, built in 1931 by British-American colonists, into an inclusive communal space. Scenes on cataloguing and classi�ication methods reveal just how deeply colonial structures are embedded in institutions. The library is organized according to the Dewey Decimal Classi�ication system: a numerical framework used predominantly in Western, English-speaking libraries. But classi�ication is never a neutral act; it re�lects a particular worldview. It de�ines what is included and excluded—which can even include entire languages, as the �ilm reveals.

Yet liberating yourself from entrenched power dynamics is no simple matter. When a senator is invited to the library’s opening but the governor is not, we get a sharp insight into the protocols, traditions, codes, and behavioral patterns that safeguard institutions—but also the rigidity that can sti�le them. This is a process European cultural institutions—including IDFA—have grappled with �irsthand in recent years.

Frederick Wiseman’s �ilms make comparable observations, but within American and European contexts. Barely �ive minutes into At Berkeley (2013), the ideals of the University of California, Berkeley are already colliding with reality. In a lecture hall, an audience listens to the university’s origin myth, dating back to its founding in 1868. It’s a good story. Towards the end of the California Gold Rush in the mid nineteenth century, two professional gamblers and a saloon owner, after drinking a fair amount of alcohol, decided to set up a university. Even if not fabricated, the lecturer argues, the tale reveals something important. From the outset, Berkeley cherished an ideal: the institution aspired to be accessible to those outside the elite, unlike other major American universities, such as Harvard and Yale.

The �ilm then cuts to another meeting room, as if both conversations are taking place simultaneously. Here, impending budget cuts are on the table. On the one hand, there is pride in not relying too heavily on government funding; on the other, private investors bring private demands, while state support had once ensured that the university could remain accessible, inclusive, and independent. At least, within a political system designed to guarantee it. Through legislation and traditions, through all the written and unwritten rules that underpin society. If At Berkeley demonstrates anything, it is that once the market gains in�luence, everything risks becoming a product. The �ilm shows how the institution gradually succumbs. Even a decade ago, the university seemed as idyllic as Madrid’s botanical gardens. But the idyll was deceptive: a small ecosystem with its own infrastructure and currency, where democracy revealed itself in meetings and participatory bodies.

Since Wiseman made his �ilm in 2013, the world has changed. This American university has taken on a symbolic role larger than itself. In the summer of 2025, US president Donald Trump announced plans to impose a billion-dollar �ine on Berkeley for pro-Palestinian protests on its campus. Trump and his allies are not only attacking a symbol, but also a history.

The

At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (2013)

Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to the United States. All over the world, populist and authoritarian politicians are channeling their frustration with the complex problems that cannot be solved within the borders of the nation state—from the climate crisis to globally entangled wars and genocides—into systematic attacks on national institutions. Science, a free press, and independent judiciary are suffering from this just as much as cultural institutions.

In Laura Poitras’s latest �ilm Cover-Up (2025), about American journalist Seymour Hersch, the �ilmmaker also draws many parallels with the 1960s. Investigative journalist Hersch became famous for exposing the My Lai massacre—the mass murder of the civil population of a South Vietnamese village by US troops—and its subsequent cover-up. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1969 for his exposé.

All over the world, populist and authoritarian politicians are channeling their frustration with the complex problems that cannot be solved within the borders of the nation state from the climate crisis to globally entangled wars and genocides— into systematic attacks

on national institutions.

Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, who has previously produced TV programs with Hersch, interweave Hersch’s revelations with a long interview in which they try to grill him about a journalist’s most important tool: their sources. It’s breathtaking to see how the interviewer gradually becomes the interviewee, and how sensitive some of the topics remain. Can a journalist become an institution themselves? And if so, who holds them to account? Can you get too close to power if you’ve built your career on sources within the armed forces and intelligence services? At the same time, Hersch is still breaking news; his ongoing research into Gaza is a time bomb hidden within the �ilm.

In the same year Hersch received his Pulitzer, French philosopher Michel Foucault published his book The Archaeology of Knowledge, in which he argued that what we might like to see as objective knowledge (and institutions) never exists outside the in�luence of power structures. Contemporary feminist philosopher Sara Ahmed is one of the thinkers also expanded on these power structures from an intersectional perspective.

This is also the approach taken by the oldest �ilm in the program: Toute la mémoire du monde (1956) by Alain Resnais. This short documentary is a poetic-literary �ilm on the National Library of France in Paris, presented as

a monumental archive of knowledge. Yet between the images, Resnais also exposes the limitations and biases inherent to the systems of classi�ication.

If this selection of �ilms makes one thing clear, it’s that—to paraphrase the title of philosopher and �ilmmaker Astra Taylor’s book on democracy—the perfect institution doesn’t exist and is never �inished, but we will still miss them when they’re gone.

exergue – on documenta 14 (2024), by documenta’s “in-house cinematographer” Dimitris Athiridis, offers more than fourteen hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the 2017 edition of documenta. Held simultaneously in Kassel and Athens, the exhibition was marked by �inancial and logistical problems, as well as controversies. And this was before documenta 15 came under �ire over allegations of antisemitism and the challenges posed by the Indonesian collective ruangrupa, serving as guest curators with a radically global and collective curatorial vision.

exergue is as ambitious as documenta 14 itself. It exempli�ies the ways in which cultural institutions—including IDFA—have had to account for and reinvent themselves over the past decade. This makes the �ilm at once revelatory and shocking, while also serving as a warning against building new Biblical Towers of Babel—whether these are libraries, online archives, or traditions set in stone— which, sooner or later, will lead to a Babylonian confusion of tongues.

See the Dead Angle: Institutions selection at idfa.nl/institutions or scan the QR code.

exergue – on documenta 14 by Dimitris Athiridis (2024)

Rethinking documentary practice

Five documentary professionals from across the �ield re�lect on how they see documentary shifting—and how its futures might be imagined otherwise. Across the documentary landscape, new dynamics are taking shape: �ilmmakers are establishing new ways of working to suit their contexts, centering community-based and collaborative models, rethinking the purpose of their practice, and navigating an industry shaped by intensifying political pressures. These re�lections highlight practices that challenge the idea of a single authority and open space for more plural, situated approaches to storytelling. Together, they unsettle the dominance of existing systems and point toward more diverse futures for documentary practice.

Sushmit Ghosh

Sushmit Ghosh is an Academy Award–nominated, Peabody-winning Indian director-cinematographer. His �ilm Writing With Fire (2021) was a double Sundance winner and India’s �irst feature documentary Oscar nominee. He enjoys hiking the Himalayas.

The �irst �ilm I made, Bullets and Butter�lies (2007) was on a motorcycle journey into the mountains. My co-passenger—a double amputee who lived on the streets of Delhi—and I would tie a borrowed handycam to trees, bridges, and lampposts to document our journey. Not intended as a �ilm, at best a visual diary, our footage was raw, shaky, even absurd. Yet the lens captured an unusual friendship unfolding and that was meaningful enough.

That �irst experiment seeded the question I’ve carried into every �ilm since: who gets to frame, who gets to be seen, and how power shifts in the space between. Over �ifteen years, my work has grown into complex, intimate portraits that hold India in all its contradictions, fragility, and fullness. These �ilms have found recognition at home and abroad, but the question for me isn’t simply what’s next. It’s imagining how we build spaces—beyond the language of scarcity and gatekeeping—where a new generation of �ilmmakers can root themselves. And thrive.

The question for me isn’t simply what’s next. It’s imagining how we build spaces—beyond the language of scarcity and gatekeeping—where a new generation of �ilmmakers can root themselves. And thrive.

This has led to founding The Himalayan Story Lab in 2023, a ten-year experiment to give emerging Indigenous �ilmmakers from India, Nepal, and Bhutan something almost absent in our region: a sustained space to develop their debut features. Structured as a year-long fellowship, it’s an incubation lab where participating �ilmmakers have a space to interact with practicing �ilmmakers, masterclasses, case studies, and a deep immersion into their artistic articulation, rooted in their own unique cosmologies and narrative traditions.

Crucially, the Story Lab is not a ‘program’; it’s an attempt to shift authorship. Its success can’t be, shouldn’t be, measured in fellowships or forums. In fact, I see it as a wager: that �ilmmakers can stay true to their voices and still enter the global conversation. Whether these voices can shift the conversation itself— that’s the tension I’m interested in. For me, the task is building spaces where stories aren’t only made, but where they retain the power to unsettle what we think documentary is. That’s the journey that matters.

May Abdalla

May Abdalla is a twice Emmy-nominated director and artist recognized for her groundbreaking work that merges physical experience, technology, and storytelling. In 2013 she co-founded the internationally acclaimed immersive studio, Anagram.

I moved from ‘the �latties’ into immersive when I realized you could use tech innovation as a guise to smuggle in innovation elsewhere. I had just secured funding for my �irst feature but had doubts. At best docs felt formulaic; at worst, they recycled unpleasant stereotypes around culture, race, and identity.

Documentary comes from the Latin—documentum—meaning example. I felt this palpably once at a festival in Damascus. The post-�ilm audience debate was voracious as if each �ilm asked: ‘This is what they do there—and us?’ I remember the subtitle engineer Talal altering the translations in a doc about the Burmese monk uprising, choosing words that evoked Syrian class structures. Trying to draw it all home.

Imagination opens as the space between us collapses.

In immersive I found the power of making stories spatial. These are worlds you enter and, being there yourself, immediately are exposed and therefore vulnerable. Our �irst project, Door Into the Dark (2014), explored what people do when they feel lost. Participants walked blindfolded through a large physical space full of sensory installations—at �irst disorientating, but gradually twisting into a series of delights. You feel it.

In practice there’s a lot of trial and error, and sometimes the tools are too blunt for the ideas.

Last IDFA we showed Impulse: Playing with Reality (2024), about ADHD, using mixed reality to show how space transforms with the layers your mind adds. It’s an invitation to compassion—for yourself and for others whose actions are driven by the mechanics of an unquiet mind. I like to think this approach enacts poet Rilke’s advice to “Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” In practice there’s a lot of trial and error, and sometimes the tools are too blunt for the ideas. Still, it feels important to keep at it. The �latties have been chopped up into content, distributed by cookies designed to validate identity rather than lead us into the unknown.

All the more necessary for stories to draw us out of our mindsets, our stasis, our worlds—into a �low that has echoes beyond the story and gives momentum to the question: and us?

Matthew Carey

Matthew Carey is senior documentary editor at Deadline Hollywood and co-host of the Doc Talk podcast.

I see this as an exciting time for documentary, and a perilous one. On the positive side, I’m delighted to see non�iction �ilm free itself from serving as an information delivery system. Basically, a visual textbook, with all the plodding that implies. That’s the kind of documentary I grew up with (mercifully, with some exceptions—Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) and Paris Is Burning (1990) among them).

Now we’re seeing �ilmmakers explore the cinematic possibilities of the artform in dazzling ways, like Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea (2016), Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes (2022), and Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent (2020) (the rare “documentary noir”). Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson (2016), Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog (2015), and Sandi Tan’s Shirkers (2018) thrilled me by displaying con�idence in the audience’s desire to engage with complex and thoughtful work.

The �ield is becoming far more international, resulting in cross-pollination that has lifted the standard of �ilmmaking everywhere. I was fascinated to discover that Yance Ford, for instance, achieved a creative breakthrough on Strong Island (2017)—a story rooted in the experience of American racism—by working with Danish collaborators.

The �ield is becoming far more international, resulting in crosspollination that has lifted the standard of �ilmmaking everywhere.

But I see documentary’s future as ominous, particularly in the U.S. President Trump, bent on crushing anything outside MAGA conformity, largely defunded the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supported many archivaldriven documentaries. Then he took it further, pressuring the Republicancontrolled Congress to rescind more than a billion dollars in funding for public media. In response, PBS—for decades, the primary distribution platform for documentaries in the U.S.—cut its budget more than 20 percent.

Many U.S.-based media companies have shown a disturbing willingness to cave to Trump’s ideological demands, a threat to the independent-minded doc community. And that’s not my only worry. The U.S.-based streaming platforms have mostly constricted their interests to true crime and celebrity docs, pressing non�iction �ilmmakers into a narrow chute. Not so long ago we were calling this a golden age of documentary. Now, I fear, it has turned to pewter.

Judy Kibinge

Judy Kibinge founded Docubox in 2013. This month, she steps down as Executive Director and her �irst �iction �ilm in a decade, GOAT premieres at the Woodstock Film Festival.

In November 2011, I came to IDFA to understand how documentary �ilm funds, festivals, and markets worked. My business card boldly introduced me as founder of ‘The East African Documentary Film Fund’—though I tried hiding the word ‘initiative’ printed below in tiny font. Here, I discovered how �ilms got co-�inanced by commissioners from multiple countries, foundations and broadcasters who, to my bewilderment, all seemed to know each other. Despite the sheer volume of brilliant �ilms from around the world, I noted the absence of my country and continent in the program.

Thirteen years later, the transformation is striking. In 2025, Docubox proudly had two �ilms competing at Sundance. African documentary �ilmmakers are no longer outsiders looking in; they are integral voices in global cinema conversations.

Supporting independent �ilmmakers sits at the center of everything we do. We began with a fund offering mentorship but built far more: a thriving ecosystem where African voices can emerge, develop, and �ind their audience. Our approach has always been community-�irst. As a �ilmmaker myself, I believed that if we encouraged �ilmmakers to gather and support each other, we could build an industry despite lacking government and broadcaster support.

Other than our traditional open call grants, we’ve sought new ways to resource �ilmmakers in recent times, pairing independent �ilmmakers with organizations rich in human stories. Within 18 months, eight new short �ilms were made—festival-worthy works that proved how innovative partnerships can create space for authentic voices.

I believed that if we encouraged �ilmmakers to gather and support each other, we could build an industry despite lacking government and broadcaster support.

The numbers speak for themselves. African �ilms now regularly grace international festival circuits. But despite acclaim, you won’t �ind many of our �ilms on major streaming platforms. The distribution gap remains stubbornly wide, re�lecting systemic inequities in global media.

Our community in Kenya is responding creatively: YouTube distribution, school and community screenings, grassroots networks, social media audiences are all on the table, we’re creating new pathways; �inding our voices and building audiences. We prioritized community and embraced new models of collaboration. The transformation speaks for itself: African documentary �ilm is here to stay—and increasingly on our own terms.

Brigid O’Shea

Brigid O’Shea is the director of the Documentary Association of Europe and a consultant for �ilmmakers trying to achieve their dreams and full potential. She is based in Berlin.

How do we talk about the state of the art of documentary in the time of Palestinian genocide? And how do we talk about the state of the art of documentary when my phone is �illed with the devastating real-time images of it? Today is August 25, another devastation, freelance journalist Maryam Abu Daqqa assassinated by air strike in Nasser Hospital. This brings the current number of journalists killed in Gaza to 273. I wonder what this number will be by November.

I also spent the last two years building festival strategies for the collection Generation Ukraine (2024). I am proud of this work; the �ilms are travelling across the world. We had glamorous parties at A-List festivals and pitched and presented at every important platform. Less than two weeks ago, and just days after spending time with the �ilmmakers of Special Operation (2025), I see another fallen Ukrainian artist: David Chichkan. I watch many friends on my phone as they attend his funeral. I watch and I work; I watch and I work.

Our familiar territory has changed so I want my contribution to the art of documentary to be making a place where people can feel good while the stakes are so high.

I now see my primary vocation as a community builder for documentary and non-�iction �ilm professionals. I have come to understand this means making a place where, as the space shrinks, people come to express themselves and �ind joy. Our familiar territory has changed so much; meeting places such as �ilm festivals can be transformed into places of hurt and misunderstanding. I want my contribution to the art of documentary to be making a place where people can feel good while the stakes are so high. The world is a dangerous place for those with principles and a vision for something else.

We don’t talk enough about the economic, emotional, and security burden on those taking the most risk: something the old �ilmmaking model and plenty of us in Europe, where I live, have and continue to quietly pro�it from. I don’t desire to hold on to its familiarity. I am optimistic and feel lucky to be included in and see so much beauty in real life, while I am watching and working, even on my phone.

Digital art as a shared experience within physical space

individualism in the dead-internet age by

BY DANA LINSSEN

The 19th edition of IDFA’s new media program DocLab revolves around the relationship between the digital and the physical world. Is DocLab now off the internet, or is the entire world now on the internet—annexed by tech companies whose utopias have spun totally out of control?

“I’ve spent my entire life at a computer,” artist Jeroen van Loon recounts passionately during a TEDx talk in 2024. All was �ine—until 2010, when, on the verge of graduating, his whole body began to hurt whenever he came close to a computer. Not exactly convenient when you’re studying Digital Media Design. So, he decided to turn this disadvantage to his advantage, and designed the project From Digital to Analogue (2010): a “digital exile experiment” that involved him staying away from his computer for two months.

He is exhibiting a series of handwritten letters, paired with video portraits, collected from people all over the world: from Brazil to Ghana, from France to West Papua. Through his website, Van Loon asks participants to write down their thoughts about the internet on paper. In the early years, some contributors had little experience with computers or the worldwide web, which makes the collection all the more revealing. Over �ifteen years, the archive has grown into a cross-section of the accumulated strata of our digital lives. Life Needs Internet 2010–2025, the long-term project Van Loon is presenting during IDFA DocLab 2025, can be seen as the culmination of his o�line investigations.

Life Needs Internet is a �itting introduction to this year’s IDFA DocLab program. Programmers Caspar Sonnen and Nina van Doren have chosen the umbrella theme Off the Internet: this can be interpreted as an encouragement, a question, and a conclusion. Getting off the internet is something we increasingly hear

people talk about in 2025, as we �ind ourselves surrounded by digital detoxes and apps that are (ironically enough) designed to limit our screen time. The title also carries a double meaning, questioning the extent to which documentary digital media art is ‘of’ the internet: how much do we owe to the internet at large? Another pressing issue is that artworks are increasingly being used as training data for the big tech companies. Artists are trying to take control by building their own closed systems, which often work o�line, to avoid feeding their data into AI systems controlled by these companies.

It’s no coincidence that the name IDFA DocLab contains the word Lab (laboratory): for almost two decades now, this has been the natural home for documentary art that makes use of digital, immersive, and spatial narrative forms. Anyone who’s been to DocLab knows it’s more than just a showcase for the annual crop of XR documentaries. Each program is created in dialogue with makers who interrogate their medium. From the start, DocLab has shown that many digital artists are, paradoxically, exploring what it means to go o�line. Following previous themes including Phenomenal Friction (2023) and This Is Not a Simulation (2024), the call to bridge digital and physical realities has been building for some time. Real-world issues such as the climate crisis (every prompt is equivalent to a bottle of mineral water) and the relationships between tech companies and the arms industry can no longer be waved away.

For a long time, I believed that Big Tech didn’t care about the arts. Why don’t we have an app for looking at art on your phone? But, of course, you can also �lip the question: should you want to look at art on your phone?

“What’s more, the program’s subtitle ‘celebrating art in physical space’ also refers to the origin story of DocLab,” Sonnen says. “It’s about bringing together these, at the time, elusive forms of digital documentaries and extended realities—along with the communities surrounding them—in a physical space.” In the years ahead, through the research program Shared Realities, DocLab will explore how archiving and a shared infrastructure for these communities could be developed. “We’ve built a fantastic catalogue of works that can serve as reference material for everyone, even though many of them are poorly described or hard to �ind. For a long time, I believed that Big Tech didn’t care about the arts. Why don’t we have an app for looking at art on your phone? But, of course, you can also �lip the question: should you want to look at art on your phone? Doesn’t immersive and digital art offer possibilities far beyond what a smartphone can provide?”

This is why Flemish production house Ontroerend Goed has decided to go completely o�line. Handle with Care (2025) opens with a box in the middle of the performance space. No actors. Nothing else. The show starts the moment someone from the audience gets up and opens the box, which contains instructions for them to perform the show themselves. By the end, the company hopes participants will have answered the question: Can a theater company ‘produce a show’ without ever being present?

Nathalie Lawhead (2024)

Life Needs Internet 2010–2025 by Jeroen van Loon (2025)

Internet culture from a decolonized perspective is central to the musical Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista (2025) by Collective AMiXR. The collective takes its name from the Latin-American hi5 culture: a social network where people communicate with an urban-digital language in which sYmB0l$ (symbols) are used to cH4ng£ w0rD$ (change words). They describe Feedback as a psychotropic trip, bending half-rendered images and radical performances that catapult Peruvian traditions and stories into a parallel universe—a striking digital form of Indigenous futurism.

Another work that probes “platform decay” is Individualism in the dead internet age: an anti-big tech asset �lip shovelware rant manifesto (2024) by Nathalie Lawhead, a marvelous walkthrough of a digital churchyard. The term “platform decay” has gained traction recently, in the wake of Cory Doctorow’s recently published book Enshitti�ication, in which he analyses how misogyny, conspiracy theories (the “dead internet” is one of these), surveillance, manipulation, fraud, and AI garbage have polluted the internet. First, a platform lures users with free content; then it monetizes the activity, attracting paying customers while degrading the user experience; �inally, every last ounce of shareholder value is extracted from the platform.

This phenomenon aligns with what social media researcher danah boyd calls “context collapse”: endless sharing, linking, decontextualizing and forwarding of content blurs the line between the original senders and recipients. As a result, someone’s news feed can juxtapose posts about the genocide in Gaza with advertisements or AI-generated cats. Nowhere is the power of immersive media more evident than in the VR project Under the Same Sky (2024) by Khalil Ashawi, Sami Sultan, and Hadil Arja. This 45-minute 360° video, created by citizen journalists working inside Gaza, places viewers directly in the midst of daily life. Through the spatial awareness of VR, the project fosters a sense of immediacy and presence that traditional media often cannot convey, offering a profound antidote to the disjointed, context-collapsed feeds that dominate online experiences.

Finally, Celine Daemen—who in her previous works Euridyce (2022), a descent into in�inity and Songs for a Passerby (2023) treated the virtual world as a playground for philosophical questions about the nature of reality—takes us on a deep dive into a parallel universe. The international success of her work has also boosted the visibility of the XR scene in the Netherlands. Nothing To See Here (2025) premieres at DocLab: an interactive installation made for public space that, at �irst glance, resembles one of those stereoscopic diorama boxes in museums, offering a glimpse into another reality.

Daemen sends us tumbling deep into a mirror of our own reality. We see ourselves, impossibly far way, staring into this box. We recognize the ceiling above us, but the proportions are askew. People walk past us who we cannot see beside us. Are we our own doppelganger? Are we trapped in a virtual world? Daemen and her team have created an optical and sonic illusion that links the early days of cinema to contemporary digital chaos. It turns out that we can inhabit two worlds at once— alongside others.

See the DocLab selection at idfa.nl/doclab or scan the QR code.

Nothing to See Here by Celine Daemen (2025)

Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista by Collective AMiXR (2025)

The Oracle: Ritual for the Future (for humans and non-humans) by Victorine van Alphen (2025)

Building fair co-productions

Case studies and solutions

BY VLADAN PETKOVIC

Fair and ethical co-production is a central theme in today’s documentary �ilm industry. But what does it actually mean in practice?

According to EAVE Think Tank’s 2025 report Building Inclusive Co-productions: Best Practices for Producers, ethical co-production is de�ined as: “A framework that prioritizes fairness, transparency, and mutual respect in international partnerships, ensuring that all collaborators—especially those from lowproduction capacity regions or marginalized communities—bene�it equitably.” To explore how this plays out on the ground, this article draws on conversations with four producers from across Asia, Africa, and Europe, highlighting concrete examples of how co-productions can work towards these goals.

Building trust across borders

Indian director and producer Bipuljit Basu made his �irst feature-length documentary Redlight to Limelight (2025), in Kolkata, where sex workers in one of the city’s biggest brothels formed a collective to make a �ilm about the lived experiences of their children. Their �ilm eventually screened locally and shifted the community’s perception of the women, to see them as sex workers and storytellers.

This means Basu was impact producing before he even knew of the term. At Docedge Kolkata, the �irst of seven international forums he attended to pitch his �ilm, he met Finnish producer John Webster, who became his mentor. “John observed how the project grew and, after two years, he decided to join as a co-producer. This really elevated the project and helped me start to build my network,” Basu says.

Latvian producer Uldis Sekulis, joined the project when it was 50% �inanced, per his fund’s requirement. This highlights a common discrepancy between fund regulations and reality on the ground: Basu had to rely on private investors to keep the �ilming going between forums.

Rooted in context

Belgian producer Rosa Spaliviero, of Twenty Nine Studio, shares her experience of working on Liti Liti (2025) by Senegalese director Mamadou Khouma Gueye. Born in Senegal, Spaliviero has known Gueye since 2009.

“The starting point for me is the relationship I have with the �ilmmakers and their respect for the context of their community,” she explains.

Given that Liti Liti is a deeply personal story rooted in Senegal’s economic and political circumstances, working with local producer Aminata Dao of Dakarbased Sine Films was crucial. Senegal is one of the few African countries with a national �ilm fund, FOPICA, which contributed 25% of the budget.

“Co-production draws on the strengths of the community in and around the �ilm, which is why it’s so important to work with African producers,” Spaliviero believes.

Ownership and voices

Kenyan �ilmmaker and producer Sam Soko also highlights this in his work on Zimbabwean director Nyasha Kadandara’s Matabeleland (2025). Soko �inds a structural bene�it in working with local crews. Creative choices, like hiring a Kenyan editor and collaborating with story consultant Niels Pagh Andersen, helped reduced the budget by nearly 75%.

“The positionality starts with looking at your budget and seeing where the money is going,” Soko says. Partnering with Canadian producer Bob Moore of EyeSteelFilm on post-production (who he worked with on his own directing debut Softie) further optimized resources. “Building and keeping these relationships is incredibly important, with so little �inancing available in our territories,” he says.

We hope to encourage trust in the �ilmmaker speaking to the target audience, rather than imposing an agenda. You can’t build an industry if you’re just telling one type of story.

Financial challenges mean that producers often rely on smaller-scale international grants, which often impose formal structures misaligned with the �ilmmakers’ vision. Matabeleland tackles exhumation and reburial of civil war victims from the protagonist’s personal angle.

“Many funds wanted the �ilm to be more political, asking if we had ‘more electrifying’ scenes, like police stopping the exhumations, but this was not the �ilm we had set out to make. Zimbabweans know who the culprit is; our audience wouldn’t be interested in a hero-villain angle,” Soko explains.

He contrasts what he calls “agenda money”, which only �inances a certain type of �ilm, with funds such as Sundance or IDFA Bertha Fund, which he sees as taking more risks.

“We hope to encourage trust in the �ilmmaker speaking to the target audience, rather than imposing an agenda. You can’t build an industry if you’re just telling one type of story,” he argues.

Ashes Settling in Layers on the Surface by Zoya Laktionova

Spaliviero found that some fund requirements helped re�ine stories, but she still engages a local expert, such as a Congolese dramaturgist on Nelson Makengo’s Rising Up at Night (2024).

“It’s important to strike a balance between the framework imposed by the funding body and the �ilmmaker’s own voice. Embracing different worldviews and understanding others is key. Funds could harmonize their rules and regulations, standardize the application process and budget template, and be more �lexible with scriptwriting, trusting the �ilmmaker’s vision. From my point of view, the script is an example of an imposed Western structure,” she says. She also criticizes the fact that many funds require spending in their own countries.

“These funds are built on colonial wealth extracted from the countries of applicants. Simply giving non-recoupable grants would be a fair and very effective way to return some of this wealth,” she believes.

Sharing ownership in practice

Victor Ede of Marseille-based Cinephage worked on Petra Seliškar’s The Mountain Won’t Move (2025), a Slovenian-French-Macedonian co-production. The �ilm, shot in North Macedonia and centered on the lives of mountain shepherds, balanced �inancing from Cinemas du Monde and Region Sud by completing post-production in France. Since local funds could not match the levels available in France or even Slovenia, true ownership was ensured by employing a large Macedonian crew on location.

Ede is now producing Ukrainian director Zoya Laktionova’s Ashes Settling in Layers on the Surface, about her hometown of Mariupol between the Second World War and the Russian invasion, based on private and public archive materials Laktionova brought these to France. Ede assigned value to them based on the average price of archive and added it to her director’s fee, strengthening her ownership of the �ilm while complying with fund regulations.

“Zoya is not giving these for free. These archives from Soviet times have never been seen. Showing her research in the visual material was enough proof for the funds,” he explains.

Another way to make a co-production fair is to make private revenue-sharing agreements. Ede applied this to both Laktionova’s project, which is still in �inancing, and to The Mountain Won’t Move, the budget of which is 51.64% Slovenian, 31.60% French, and 16.86% Macedonian.

“You have to set clear terms from the beginning, so we agreed to own one third of the project each. Some institutions may not recognize breaking proportionality between the �inancing and shares, but as private companies we can have private deals—an o�icial agreement for the institutions, and a signed agreement among ourselves. I did this with the CNC, and because it’s a private agreement, I have the right to share things differently with my partners,” he elaborates.

When the French co-producer Eugénie Michel-Villette of Les Films du Bilboquet raised more funds than Spaliviero in Belgium, the initial 50-50 agreement with Dao was amended to 40-40-20, with Michel-Vilette getting 20% of the shares, revenues, overheads and producer’s fees. Plus, they split revenues for France equally—the only territory in which one can realistically make some revenue with a non-commercial documentary.

“The splitting of fees and shares eventually re�lected the actual distribution of work rather than being strictly linked to the percentage of funding raised,” Spaliviero explains.

Regional collaboration

On Matabeleland, Soko made sure the factual and symbolic ownership of the �ilm remained local. Even though no funding came from Zimbabwe, it is listed a Kenya-Zimbabwe-Canada co-production.

“We co-own this project with Nyasha, and this collaboration involves joint consultations, cooperative efforts, and a shared commitment to revenue distribution,” he says.

Ownership is not only �inancial, and even though the value of a �ilmmaker’s personal investment is hard to calculate, it is undeniable.

“It’s about how you see the value of me as the African �ilmmaker and what value I’m bringing on board, rather than only sticking the conversation to a monetarystructured corner,” says Soko.

One way to do this is to foster more regional collaborations. Matabeleland was made by a crew from �ive African countries: Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, and Mozambique.

“I keep working to have more investor funds coming from this side of the world. For sustainability, support has to come from within,” Soko believes.

He is now in the rough cut stage with Jordanian director Asmahan Bkerat’s Concrete Land and considers it another experiment in South-South collaboration. Having joined in the post-production stage, he says they couldn’t have a traditional co-production, but built a relationship by leveraging their collective experience in both creative aspects and industry navigation.

“The existing models of �inancing enforce certain structures and topics. Concrete Land touches immigration, climate change, and an Indigenous community— falling into no man’s land,” Soko explains.

“While this journey has presented challenges, we are continuously adapting and learning. I believe fostering more South-South co-productions is crucial for the growth of regions that often face funding challenges. I encourage other �ilmmakers to keep exploring and innovating beyond existing models that predominantly rely on the Global North.”

See the full Industry Program A-Z on page 26, and the Industry Program by day on page 44. Find more information at idfa.nl/industry or scan the QR code.

Matabeleland by Nyasha Kadandara (2025)

PARTNER IDFA

The Creative Europe MEDIA programme strengthens Europe’s film and audiovisual sector with funding for development, distribution and promotion, alongside broader support for cinemas, festivals, VOD, training, markets, and cross-border circulation. Check out some of the MEDIA-supported titles at this year’s IDFA, including Imago, Better Go Mad in the Wild, and Those Who Watch Over

Better Go Mad in the Wild

Those Who Watch Over

Imago

Do You Love Me by Lana Daher

PARTNERS OF THE INDUSTRY PROGRAM AND IDFA TALKS

Guests Meet Guests are hosted by

IDFA Markets are supported by

Docs for Sale Happy Hour is hosted by

Forum Producers Breakfast is hosted by

Industry Talks and Sessions are hosted by

Film Talks are hosted by

Producers Connection is supported by

French Doc Drinks are hosted by

Forum Lunches are hosted by

Filmmakers’ Dinner is hosted by

Korea Radio Promotion Association

Industry Program

IDFA’s Industry Program once again welcomes around 2,500 accredited professionals to �ive days of events that examine current topics, long-term issues, and complex developments that documentary cinema is grappling with.

The most encompassing theme is how �ilmmakers work, collaborate, and survive in the current landscape. Their livelihood depends on fees that are often frustratingly di�icult to acquire—largely due to complicated international coproduction structures that require creative solutions and pose complex ethical questions, from personal accountability to intellectual ownership.

When their �ilms or new media projects are �inally completed, �ilmmakers face another struggle: getting them seen. As the current system of distribution models becomes increasingly inadequate, this part of the chain examines how to reach viewers through alternative approaches—and looks to audiences for guidance. The impact of documentary �ilms is often di�icult to measure, and their use as educational tools or dialogue-starters for children and youth is a sensitive and fraught process in a divided world.

DocLab Industry Track

Finally, the meteoric rise of AI has deeply affected the industry, adding a new set of technological opportunities and ethical challenges to long-standing questions—from research and development to post-production, editing, and the use of archive.

Along with 19 delegations from 16 countries, the Industry Program introduces a new format that allows professionals to meet the creatives behind their projects. This year’s program invites guests to join the conversation through over a hundred talks, consultancies, hands-on sessions, delegation showcases, and think tanks.

The DocLab Industry Track connects artists, technologists, and cultural institutions in the immersive and interactive �ield. Combining the DocLab Forum, R&D Summit, and DocLab Playrooms, the track offers a dynamic platform to navigate shifting formats, technologies, and funding landscapes, encouraging interdisciplinary insights that spark innovation.

Supported by Creative Europe Media

See full Industry program A-Z on page 26 and the Industry schedule by day on page 44.

More info at idfa.nl/industryprogram or scan the QR code.

Masterclass on cinematography with Victor Kossakovsky (IDFA 2024)

Industry Program A-Z

Audience design workshop

An invitation-only workshop with Audience Design expert Paul Rieth will offer documentary producers tools to craft audience design strategies that can drive their �ilm’s creative and market potential.

WE 19 Nov, 11:00, De Balie: Salon By invitation

Delegation Project

Showcase: Canadian and indigenous

With participants hailing from Atlantic Canada to the Yukon, this showcase features projects from a cohort of Canadian and Indigenous producers who embody the vibrant diversity of contemporary Canadian storytelling. Project presentations will be followed by individual meetings with decision-makers.

WE 19 Nov, 14:30, De Balie: Salon Passholders only

Delegation Project

Showcase: Arctic �ilm showcase

The Arctic Film Showcase presents six diverse projects from �ilmmakers focusing on life on the outer edges of Europe.

MO 17 Nov, 15:00, Pathé City 4 Passholders only

Delegation Project Showcase: Colombia

A world of stories: Colombia’s next wave of documentary voices.

SU 16 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Showcase: Georgia, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine

Stories That Can’t Go Untold: We are delighted to present a joint showcase featuring projects currently in development and at the work-in-progress stage.

SA 15 Nov, 15:00, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Delegation Project Showcase: K-Pitch Day

K-DOCS is delighted to invite you to meet the Korean Delegation at K-Pitch Day — sponsored by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), organized by EIDF Industry, and co-organized by the Korea Communications Agency (KCA).

SA 15 Nov, 10:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

The internet isn’t what it used to be. Discover and experience the future of digital art and indie games, and play: not alone, but together, on the big screen in the DocLab exhibition. An ongoing event featuring experiments and live presentations.

SA 15 Nov, 14:00, de Brakke Grond Publicly accessible

DocLab Playroom: Hacking Reality

Look beyond your screen and see the world like never before. Beyond fact and �iction, we’ll explore the art of our own perception with various creators. An ongoing event with immersive and interactive experiments, live in the DocLab exhibition.

TU 18 Nov, 14:00, de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal Publicly accessible

DocLab Playroom: I Feel Zine

What’s on the internet that you would like to save? Create your own zine and explore how we can preserve virtual worlds. From DIY archiving to the future of immersive preservation. Ongoing event, live in the DocLab exhibition.

MO 17 Nov, 14:00, de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal Publicly accessible

Delegation Project Showcase: Palestine Film Institute

Amid the ongoing struggle to preserve Palestinian narratives, this showcase emphasizes the importance of supporting Palestinian cinema on international platforms.

SU 16 Nov, 15:30, Pathé City 6 Passholders only

Delegation Project Showcase: Poland

Organized within the framework of the Polish Delegation, Polish Docs Pro Showcase presents Polish creative documentary projects in progress. This consists of pitches for these projects, followed by individual meetings with decision-makers.

MO 17 Nov, 13:30, De Balie: Salon Passholders only Delegation Project Showcase: Spain

Discover the vibrant pulse of Spanish documentary cinema in this exclusive showcase of �ive remarkable worksin-progress. Presented by ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and the Ministry of Culture through ICAA, this curated selection highlights the richness, diversity, and creative innovation that de�ine Spain’s contemporary non-�iction landscape.

TU 18 Nov, 15:30, Pathé City 4 Passholders only

DocLab R&D Summit

The DocLab R&D Summit is a thinktank event for new media professionals, and an integral part of the DocLab Industry Track. The plenary program includes MIT’s latest research outcomes, case studies, sector updates, and the announcement of Shared Realities. Invite-only!

SU 16 Nov, 10:00, de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal By invitation

DocLab R&D Summit: Closing Drinks

All participants in the DocLab R&D Summit are invited to come together for closing drinks at the end of the afternoon in de Brakke Grond. Let’s, for one casual moment, turn R&D into Relaxation and Drinks! Invite-only!

SU 16 Nov, 17:00, de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal By invitation

DocLab R&D Summit: Round Tables & Sessions

The round table conversations and industry sessions invite participants to go in-depth with fellow professionals and IDFA’s R&D partners. A program to discuss research insights, case studies, and current topics facing the new media industry. Invite-only!

SU 16 Nov, 13:00, @droog By invitation

Dutch Docs Day - Shared Screen: Collaboration, Visibility & Balance in Documentary Ecosystem

Dutch Docs Day brings together professionals from the industry to critically re�lect on the current state of documentary production in the Netherlands. Organized by the Netherlands Film Fund, NPO, NAPA, DDG, DAFF, SEE NL, and IDFA.

TH 20 Nov, 14:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal By invitation

Industry Meetup:

Impact producers map our superpowers

The Global Impact Producers Assembly returns to IDFA with a closed interactive session bringing together the international community of Impact Producers and documentary �ilmmakers who are launching major campaigns, looking to share strategy and create networks.

SA 15 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Nieuwe Foyer By invitation

Industry Meetup: The �ilmmaker’s cup - With Film In Mind & Three Cups Tea

A collaboration between Film In Mind therapist Rebecca Day and Amsterdam’s Three Cups Tea, co-founded by IDFA alumna & producer Ruoyao Jane Yao. Blending mindfulness and culture, this tea gathering offers storytellers a calm space to pause and reconnect.

First come, �irst served event with limited capacity up to 38 passholders.

MO 17 Nov, 10:30, De Balie: Salon Passholders only

Industry Session: Audience design

Learn how audience design can drive your documentary’s creative and market potential—from de�ining its vision to connecting with target audiences worldwide.

WE 19 Nov, 10:00, De Balie: Salon Passholders only

Industry Session: Language barriers? Making the case for multilingualism

Join us for the launch of this year’s Cost Of Docs Survey: your annual ‘Date With the Data.’ Discover why The Whickers are releasing the survey for the �irst time in Spanish, and Arabic, alongside English.

SU 16 Nov, 16:15, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Photography by Roger Cremers

Industry Session:

Messaging your �ilm in politically charged times

Join seasoned documentary �ilm publicist/Peabody Award Winner David Magdael and international award-winning producer Bob Moore as they re�lect on decades of work trying to get important �ilms noticed in a chaotic media world.

TU 18 Nov, 11:00, De Balie: Salon Passholders only

Industry Session: Practical and ethical issues around use of AI in documentaries

In this session, �ilmmaker Eugen Bräunig of Houseguest Pictures will provide insight into ethical issues and give practical tips on use of generative AI in documentaries, based on the Archival Producers Alliance’s toolkit and guidelines for best practices.

SU 16 Nov, 11:30, ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Passholders only

Industry Session: The Oscars - Award eligibility essentials

Join Michael Benedict from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a presentation covering eligibility, voting and the �ilm submission process for the Academy Awards®.

WE 19 Nov, 17:00, De Balie: Filmzaal Passholders only

Industry Session: Where are my fees?

The ‘Where are my fees?’ session will focus on ways in which �ilmmakers can protect their intellectual property, and navigate the process of renumeration for their work, from the start of development through all stages of distribution.

TU 18 Nov, 15:00, De Balie: Salon Passholders only

Industry Talk: Alternative distribution and exhibitionReconnecting with the audiences

With traditional models of documentary distribution crumbling, this talk takes us a step back to look at cinema as a communal experience, a space where audiences gather to share opinions and ideas and where curators listen to their input.

MO 17 Nov, 14:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Archives of resilience - Tiger’s leap into the past

In partnership with Sound & Vision, this talk explores four archive-based documentaries about past struggles against oppression, corruption and colonialism, which show how some battles never end, while others come back to haunt us.

WE 19 Nov, 15:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Creative documentaries - Deep connection with nature

This talk explores how creative documentaries that showcase the beauty of nature and its interconnectedness with humans can touch audiences’ hearts and bring a more profound change to their perception, differently from activist, impact-driven �ilms.

WE 19 Nov, 10:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Documentaries for Youth - Safe spaces and sharp edges

Between the abundance of un�iltered content that the young are exposed to and growing calls from parents and society to protect them, �ilmmakers, festivals, and educators explore how to create a space for dialogue, learning, and opposing opinions.

TU 18 Nov, 10:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Fair Coproductions - Obstacles and opportunities for equity

In this talk, producers from Africa, Europe and Latin America address the complex issue of fair co-productions through �inancial, structural, ethical and personal lenses, with an angle on South-South collaborations as an emerging model.

SU 16 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: Headsets and beyond – New strategies in XR distribution

Audiences are crying out for new experiences, while artists continue to innovate with XR documentary storytelling. How do we �ind better distribution models that bring these artists and audiences together?

SA 15 Nov, 14:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Talk: NSC masterclass with Viacheslav Tsvietkov

The Netherlands Society of Cinematographers hosts an in-depth talk with Ukrainian director of photography Viacheslav Tsvietkov. The �ilm Militantropos will serve as the case study for this conversation.

SA 22 Nov, 11:00, Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Passholders only

Industry Talk: Short documentariesBridging the personal and the political

This talk explores how the short documentary form allows artists to address societal issues and tackle personal experiences in a cheaper and faster manner, with an emotional intensity or through an experimental approach that features can’t sustain.

TU 18 Nov, 15:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Tamara Stepanyan on her �ilmmaking career

Hosted by LaScam, this talk dives into the career of the Armenian-born, French-based �ilmmaker who uses her personal experience, often leaning on archive footage, to tackle identity in exile.

MO 17 Nov, 10:00, De Balie: Grote Zaal Passholders only

Industry Talk: Who’s watching whomDocumentary, AI and ownership of the image

This talk gathers �ilmmakers and experts on the use of AI in documentary �ilms for discussion on the technical advantages and ethical challenges that AI brings to the form, and how documentaries themselves inform the technology.

SA 15 Nov, 10:00, ITA: Studio 1 Passholders only

Industry Social Events

A-Z

Docs for Sale: Happy Hour

All Docs for Sale and IDFA Forum passholders are invited to this daily happy hour. Thank you to Autlook Filmsales, Lightdox, Millennium Against Gravity, Rise and Shine World Sales and See NL for sponsoring the Happy Hours.

SA 15, SU 16, MO 17, TU 18, WE 19 Nov, 17:00, Documentaire Paviljoen: Podium Docs for Sale & IDFA Forum Passholders

Guests Meet Guests

Bringing together IDFA passholders daily, the Guests Meet Guests cocktail events provide a great opportunity to connect with other delegates and stay informed about the festival.

FR 14 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub

SA 15 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub Passholders only

Guests Meet GuestsHosted by Polish Docs PRO and Wajda Film Centre + Film ED

Guests Meet Guests cocktail events offer daily networking opportunities for IDFA passholders and festival updates.

We invite you to celebrate together the presence of Polish documentary �ilms at IDFA 2025! In this year’s IDFA program, you can watch several Polish �ilms in different sections, as well as 5 Polish documentary �ilms in progress presented at Polish Docs Pro Showcase at IDFA Industry.

SU 16 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub Passholders only

French Doc Drinkshosted by LaScam and Unifrance.

Come and mingle with international documentary professionals during the French Docs Drink, also attended by French documentary talents, producers and sales agents attending IDFA 2025.

SU 16 Nov, 19:00, De Balie By invitation

Guests Meet Guestshosted by ARTE

Guests Meet Guests cocktail events offer daily networking opportunities for IDFA passholders and festival updates.

ARTE, a leading European public media, plays a key role in documentaries. With a rich editorial mix across TV, digital, and social platforms, it offers sharp insights into current affairs, emphasizing analysis, innovation, and investigation.

MO 17 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub Passholders only

Industry drinks hosted by Norita

Join DoctoraStories and producer Sarah Schoellkopf for a celebration of the �ilm NORITA at IDFA!

MO 17 Nov. 19:30, Het Documentaire Paviljoen By invitation

Guests Meet GuestsHosted by Catalan Films and DocsBarcelona

Guests Meet Guests cocktail events

offer daily networking opportunities for IDFA passholders and festival updates.

Catalan Films drives the global reach of Catalan audiovisuals. DocsBarcelona is a leading documentary platform with a competitive festival, industry event, training program, and Spain’s largest distribution and exhibition network.

TU 18 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub Passholders only

Guests Meet Guestshosted by Hot Docs

Guests Meet Guests cocktail events

offer daily networking opportunities for IDFA passholders and festival updates.

Come meet four talented Canadian �ilmmakers and connect with Hot Docs staff including Executive Director Diana Sanchez, Festival lead programmer Gabor Petric, and delegation leader Lauren Clarke.

Sponsored by Hot Docs, CMF Sector Development, BC Creative and Documentary Organization of Canada.

WE 19 Nov, 18:30, Kanarieclub Passholders only

IDFA Forum: Lunchhosted by Chiledoc

A welcome break from your busy pitch schedule, the daily lunch offers an informal setting where you can meet, greet, and eat.

MO 17 Nov, 13:15, Het Groene Paleis IDFA Forum Passholders

IDFA Forum: Lunchhosted by Documentary Organization of Canada

A welcome break from your busy pitch schedule, the daily lunch offers an informal setting where you can meet, greet, and eat.

TU 18 Nov, 13:15, Het Groene Paleis IDFA Forum Passholders

IDFA Forum: Awards Ceremony & Lunch –hosted by FeverFilm & PostaVermaas

Join us for lunch and the announcement of this year’s IDFA Forum Awards winners. The jury will announce winners in all four categories.

WE 19 Nov, 13:15, Het Groene Paleis IDFA Forum Passholders

IDFA Markets Closing Drinks

Celebrating the future of documentary storytelling. IDFA’s markets will close out this year’s editions with drinks in De Duif.

TU 18 Nov, 21:00, De Duif Docs for Sale & IDFA Forum Passholders

Photography by Karlijn van Diepen

Program Sections and Awards

IDFA’s program sections are a testament to the evolving world of documentary �ilm. From emerging art forms to established cinematic traditions, our competitions and non-competitive sections offer something for every �ilmmaker and �ilm lover. Every year, outstanding new �ilms compete for IDFA’s coveted awards.

International Competition presents a selection of �ilms in premiere that transform deeply personal histories into re�lections on today’s most pressing issues.

Envision Competition selection of premiere �ilms shows unparalleled, stylistically arresting �ilms, where visionary �ilmmakers forge new cinematic languages.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary celebrates the versatility of the form, with �ilms that use creativity and imagination to push the boundaries of short documentary.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction selection boldly expands the horizons of the documentary genre, pushing immersive media beyond conventional boundaries.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling selection expands the possibilities of digital art and interactive storytelling, featuring works by both emerging talent and established creators.

IDFA DocLab Spotlight highlights documentary art across disciplines, presenting critically acclaimed VR- and fulldome projects next to live performance.

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias celebrates our Guest of Honor showing several �ilms by the acclaimed �ilmmaker, curator, and academic. Known for her singular approach to archival images and cinematic form, her work interrogates dictatorship, colonial legacies, and the fragile terrain of memory.

Top 10 selection by Guest of Honor Susana de Sousa Dias offers an exploration into collective memory and �ilmmakers rewriting their political narratives—looking to archives to reveal what was hidden in dominant versions of history.

Luminous is a premiere-only section that presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches—moving between intimate meditations and explorations of lives far beyond our own.

Frontlight is a premiere-only section that takes an artistic approach to critically examining the truth and exploring the urgent issues of our time.

Dead Angle: Institutions is part a multi-year focus program. This year, the selection examines institutions—tracing their histories and contradictions and re�lecting on their role in shaping society.

Signed presents the latest cinematic adventures of �ilmmakers with a unique artistic signature, beyond the canon.

Best of Fests presents a selection of prize-winners, public favorites, and the year’s most eye-catching titles from the international festival circuit, with titles that use vastly diverse styles and genres to take us to the world’s most pressing topics.

Paradocs showcases the year’s non-�iction �ilm art, in which visual artists and �ilmmakers present their explorations into non-�iction �ilmmaking.

Cross-section: Current Future is curated by �ilmmaker Niki Padidar, showcasing �ilms that challenge our understanding of youth documentary—re�lecting the complexities of our contemporary reality.

Cross-section awards

From the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight, an international jury will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best First Feature (€5,000).

The FIPRESCI jury will choose the winner of the FIPRESCI Award from the �ilms nominated for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature.

From the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight, an international jury will choose the winner of the IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film (€5,000).

From across the program, an international jury will choose the winner of the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award (€5,000).

Read more on idfa.nl/competitions or scan the QR code.

What do the labels mean?

The colors used in the schedules and A to Z lists provide more information about the �ilms, projects and events.

All screenings of �ilms that have their European, international or world premiere at IDFA are listed in red.

All screenings of �ilms that have previously screened in Europe or the Netherlands are listed in blue.

All new media projects are listed in yellow.

All events are listed in grey.

IDFA Project Space Documentaries that were developed in IDFA’s talent development programs.

IDFA Forum Harvest Films that previously pitched at IDFA Forum.

IDFA Bertha Fund Films supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.

Beneath Which Rivers Flow

Films & Events A-Z

Top 10 (nostalgia)

Hollis Frampton

United States, 1971, 36′

Hollis Frampton reminisces about twelve photographs, which one by one catch �ire. The voice-over and images are out of sync: each story belongs to the photograph that follows, not to the one you are seeing, causing a dual experience of time.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

+10k

Gala Hernández López

France, Spain, 2025, 32′

Best of Fests

At age 21, Pol has just one goal in life: to make $10,000 a month. Using tips from “�in�luencers,” he wants to free himself and his family from poverty. Playful AI-crafted scenes show Pol already living out his dream.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

TH �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 Shorts

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal Shorts Paradocs

09/05/1982

Camilo Restrepo, Jorge Caballero Spain, Mexico, 2025, 11′

Signs of turmoil linger on walls and windshields in fragments that feel like recovered footage, while an authoritative voice justi�ies the measures taken to “restore calm.” Rather than argue a thesis, this �ilm builds an intrigue that unfolds in time.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

MO

48

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, 2009, 93′

The faces of political prisoners stare straight back at us from photos in dossiers from dictatorship-era Portugal as we hear their recollections. A powerfully eloquent and multi-award-winning minimalist documentary.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

9,192,631,770 Hz IP

Luminous

Todd Chandler

United States, 2025, 14′

Is time a phenomenon that can be captured with scienti�ic precision, or is it a strictly personal experience? In this cinematic essay, director Todd Chandler explores how we control time, and how time controls us.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

TH �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 Shorts

FR ��

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

Luminous

Abel IP

Abele

Fabian Volti

Italy, 2025, 78′

A layered, subtle and majestically �ilmed documentary diptych about how the traditional, centuries-old existence of shepherds in both Sardinia and Palestine is now being shaped by the indirect or direct threat of war.

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TH �� ����� Pathé City 3

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 6

Tuschinski 6

Kriterion 1 Best of Fests

2000 Meters to Andriivka

Mstyslav Chernov Ukraine, 2025, 106′ Journalist and �ilmmaker Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days in Mariupol) follows a Ukrainian platoon as it attempts to liberate a strategically located village. This gripping report confronts us with the futility and dislocation of war.

TH

FR ��

SU ��

Paradocs

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

Air Horse One IP

Lasse Linder

Switzerland, Belgium, 2025, 21′ Show jumping horse Legacy travels from Florida to Europe, zigzagging from one championship to the next aboard a specially equipped airplane, where every effort is made to ensure she arrives at her destination with as little stress as possible.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

SU

As Armas e o Povo

Arms and the People

Colectivo dos Trabalhadores da Actividade Cinematográ�ica

Portugal, 1975, 81′

Top 10

The coup on 25 April 1974 brought Portugal’s fascist dictatorship to an end. On 1 May that year, throngs of people �looded the streets of Lisbon to celebrate their newfound freedom—the beginning of the Carnation Revolution, captured in real time.

FR

Massoud Bakhshi

Austria, France, Germany, Iran, 2025, 78′

A tender portrait of Mahya and Zahra in Tehran, �ilmed by their uncle over a period of 18 years. Growing up in a traditional Iranian family, the carefree sisters develop into socially engaged women. FR

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Tuschinski 4

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary As I Lay Dying WP Ghesseh bar yad ast Mohammadreza Farzad, Pegah Ahangarani Iran, 2025, 15′

“When it all ended, each of us went our own way.” Accompanied by jerky footage of the �laring protests in Tehran in 2009—in which the energy of the moment is palpable—a calm voice recounts what became of the people who took part.

SA

Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Luminous

As the Crow Flies IP À vol d’oiseau

Bardo

Viera Čákanyová

Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2025, 27′

Undergoing darkness therapy means spending at least seven days alone in a completely dark room. Viera Čákanyová undertook this retreat, and turned her radical experience into a powerful sensorial adventure �illed with hypnotic phantom visuals.

FR �� �����

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 7 Shorts WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Signed

Below the Clouds

Sotto le nuvole

Gianfranco Rosi Italy, 2025, 114′

Gianfranco Rosi’s new mosaic documentary is both an affectionate tribute to Naples and a forbidding journey underground, into excavation sites, clandestine tunnels, and cellars �illed with art treasures.

Deming Chen

United States, France, China, Taiwan, 2025, 87′

Six-year-long cinematic portrait of a rural boy living with his father at his grandparents’ home. He dreams of a life beyond the rigors of rural farming and �inds escape in poetry. Featuring stunningly beautiful natural scenes.

Clara Lacombe France, 2025, 30′

Amadou (13) relates the epic journey that saw him cross the desert, sea and mountains to reach France, three years after his departure from Guinea Conakry. A personal and artistic �ilm about illegal immigration, observed through the eyes of a teenager. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Envision Competition

Amílcar WP

Miguel Eek

Spain, Portugal, France, Sweden, Cape Verde, 2025, 87′

As a poet, thinker, agricultural engineer and revolutionary, Amílcar Cabral led the struggle for independence in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. This associative �ilm portrait is constructed from his words and writings, combined with archival material.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

�� ����� Pathé City 2 P&I

SU ��

Action Item

Neplatené vol’no

Paula Ďurinová

Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, 2025, 69′

Best of Fests

Burnout and depression are increasingly common conditions—but is this an individual issue, or a systemic one? From the individual experiences of young people in Berlin, this �ilm draws a connection to structural problems of our society and culture.

Tuschinski 2

Carré IDFA Hit

Eye: Cinema 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Pathé Noord 1

De Balie: Grote Zaal Luminous

32 Meters WP

Morteza Atabaki Turkey, Iran, 2025, 84′

Led by the independent-minded Halime, a group of friends in a Turkish village decide to organize a shooting competition for women. This unconventional plan initially meets with resistance in their patriarchal community.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 2 P&I

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Podium Mozaïek

Pathé Noord 11

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� The Pulse 2

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3

MO ��

��

Pathé City 2

Kriterion 1 + Talk SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Best of Fests

Agatha’s Almanac

Amalie Atkins

Canada, 2025, 86′

Bent over but self-assured, 90-yearold Agatha is still hard at work in the large garden of her old family farm in Manitoba, Canada. Captured on 16mm �ilm, this is a sumptuous portrait of her world of traditional skills, far removed from modernity.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 4

FR �� ����� Pathé City 7

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 1

TH �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1

Signed Ancestral Visions of the Future

Lemohang Mosese

France, Lesotho, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2025, 88′

In this freely expanding, poetic re�lection on his childhood in Lesotho and his mother’s bravery, visual artist, poet and �ilmmaker Lemohang Mosese confronts his feelings of displacement. FR

And She Didn’t Die IP Kethiwe Ngcobo

United Kingdom, South Africa, 2025, 103′

Using home videos, archive material, interviews, and reenacted scenes, the director portrays her mother, South African writer and resistance �ighter Lauretta Ngcobo. A �ilm about exile, the voice of black women, and the oral storytelling tradition.

SU

Asparagus Bear EP

Medo u šparugama

Ivan Grgur

Croatia, 2025, 18′

A boy stands in a river with his buffalo, leaning lovingly against the animal while petting it. This mesmerizing world in the marshlands of southern Iraq is Ibrahim’s home. Can he coexist with nature or is the only life he knows about to disappear? Current Future:

Frontlight

The reported sighting of a bear causes a commotion in a sleepy Croatian coastal village, right in the middle of the wild asparagus season. The villagers are divided by the onslaught of online messages—is there really a bear, or are other interests at play?

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts TU ��

Pathé City 5 Shorts FR ��

Kriterion 1 Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Shorts

Dead Angle: Institutions

At Berkeley

Frederick Wiseman

United States, 2013, 250′

Frederick Wiseman an extensive portrait of the prestigious University of California, Berkeley as it strives to provide independent, high-quality public education in the face of �inancial de�icits.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Auto Queens WP

Sraiyanti

India, 2025, 30′

Together with her friend and fellow worker, the head of an Indian trade union for women auto rickshaw drivers is building her dream of achieving equal opportunities. A celebration of revolution, sisterhood, and perseverance in a patriarchal system.

SU ��

Tuschinski 6 Shorts

Pathé City 1 Shorts

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal Shorts

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Best of Fests

Best of Fests

Better Go Mad in the Wild Raději zešílet v divočině

Miro Remo

Czech Republic, 2025, 83′

Identical twin brothers Franta and Ondra lead a hermit-like existence in the Bohemian Forest. A rhythmic montage of their daily routine captures their playful spirit in this magical tale of the power of imagination.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SA

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 5

Blackout Dreams WP

Sueña ahora

Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso, Andrea Settembrini

Cuba, Italy, 2025, 20′

In Cuba, the nights are very dark indeed when there’s yet another power outage—but as much as possible, life goes on. In dreamlike black-and-white images, the pitch-dark night becomes a mysterious play of shadows, silhouettes, and glimmers.

Pathé City 6 Shorts MO

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions

Kahlil Joseph

United States, 2025, 114′

A hypnotic essay �ilm about Black culture, rhythmically composed like a music album. A wild, idea-rich montage of an Afrofuturist story, memes, and videos by Black artists and thinkers.

SU

Eye: Cinema 1 + Talk

Tuschinski 6

The Pulse 1

Envision Competition Blood Red WP

Západ Martin Imrich Czech Republic, 2025, 75′

In the remote Eastern European countryside, marshy earth is plowed, homemade wine tasted, a hunting ri�le prepared. In stark black-and-white images that capture the silence, pain, and emptiness, Martin Imrich evokes the existential.

Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 7 P&I

Kriterion 1

Pathé City 6

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 3

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Blue Silence WP

Silencio azul

Matías Rojas Ruz Chile, 2025, 16′

In 1965, one of the worst shipwrecks in Chilean history took place. With mesmerizing analog images, this short �ilm explores the memories of the inhabitants of this remote corner of Chile’s lake district.

SU

����� Pathé City 5 Shorts

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Tuschinski 6 Shorts

Pathé Noord 4 Shorts

Bobò

Pippo Delbono Italy, 2025, 81′

An affectionate portrait of Bobò, a talented, deaf, and illiterate actor who was rescued from an institution by theater and �ilm director Pippo Delbono. Or was it was Bobò who rescued Delbono’s spirit, zest for life, and creative soul?

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 5 SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Pathé City 2

Eye: Cinema 2

Tuschinski 6

Best of Fests

A Brief History of Chasing Storms

Curtis Miller United States, 2025, 70′

In the region of the US known as Tornado Alley, the population has to cope with the devastating force of increasingly frequent and powerful storms. Alongside grief felt for the many victims, there is also a thriving “tornado culture”.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 2

Broken English

Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth United Kingdom, 2025, 96′

Signed

The �ictional Ministry of Not Forgetting �inds an ideal subject in singer Marianne Faithfull for its ambition to document “cultural legacies,” in this hybrid portrait that is as measured and captivating as its protagonist.

SA �� ����� The Pulse 2 MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2 WE �� ����� Tuschinski 1 FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Best of Fests

The Broken R Rotacismo

Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren Ecuador, Italy, 2025, 86′

Director Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren returns to his childhood home in this creative and personal �ilm essay. He re�lects on a youth in which he faced much rejection due to a facial disorder, and on his complex relationship with his parents.

FR �� ����� The Pulse 2 SA �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1 MO ��

Pathé City 5 SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Dead Angle: Institutions Checks and Balances Contre-pouvoirs Malek Bensmaïl Algeria, France, 2015, 97′

A meticulous observation of daily life in the newsrooms of the Algerian independent daily El Watan. With talent, intellect and humor, journalists convey the political impasse in their country.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3 SU �� ����� The Pulse 2

Signed, Dead Angle: Institutions

Cover-Up

Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus

United States, 2025, 117′

A portrait of US investigative journalist

Seymour Hersh (b. 1937), who has exposed countless abuses, from the My Lai massacre to torture in Abu Ghraib prison, while constantly facing resistance from the government and, at times, his own employers. FR ��

Tuschinski 4

Carré IDFA

Talk hosted by De Groene Amsterdammer

The Pulse 1 + Talk hosted by Follow the Money

Kriterion 1

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Criminal Case 141/53

Processo-crime 141/53 Susana de Sousa Dias Portugal, 2000, 50′

Signed

Cherry Ferry IP Midi Z

Taiwan, 2024, 98′

A �ilmmaker returns from Taiwan to his native Myanmar, a nation with a violent history. His atmospheric, tranquil shots—including views from the ferry— capture a country adrift.

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 3

Cinema Kawakeb

Mahmoud Al Massad

Jordan, Qatar, 2025, 79′

Melancholic portrait of a run-down cinema in Amman, Jordan, where the last employees are hoping for a restart. Old news footage, showing a succession of con�licts from the past century, serve as a counterpoint.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 4

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3 FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Frontlight

The Clown of Gaza EP

Abdulrahman Sabbah

Palestine, France, Qatar, 2025, 61′

With boundless energy and optimism, the greatly beloved performer Alaa Meqdad brightens the lives of his family in a Gaza tent camp. As the clown Aloosh, he brings joy to children on the streets and in hospitals.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 6 WE �� ����� Tuschinski 2

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

SU �� ����� Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal

Best of Fests

Coexistence, My Ass!

Amber Fares

United States, 2025, 95′

Former UN diplomat Noam Shuster-Eliassi was once a poster child for peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, but that mild-mannered image no longer �its her. She now rebels against the injustice with her own acerbic comedy show.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 TU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 1 SU �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

Envision Competition Confessions of a Mole WP

一颗痣的自白 / Wyznania pieprzyka

Mo Tan

China, Poland, 2025, 92′

A tragicomic melodrama about a young Chinese woman who returns home after seven years abroad. The move forces her to navigate the complexities of family life and traditional expectations. SU

Tuschinski 4

Luuk Bouwman

Netherlands, 2025, 108′

What happens in the mind of someone who goes through psychosis? Six people speak candidly on camera about their experiences. Psychosis can bring loneliness, fear and confusion as well as a creativity, euphoria and existential insights.

IDFA Competition for

The story of two sisters in Portugal who were arrested in the early 1950s for protesting a law that barred nurses from marrying. One of them endured the hardships of frequent beatings and solitary con�inement.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 TH �� ����� Pathé City 3

Cutting Through Rocks

Best of Fests

Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki

United States, Iran, Germany, Chile, Netherlands, Canada, 2025, 94′

As the �irst female council member of a village in rural Iran, Sara is determined to break through patriarchal traditions. She �ights to curb child marriage and, in her free time, teaches girls to ride motorbikes—something that quickly meets with resistance.

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1

Tuschinski 1

Pathé City 4

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal IDFA Meets

Best of Fests

Dead Tongue

Lengua muerta

José Jiménez

Chile, 2025, 25′

As an o�icer in the Chilean secret service during the military dictatorship, Íngrid Olderöck used dogs to torture and rape prisoners. More than 20 years after her death, the fear she instilled is still very much alive.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

��

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

International Competition

December WP

Diciembre

Lucas Gallo

Argentina, Uruguay, 2025, 105′

Chronicle of spontaneous protests and political maneuverings in Argentina. Brilliantly edited news footage from December 2001 brings back to life the intense economic and political crisis gripping the country at the time.

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Pathé City 2 P&I

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Pathé City 6

Dead Angle: Institutions

Democracy

David Bernet

Germany, France, 2015, 105′

Over more than two years, Democracy follows the laborious process of drafting the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, a controversial issue among European policymakers. A rare glimpse into the unwieldy and opaque mechanism of EU politics.

Grote

Rialto: Zaal 4

Danielle Kaganov France, 2025, 16′

What happens when a surgical robot, originally developed to operate on soldiers on the battle�ield, becomes self-aware? A disorienting, unsettling exploration of the thin line between saving

life and taking a life.

Das deutsche Volk

Marcin Wierzchowski Germany, 2025, 132′

For more than four years, Polish-German �ilmmaker Marcin Wierzchowski followed the relatives of the victims of the 2020 racist murders in Hanau. With digni�ied determination, they �ight for answers, justice, and a memorial. FR

Do or Die WP

Plata o Mierda

Toia Bonino, Marcos Joubert

Argentina, Colombia, 2025, 88′ Collaborating with Toia Bonino, Marcos uses his phone to make a �ilm about his daily life in an Argentinian prison. Camaraderie and time prove to be precious commodities in his con�ined— and alternately dull and dangerous— existence.

TU

Best of Fests

Do You Love

Me

Lana Daher

Lebanon, France, Germany, 2025, 76′

In this personal and loving journey into the audiovisual history of Lebanon and Beirut—composed entirely of archival footage spanning the past 70 years— Lana Daher tells a powerfully moving story about her homeland.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Dreams for a Better Past

Netherlands,

2025,

Albert Kuhn’s multi-stranded cinematic exploration of his family’s past interweaves a

��

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SA �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

Best of Fests

Elephants & Squirrels

Gregor Brändli

Switzerland, 2025, 115′

Indigenous artifacts taken from Sri Lanka by explorers at the beginning of the 20th century lie in a storage facility for Swiss museums. After stumbling upon this hidden collection, a Sri Lankan artist instigates a debate on art restitution.

FR

Elon Musk Unveiled –The Tesla Experiment

Andreas Pichler Germany, 2025, 90′

Disturbing report on the spectacular rise of Elon Musk and his plans to build self-driving cars. Consumers eagerly embrace Tesla’s “autopilot,” but it proves to be far from safe—with disastrous consequences.

Fantasy

Fantaisie

Isabel Pagliai

France, 2025, 79′

A young woman, held captive by something in her past, spends her time at home, lying in bed, listening to music, speaking to no one. Through her notes and innermost fantasies, a journey unfolds into her inner world.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 SU �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel + Talk

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

TH �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Far from Beyrouth IP

Mon Dewulf

Belgium, 2025, 22′

A modern correspondence unfolds between Mon Dewulf in Brussels and his partner Karim in war-torn Beirut. Dewulf uses videos, voice memos, and text messages to craft an intimate portrait of their relationship.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

MO �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal Shorts

TH �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

SA �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

Fear Nothing

Fear Fokol

Endless Cookie

Peter Scriver, Seth Scriver Canada, 2025, 98′

A quirky animated documentary by two half-brothers who spend nine years capturing the stories of one of them— the son of an Indigenous Canadian mother—including plenty of interruptions from children, dogs, and visitors.

Paradocs, Dead Angle: Institutions

Estados generales

Mauricio Freyre

Peru, Spain, 2025, 76′ Madrid’s botanical garden houses unidenti�ied seeds collected by Spanish colonial expeditions. Mauricio Freyre’s 16mm camera captures their imaginary journey back to Peru.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 1

Eye: Cinema 2

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SA

Tuschinski 3 Signed Every Contact Leaves a Trace WP

Lynne Sachs

United States, 2025, 83′ Filmmaker Lynne Sachs has collected 600 business cards since 1990. In this playful essay �ilm, she rummages through that archive, exploring her connections to the world through the people behind the cards.

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Pathé City 4 FR

Kriterion 1

Pathé Noord 11

SA

Dead Angle: Institutions exergue – on documenta 14

Dimitris Athiridis Greece, 2024, 848′

In 14 compelling episodes the making of documenta 14 unfolds, from its radical proposition to the eventual media fallout, revealing along the way the sort of tensions that arise with the ambition to challenge ideas of what an art manifestation can be.

SA �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Chapters 1 to 8

SU �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Chapters 9 to 14 + Talk Frontlight

Eyes of the Machine WP

Daya Cahen

Netherlands, 2025, 76′

Propaganda footage from Chinese state media is combined with leaked police photographs and one woman’s exceptional witness account of the harrowing persecution of Uyghurs in East Turkestan (Xinjiang).

MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

����� Pathé City 7 P&I

Competition

Best of Fests

Tuva Bjork

Sweden, 2025, 15′

Private security is big business in inequality-ridden South Africa. This behind-the-scenes look reveals that rather than increasing safety, all the weapons, alarm systems, and drones only serve to fuel paranoia, racism, and aggression.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts TH �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts FR �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 Shorts

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

Dead Angle: Institutions

Fellow Citizen

Abbas Kiarostami

Iran, 1983, 51′

A tra�ic cop at a busy intersection in Tehran can only let cars drive through that have a permit. The drivers use inventive excuses and serious arguments to persuade him to let them pass.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

Filmmaker Talk: Kamal Aljafari

Palestinian �ilmmaker and visual artist Kamal Aljafari in conversation with Dr. Nat Muller. Aljafari’s cinema attempts to rewrite history and to imagine a liberated future.

MO �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Filmmaker Talk: Mary Stephen

Editor and �ilmmaker Mary Stephen interviewed by �ilm critic Dana Linssen: about her work, which moves between personal recollection and collective history, investigating cultural identity, colonial heritage, and everyday life.

TU �� �����

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Filmmaker Talk: Stanley Nelson

Stanley Nelson interviewed by Roger Ross Williams; an in-depth discussion of his career, which de�ines a legacy of chronicling the lives of Black Americans and the history of their struggle, resilience and emancipation.

WE

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Flana EP

Zahraa Ghandour

Iraq, France, Qatar, 2025, 85′

In Baghdad, the director searches for her childhood friend Nour, who suddenly disappeared at the age of ten. She symbolizes the many forgotten and abandoned girls in a society that does nothing to stand in the way of violence against women. MO

Tuschinski 4

The Flight of the Stork WP El vol de la cigonya /

Soumaya Hidalgo Djahdou, Berta Vicente Salas

Spain, Qatar, 2025, 70′

Soumaya, who grew up in Spain, decides to visit her grandmother in Algeria, the country her mother left years ago. A deeply personal exploration of generations, traditions, and cultures—so near, yet still another world. SA

Podium Mozaïek

International Competition Flood IP

Katy Scoggin

United States, 2025, 75′

Katy returns to her childhood home to strengthen her bond with her religious father. She encounters her family at a time when everyone seems to be struggling with different beliefs about faith, science and love. SU

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Fordlandia Malaise

Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, 2019, 40′

A carefully composed re�lection on the failed neo-colonial project Fordlândia in Brazil, a town founded by Henry Ford in 1928. It was built for the workers of the rubber plantation that was intended to supply his car factories in the United States.

Envision Competition, Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Fordlândia Panacea

Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, Brazil, 2025, 67′

Fordlândia was established as Henry Ford’s utopian dream but ended as a ghost town in the Brazilian jungle. This hypnotic �ilm foregrounds the voices of the Indigenous people who are working to rede�ine this place.

Oskouei

Iran, France, United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, 2025, 76′ Subtly textured self-portrait of Soraya, a free-spirited 16-year-old artist in Iran who has been trying for years to �lee to Europe—chilling trips she captures on her phone, while pouring all her fears and worries into extraordinary works of art. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Best of Fests

Free Leonard Peltier

David France, Jesse Short Bull United States, 2025, 111′

This richly documented plea for the release of a Native American civil rights activist offers a thought-provoking look back at the growing Native American resistance of the 1970s—a struggle that continues to this day. FR

Pathé City 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

From the Pole to the Equator

Dal polo all’equatore

Top 10

Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi Italy, West Germany, 1986, 96′ Italian �ilm pioneer Luca Comerio spent the early decades of the 20th century travelling the globe as a cinematographer. Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi unravel the imperialist and colonial ideology inscribed on—and between—every image.

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2 FR

Eye: Cinema 2

Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me WP

Frontlight

Mohammed Sawwaf Palestine, Qatar, Netherlands, 2025, 96′

What does it mean for a family when a merciless war separates a mother from her two newborn babies? By telling just one story out of many, this �ilm illustrates how the ongoing con�lict in Gaza affects every Palestinian.

SU

stories of the magical place where some have lived for years and others have only just arrived. In this microcosm of cultures, community spirit, solidarity and social tensions go hand in hand.

Grounded WP En tierra

Simón Uribe Martínez

Colombia, France,

80′ Old DC-3s are the lifeline for residents of the Colombian Amazon. The �ilm crew joins one of the planes on a �light to remote settlements. But this connection is under threat, and without it communities will face total isolation.

Guest of Honor Talk: Susana de Sousa Dias

In-depth conversation with IDFA’s Guest of Honor 2025 Susana de Sousa Dias, on her highly acclaimed work that interrogates dictatorship, colonial legacies and the fragile terrain of memory. Moderated by IDFA’s Artistic Director, Isabel Arrate Fernandez. SU

TU

WE

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Tuschinski 5

Podium Mozaïek

Tuschinski 2

Firat Yücel

Netherlands, Turkey, 2025, 18′

How does your screen time affect you in times of genocide? The �igure in this desktop �ilm sleeps poorly. Is it because of the blue light from their screens, or the constant stream of terrible news they see on them? FR

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal Shorts

Jay Rosenblatt, Stephanie Rapp United States, 2025, 31′

An intimate and moving self-portrait of two �ilmmakers trying to have a child while going through a relationship crisis, �ilmed 25 years ago. It’s a raw and honest account, full of contradictions.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

Pathé City 3 Shorts

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

Envision Competition Holy Destructors WP Biodestruktoriai

Aiste Žegulytė

Lithuania, France, Latvia, 2025, 85′

While humans try to prevent matter from decaying, microfungi remind us that everything must perish in order to continue to exist. This conceptually designed �ilm tells a story of transformation with religion as its backdrop and fungi as its metaphor.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Pathé City 1

MO �� ����� Pathé City 1 P&I

MO �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal + Talk

TH �� ����� The Pulse 1

FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 10

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 IDFA Junior

A Home for Lydia Lydia blijft

Eline Helena Schellekens

Netherlands, 2013, 17′

A cheerful glimpse into the complicated life of Lydia, who was born in the Netherlands but is still waiting for a residence permit. So are her father, mother and little brother. Lydia tells her story, partly in songs she improvised herself. Dutch spoken screening. Screening in Dutch as part of IDFA Junior.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 Luminous

House of Hope WP

Marjolein Busstra

Netherlands, Palestine, 2025, 91′

An intimate, observational �ilm about a Palestinian woman, Manar, who runs a paci�ist Waldorf school in the occupied West Bank. Amid escalating violence, stress, and uncertainty, she strives to provide a safe haven for young children.

FR �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit

SA �� ����� The Pulse 2

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 P&I

TU �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

WE �� ����� The Pulse 1

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1 Vriendenvoorstelling

Best of Fests, Dead Angle: Institutions How to Build a Library

Maia Lekow, Christopher King Kenya, 2025, 100′

In Nairobi, two determined women set out to renovate a dilapidated former colonial library. We follow them over �ive years as they transform a place once reserved for white Europeans into a creative hub for the entire population. FR

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Envision Competition

I Want Her Dead IP

Il quieto vivere

Gianluca Matarrese

Italy, 2025, 86′

A heated con�lict between two sistersin-law disrupts the peace in a southern Italian village. How could this quarrel escalate so dramatically? A calmly observed family portrait that balances between �iction and realism.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 1 MO ��

Tuschinski 6 TU ��

Pathé City 4 P&I

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Dead Angle: Institutions I Will Forget This Day

Alina Rudnitskaya Russia, 2011, 25′

Shot from a distance, patients sit in the bleak waiting room of a Russian clinic. In these oppressive scenes, Alina Rudnitskaya penetrates deeply into the minds of the inwardly focused young women.

TH �� ����� Pathé City 7 SA �� ����� Tuschinski 3

IDFA Dance Night

From documentary to the dance �loor! Grab a drink, join the party, and celebrate at the IDFA Dance Night. Music, good vibes, and festival energy. IDFA Dance Night is the afterparty for everyone! Access is free.

SA �� ����� Café Kuyl SA ��

Café Kuyl

Luminous

If You Don’t Like It, Look

Away IP

Au bain des dames

Margaux Fournier France, 2025, 29′

Joëlle and her friends gather daily on a beach in Marseilles to tan topless, drink and talk about sex. They do so explicitly and unapologetically, resulting in a funny, liberating and disruptive �ilm about a friends group of retired women. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+ FR

Images of the World and the Inscription of War

Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges Harun Farocki West Germany, 1989, 75′

In this essay �ilm, artist Harun Farocki analyzes aerial photographs taken over Auschwitz alongside portraits of Algerian women, and takes a penetrating look at the complex relationship between image, perception, and history.

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3

Best of Fests

Imago

Déni Oumar Pitsaev

France, Belgium, 2025, 109′

When �ilmmaker Déni Oumar Pitsaev, who grew up in France, inherits a piece of land in the country of Georgia, it prompts a series of profound questions about life. A subtle, personal �ilm that won the Best Documentary Award at Cannes.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 + Talk MO �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Paradocs

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary In�inity River WP Rio in�inito Gonçalo Pina Portugal, 2025, 23′

Commuter workers scrub sterile �lex o�ice spaces, haul rolls of insulation material or cycle with your meal across the city. Enchantingly beautiful scenes honor the invisible people who keep our world turning.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts SU �� ����� Pathé City 7 Shorts MO ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Pathé Noord 2 Shorts

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Intersecting Memory WP

Shayma’ Awawdeh Palestine, France, 2025, 21′ Shayma’ was six when the Second Intifada began in Palestine. As time passes, she rediscovers old videotapes blending childhood memories with stark scenes of Hebron. A powerful portrait of childhood under Israeli occupation.

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 Shorts

�� ����� Pathé City 4 Shorts

��

Pathé City 4 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

Tuschinski 4 Shorts SA ��

Tuschinski 4 Shorts

Best of Fests

It’s Never Over, Jeff

Buckley

Amy Berg

United States, 2025, 106′

Through interviews with people who were close to him and archival footage (some previously unseen), this documentary paints a very personal picture of the turbulent and far too short life of musical phenomenon and enigma Jeff Buckley.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

The Pulse 1

Pathé City 6

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Journey to the Sun Viagem ao sol Susana de Sousa Dias, Ansgar Schaefer Portugal, 2021, 109′

Archive �ilms bring to life the bittersweet memories of Austrians who as children were sent to stay with host families in Portugal to recuperate after the traumas of the Second World War.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5

WE �� ����� Pathé City 4

Signed Kabul, Between Prayers

Aboozar Amini

Netherlands, Belgium, 2025, 102′

A humanistic and complex portrait of 23-year-old Samim: brother, husband, Taliban soldier. He struggles with a dif�icult marriage and the clash between a morally unpredictable reality and his fundamentalist religious ideology.

FR �� ����� Carré IDFA Hit + Talk hosted by Het Parool

SA �� ����� The Pulse 2 TU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SU ��

In

the

Manner of Smoke

Armand Yervant Tufenkian

United States, United Kingdom, 2025, 91′

Filmmaker Armand Yervant Tufenkian observes a �ire lookout in California, a landscape painter in London and himself. He examines how people relate to nature and how they document a natural world in distress.

IDFA Junior

IDFA Junior: Kinderen wijzen de weg

The most fun at IDFA for children aged 9+! Four classic �ilms in which young protagonists show that, through courage, creativity and vulnerability, they can set an example to the adults. Dutch spoken screening

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

IDFA Meets Steppin’ Into Tomorrow

IDFA Meets is a partner program curated by the new generation within IDFA. This edition, IDFA Meets Steppin’ Into Tomorrow: a platform and community dedicated to uncovering contemporary music rooted in the Netherlands and representing the local underground scene.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3 SA ��

The In-The-Head Film IP Konstantin von Sichart Germany, 2025, 11′ Are we being swept away in a maelstrom of creativity, or is this the activity of a mind going off the rails? This wildly expressive animation is certainly a remarkable experience—just keep breathing calmly.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts MO �� ����� Tuschinski

Ollie Launspach

Netherlands, 2025, 28′

Ollie Launspach wants to know what it’s like for his girlfriend Sterre Mulder that he’s transitioning, but discovers in this graduation �ilm—a playful, colorful, and uplifting collage—that his wariness mainly reveals his own insecurities. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

5 Shorts

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

Dead Angle: Institutions

Lessons from a Calf

Kore-eda Hirokazu Japan, 1991, 47′

An elementary school class in Japan looks after a calf. By taking responsibility for a living creature, the children learn not only math and science in a playful way, but valuable lessons about life as well.

Letters from Wolf Street

Listy z Wilczej

Arjun Talwar

Poland, Germany, 2025, 97′

From his apartment on Warsaw’s Wilcza Street, Indian immigrant Arjun Talwar �ilms a changing Poland. The street becomes a microcosm of the country, populated by characters who offer new insights into contemporary society.

Letters to My Dead Parents

Cartas a mis padres muertos

Ignacio Agüero Chile, 2025, 112′

An associative �ilm in which the �ilmmaker re�lects on memories of his long-deceased parents. Home movies and footage from Chile’s dictatorial past contrast with idyllic images of his garden.

FR

Tuschinski 4 + Talk

Podium Mozaïek

Eye: Cinema 1

International Competition

The Kartli Kingdom WP

Qartlis Tskhovreba /

Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel Georgia, France, 2025, 105′

A former sanatorium in Georgia is home to around 200 families who �led the 1993 war in Abkhazia. The building is now on the verge of collapse, yet the families’ pleas for a digni�ied existence go unheard.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Pathé City 7 P&I

Life After Siham

La vie après Siham

Namir Abdel Messeeh France, Egypt, 2025, 80′

Best of Fests

Using Egyptian �ilm classics and home videos, Namir Abdel Messeeh makes a �ilm about his late mother Siham. In doing so, he comes to terms with his grief and discovers more about her life before he was born. FR

Signed

Life Invisible EP

Vida invisible

Bettina Perut, Iván Osnovikoff Chile, United Kingdom, 2024, 20′

A microbiologist searches the Atacama Desert in Chile for a life-saving medicine against antibiotic resistance. Time is running out, because the delicate ecosystem is being disrupted by lithium mining for electric cars.

SA ��

��

Pathé City 3 Shorts

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Shorts

Best of Fests Liti Liti

The Attachment

Mamadou Khouma Gueye

Senegal, Belgium, 2025, 76′

The neighborhood in Dakar where �ilmmaker Mamadou Khouma Gueye’s mother lived for decades has to make way for a new train line. As Gueye documents the forced relocation of the community, he also creates a sensitive, poetic portrait of his mother. FR

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Best of Fests

The Long Way to the Pasture Жайлоого

Ilgiz-Sherniiaz Tursunbek uulu

Kyrgyzstan, 2025, 23′

An observational, highly cinematic account of a recurring episode in the semi-nomadic life of a Kyrgyz shepherd family: the challenging relocation of the village’s livestock to the summer pastures.

SA ��

Pathé City 3 Shorts SU

TU

TH

SA

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Kriterion 1 Shorts

Tuschinski 4 Shorts Top 10

Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death

Arthur Jafa

United States, 2016, 8′

A powerful video collage set to Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam,” made from home videos, found footage, and archival material. Footage of African-American icons from sports, music, and politics intertwines with civil rights protests and police violence.

SA

Eye: Cinema 1

Best of Fests

Love+War

Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

United States, 2025, 97′ Lynsey Addario’s work as a war photographer is as dangerous as it is crucial, but she’s also got a family to stay alive for. Oscar-winning directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin present a powerful portrait of that dual commitment.

FR �� ����� The Pulse 1

SA �� ����� The Pulse 1

SU ��

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal MO

Tuschinski 2

Pathé City 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Envision Competition

Love-22-Love WP

Jeroen Kooijmans

Netherlands, 2025, 84′

A candid �ilm debut in which Jeroen Kooijmans uses home videos to trace his long struggle with depression, including a psychotic episode in New York in the wake of 9/11. Presented as a love letter to his partner and fellow artist Elspeth Diederix.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5

MO �� ����� Pathé City 3 P&I

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 1

TH �� ����� The Pulse 2

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Best of Fests

L’mina

Randa Marou�i

Morocco, France, Italy, Qatar, 2025, 26′

The coal mine in Jerada, in northeastern Morocco, is o�icially closed, but miners still enter it clandestinely to work every day. With the help of former miners in a reconstructed mine shaft, Randa Marou�i builds a picture of this shadow industry.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

SU ��

Pathé City 7 Shorts MO

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Pathé Noord 2 Shorts

Mailin WP

International Competition

María Silvia Esteve Argentina, France, Romania, 2025, 89′

To allow her daughter the childhood she never had, Mailin needs to confront her own pain and fear, as she seeks justice for the sexual abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of a priest and family friend.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 P&I

MO �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

TH �� ����� Pathé City 4

Pathé Noord 7

Mare’s Nest

Ben Rivers

FR ��

SA ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Dead Angle: Institutions La Maison de la Radio

Nicolas Philibert France, Japan, 2012, 103′

Nicolas Philibert follows various employees at Radio France, which manages several French public radio networks, over a 24-hour period. This entertaining tribute puts a face to the passionate voices behind the scenes.

FR �� ����� Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

IDFA Junior

The Man Who Can De man die alles kan

Nadine Kuipers Netherlands, 2011, 17′

11-year-old Malik, who has Down syndrome, moves to Senegal with his family. At �irst, he has di�iculty �inding his way, but when his father tells him a story about an African king, Malik rediscovers his self-con�idence. Screening in Dutch as part of IDFA Junior.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Signed

The Man Who Plants the Baobabs EP

L’homme qui plante les baobabs

Michel K. Zongo Burkina Faso, 2025, 75′

This is the remarkable story of El Hadji Salifou Ouédraogo. By personally planting thousands of baobab trees in Burkina Faso, he has had a huge positive impact on the natural world and the lives of local people.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 5

SU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 3 TH �� ����� Pathé City 7 FR �� ����� The Pulse 1

Manal Issa, 2024

Elisabeth Subrin

United States, 2025, 10′

Lowland Kids

Sandra Winther

United States, Denmark, 2025, 94′ Howard and Juliette are the last teens still living on the magical Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, USA. Oil companies and climate change have destroyed the island, forcing most residents to �lee. A personal and young perspective on urgent global issues. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

SU �� ����� The Pulse 2

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 2

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 2

WE �� ����� The Pulse 2

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

Without appearing on camera, Lebanese-French actress Manal Issa answers the same questions about her profession that were asked of actress Maria Schneider in 1983. Issa has taken the decision to stop acting until there is a cease�ire in Gaza.

FR �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

Pathé City 7 Shorts

Tuschinski 4 Shorts

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Signed

Marc by So�ia

So�ia Coppola

United States, 2025, 87′

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs in conversation with So�ia Coppola, looking back on his career and the people who shaped him, in the lead-up to presenting his spring collection. We follow the perfectionist at work.

The Long Way to the Pasture

Signed

United Kingdom, France, Canada, 2025, 98′

Playful hybrid �ilm in which a young girl named Moon roams a world without adults. Along the way, she meets other children and encounters ideas, philosophies and rituals, and faces the future.

FR ��

Tuschinski 3

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Nyasha Kadandara

Kenya, Zimbabwe, Canada, 2025, 76′

Twenty years after �leeing his home country of Zimbabwe, Chris is still struggling. To recover and truly make a fresh start, he must confront the cruel fate of his family in Matabeleland.

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2 TU �� ����� Tuschinski

Melt

Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Austria, 2025, 128′

The Men’s Land

Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani Georgia, 2025, 15′

In the Georgian mountain villages of Ushguli, customs dictate that only men can inherit land. When Ana, who dreams of a singing career, inherits a plot of land with her father’s house on it, she has to contend with her male cousin.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts MO

Pathé City 1 Shorts

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Best of Fests

Militantropos

Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi Ukraine, Austria, France, 2025, 111′ Solidarity, grief, and de�iance have de�ined daily life in Ukraine since the very �irst day of the Russian full-scale invasion. This powerful account shows how war inevitably in�iltrates every aspect of life and the human psyche.

FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 6

SU �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Signed

Stunning shots of places blanketed with ice and snow—in shades of white, gray and silver—intersperse scenes of local people telling their urgent stories about the impact of climate change on the landscape and their lives.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 1 SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3 TU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Eye: Cinema 2

The Pulse 2

The Memory of Butter�lies

Best of Fests

La memoria de las mariposas

Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski

Peru, Portugal, 2025, 77′

After becoming fascinated by an old photograph of two indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon, Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski investigates the rubber trade and her own family’s past. An alternative reading of colonial history.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 5 SA �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Memory

Vladlena Sandu

France, Netherlands, 2025, 98′

In her �irst feature-length documentary �ilmmaker Vladlena Sandu, who lived through the war in Chechnya as a child, studies her traumatic memories in order to transcend and transform them via cinema.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 6

��

Pathé City 2

WE �� ����� Pathé City 3

Eye: Cinema 1

The Pulse 1

A Missed Call

Francesco Manzato Italy, 2024, 10′

Monikondee

Tolin Erwin Alexander, Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan

Suriname, Netherlands, 2025, 103′

Climate change and gold mining steadily erode the sources of life for the Indigenous and Maroon communities in Suriname. During a trip along the Maroni river we learn of the pressures they face and their resilience, evoked in stories and songs.

Murmurations WP

Xavier Marrades Spain, 2025, 21′

Isolated during COVID and longing to connect, �ilmmaker Xavier Marrades �ilms the mesmerizing �light of starlings and re�lects on his HIV diagnosis. Their movements evoke memories of grief, survival, resilience and collective strength.

SA

Best of Fests

My Armenian Phantoms

Best of Fests

In a desolated surreal universe, a man leaves a voice message: “Where I am now, there is nothing.” Combining video game with �ilm and reality with imagination, this is a dreamlike journey that makes you wonder about connection, regret and loneliness. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

SU ��

MO

TH

SA

SU

Pathé City 7 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2 Shorts

Pathé City 5 Shorts

Pathé Noord 3 Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Luminous

Mohammed & Paul –

Once Upon a Time in Tangier WP

Nordin Lasfar Netherlands, 2025, 93′

Through interviews, archival footage, and magical realism, the �ilm explores the complex relationship between storyteller Mohammed Mrabet and author Paul Bowles in Tangier in the 1960s and 1970s—it also raises the question of who stories belong to. TU

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal

Tuschinski 2

Monangambééé

Sarah Maldoror

France, Angola, 1968, 16′

Mes fantômes arméniens

Tamara Stepanyan

France, Armenia, Qatar, 2025, 75′ Tamara Stepanyan enters into a dialogue with the spirit of her father, a celebrated Armenian actor. Through �ilm excerpts and from her own perspective, she sketches the history of her family and of a complex, resilient country.

SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

3

My Foreign Land EP

Frontlight

Minha terra estrangeira Coletivo Lakapoy, Louise Botkay, João Moreira Salles Brazil, 2025, 99′

A father and daughter �ight to preserve their environment and the interests of their people, the Suruí tribe of the Amazon. Coletivo Lakapoy, Louise Botkay and João Moreira Salles follow them in the run-up to the Brazilian elections.

My Happy Complicated Family

Mijn gelukkige ingewikkelde familie

Top 10

An absurd language mix-up leads to an Angolan man being mistaken by the Portuguese occupiers for a dangerous, armed freedom

Incarcerated, his expressions of despair resemble a modern dance.

Tessa Louise Pope Netherlands, 2017, 17′

In this fresh, uplifting �ilm, we encounter three girls and their complicated families. At times it’s di�icult with extra mothers, a donor dad, and step-siblings; but Isa, Dylan and Isabel also feel very much at home in their double families. Screening in Dutch as part of

Night – “Ain’t I a child?”

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

My Sister’s Room WP

La chambre de ma soeur

Pauline Doméjean France, 2025, 31′

An intimate portrait of Justine who resides in her bedroom and feels down. The camera hardly ever leaves her room, and neither does she. She sleeps, scrolls and socializes in bed. A �ilm that delicately reveals the impact of depression and anxiety. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Tuschinski 4 Shorts

FR ��

SU

Best of Fests My Undesirable Friends:

Part I – Last Air in Moscow

Julia Loktev

United States, 2024, 324′

In the months leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Julia Loktev �ilmed a group of young women who were among the last independent journalists in the country. Her compelling account reveals how rapidly authoritarianism can escalate.

Mijn woord tegen het mijne Maasja Ooms Netherlands, 2025, 114′ Five people who hear voices undergo a new treatment: a psychiatrist invites the voices to take the �loor. The sessions reveal how this revolutionary approach allows patients to gradually get a handle on what’s going on inside their minds. FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

The Pulse 2

Pathé Noord 11 SA

Tuschinski 5 Frontlight

The New Policy

Regarding Homeless Asylum Seekers IP Dennis Harvey Sweden, Ireland, 2025, 14′ Olivia and a group of volunteers help homeless asylum seekers in Dublin, despite opposition from the government and far-right hatred on the streets. An urgent piece of documentary journalism on Ireland’s increasingly inhumane asylum policy.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 5 MO

Pathé City 1 TU

Tuschinski 4 FR

Tuschinski 5 SU ��

Kriterion 1

Frontlight

No Sunshine in Here IP

Aqui não entra luz

Karol Maia

Brazil, 2025, 79′

From a combination of historical research and personal memoirs, a picture emerges of the life of domestic workers in Brazil. Labor rights were granted only in 2013, thanks to women and black activists who fought for the recognition of their profession.

TU �� ����� Tuschinski 5 WE �� ����� Pathé City 7 FR �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Tuschinski 5

Nomad Spirit IP Andariega

Raúl Soto Rodríguez

Colombia, 2025, 95′

Luminous

Seasonal laborer María “Chena” Benítez has to perform hard physical work to support her family, far away from her young son. Her only outlet is the diary where she records her thoughts.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 3 WE �� ����� Tuschinski 6 TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

Pathé Noord 9

Tuschinski 3

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Now That We Are Sending You to The End WP

Blake Knecht

United States, 2025, 13′

A girl predicts the end of the world. The deteriorating desert ecosystem directly affects this �ilm: Blake Knecht treated the 16mm �ilm with salt dried up from the Great Salt Lake and buried it in desert soil.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 3 Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 3 Shorts

TU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts TH �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award Winner

Award Ceremony for the presentation of the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award, made available by Dutch broadcaster NPO. The winning �ilm was chosen by the audience and screens after the ceremony.

SA �� ����� Pathé Noord 1

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias Obscure Light

Luz obscura

Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, 2017, 76′

Three children speak about the traumatic impact of the persecution of their parents, labeled enemies of the state by Portugal’s 20th-century dictatorship. A restrained but powerful reconstruction of childhoods scarred by an inhuman regime.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 TU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Outliving Shakespeare WP

Inna Sahakyan

Signed

Obscure Night – “Ain’t I a child?”

Nuit obscure – “Ain’t I a child?”

Sylvain George France, Switzerland, Portugal, 2024, 164′

In the hopeful glow of the illuminated Eiffel Tower, homeless Moroccan boys who have migrated there illegally share their harrowing escape stories with director Sylvain George—as they hustle their way to a better future, somewhere in Europe.

FR

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

An Open Field WP

Teboho Edkins

South Africa, France, Germany, 2025, 38′

Teboho Edkins and his father visit the site in Ethiopia where his brother died in a plane crash in 2019. There, they encounter a community still deep in grief, tenderly cherishing the memory of the victims. SU

Signed

Orwell: 2+2=5

Raoul Peck

France, United States, 2025, 119′

Raoul Peck’s portrait of George Orwell— author of the dystopian satires Animal Farm and 1984—expands its perspective to examine current developments in the world. Orwell’s ominous vision of future totalitarianism feels eerily prescient today.

FR ��

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal SU �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Tuschinski 1

Pathé Noord 6

Envision Competition

Our Body Is an

Expanding Star WP

Nuestro cuerpo es una estrella que se expande

Semillites Hernández Velasco, Tania Hernández Velasco Mexico, 2025, 84′

An abstract nature �ilm, creative journey of self-discovery and moving family portrait of two Mexican siblings. A voyage through bodies and nature in transition, tracing family histories, in search of new narratives. MO ��

Pathé City 2

Kriterion 1

Our Body

Notre corps

Luminous

Armenia, Netherlands, 2025, 94′

In an Armenian retirement home, a theater director rehearses a play with residents about Shakespeare and his characters. We follow the everyday concerns and deeper woes that befall the amateur actors from casting to premiere. TU

Best of Fests

Paci�ic Vein

Ulu Braun

Germany, 2024, 12′

Big brands and celebrities, pollution and self-care, the homeless and Elon Musk—they all coexist in this surreal universe. As if in a sightseeing cart, we drive along apocalyptic landscapes and get a dazzling tour of Western culture. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

7 Shorts

Luminous

Paikar WP Dawood Hilmandi

Netherlands, Afghanistan, 2025, 97′

Years after leaving Iran, Afghan-Dutch artist and �ilmmaker Dawood Hilmandi returns to his childhood home. In Paikar, he portrays his relationship with his aging, authoritarian father. SA

Tuschinski 4 + Talk hosted by TYD

Frontlight

Palestine Comedy Club EP

Alaa Aaliabdallah

United Kingdom, Palestine, 2025, 98′

Comedians from all over Palestine bring a high-spirited theater show to audiences across the region, promoting diversity and a zest for life. We follow their turbulent road trip, which becomes much more intense after 7 October 2023.

SA ��

Tuschinski 4

The Pulse 1

Tuschinski 4

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Tuschinski 6

Podium Mozaïek

International Competition Palimpsest: The Story of a Name EP

Mary Stephen France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, 2025, 109′

For someone from an ordinary Chinese family, Mary Stephen is an unusual name. Why did her parents choose it? A nuanced essay on the need to reinvent yourself and rewrite your own story.

MO �� ����� Tuschinski 4

Pathé City 5 P&I

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Tuschinski 6 FR

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Podium Mozaïek SU ��

Tuschinski 6

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Paper Houses and Horses WP

An Chu Taiwan, 2025, 19′ Poetic and delicately crafted portrayal of a ritual guiding a deceased child in Taiwan into the afterlife. The parents are absent, so the ceremony is performed by staff members at a funeral home.

Dead Angle: Institutions Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed

Donald Brittain

Canada, 1979, 58′

Biting sarcasm in the form of a humorous nature documentary: a deadpan voice-over comments on the behavior, habitat, and fascinating survival mechanisms of the Homo bureaucratus SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

Luminous

Passion According to Agnieszka IP

Pasja wedlug Agnieszki

Wojciech Staroń Poland, 2025, 50′

Editor Agnieszka Bojanowska (1932–2019) was exacting in her work. This trait brought out the best in director Bogdan Dziworski in their regular collaborations. Behind the scenes in the editing room, the duo clash, exchange ideas, and inspire one another. FR

Tuschinski 4

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Envision Competition Past Future Continuous IP

Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani

Iran, Norway, Italy, 2025, 76′ A woman who has �led Iran asks her aging parents, who stayed behind, to install cameras throughout their home so she can remain connected from afar. As she watches the footage, she re�lects on family, political unrest in Tehran, and longing for home. SA

Luminous

Pedro Tomás Explains the World IP Pedro Tomás explica el mundo Kornelijus Stučkus

Spain, 2025, 6′ Pedro Tomás, an inhabitant of the Canary Island of La Palma, sees the world differently from most people—as a result, he can sometimes be misunderstood. In this short �ilm, beauty and pain can be found close together. SU

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias

Post Criminal Case WP Pós processo-crime

Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, 2025, 40′ In this sequel to Criminal Case 141/53 (2000), Susana de Sousa Dias re�lects on the earlier �ilm, and on the complex dialogue between archive and personal memory in a history marked by dictatorship.

Tuschinski 4

SA

Envision Competition Powwow People EP

Sky Hopinka

United States, 2025, 88′ Sky Hopinka, a member of the HoChunk Nation, organized and �ilmed a powwow. In cinéma vérité style, he shows how this traditional singing and dancing event gives Native Americans a sense of the past, present, and future.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2 MO

Pathé City 4 P&I

Dead Angle: Institutions

Claire Simon France, 2023, 168′

A story of life in the obstetrics and gynecology department, both deeply intimate, and clinically detailed. Claire Simon’s patient observations offer a profound insight into the female body and what it’s like to live in it.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts SU ��

Pathé City 7 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Tuschinski 3 Shorts

Pathé Noord 2 Shorts

Dead Angle: Institutions

Pride of Place

Kim Longinotto, Dorothea Gazidis

United Kingdom, 1976, 60′

Kim Longinotto and Dorothea Gazidis

analyse the educational system of the isolated and repressive girls’ boarding school that Longinotto ran away from years before. They reveal it to be an isolated, repressive world full of absurd regulations.

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1 WE

Eye: Cinema 1

Best of Fests

The Prince of Nanawa El príncipe de Nanawa

Clarisa Navas

Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Germany, 2025, 212′

By chance, an Argentine �ilm crew happens to meet the charismatic nineyear-old Ángel. What follows is a nearly decade-long chronicle of how this boy �inds his way in the marginalized border region between Argentina and Paraguay.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 3 SA ��

Pathé City 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 Best of Fests

Queer As Punk

Yihwen Chen

Malaysia, 2025, 88′

An energetic and infectious �ilm about the queer punk band Shh…Diam! A self-chosen family for the band members, who are criminalized in Malaysia because of their gender identity. Their close bond helps them overcome countless obstacles.

SA

Kriterion

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel + Talk hosted by Stichting Prisma Groep

Tuschinski 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Mohanad Yaqubi

Palestine, Belgium, Qatar, 2022, 71′ Militant �ilms made between 1960 and 1980 presented the Palestinian struggle as a shining example to Japanese people opposed to US hegemony. An epilogue questions the boundary between sympathy, propaganda and identi�ication.

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Rahhala: Hayya ala Hayya IP

Lujain Jo Lebanon, Qatar, 2025, 18′

This testimony of domestic violence is told by a woman who recalls fragmented memories of a decade of abuse endured by her and her sisters. The �ilm consists entirely of abstract images and fragments of text—shards of a story.

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 6 Shorts

����� Pathé City 1 Shorts

Pathé City 6 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts FR

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Best of Fests

Rashid, the Boy from Sinjar

Rashid, l’enfant de Sinjar

Jasna Krajinovič Belgium, France, 2025, 80′

A teen with big red curls shares how he was imprisoned by IS as a child. While recalling his story, he retains a captivating warmth. Now he has to decide: stay with his family in Sinjar, the homeland of the Yezidis in Iraq, or leave for a safer place? Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

FR ��

The Pulse 2

Tuschinski 4

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal

Best of Fests

Redlight to Limelight

Bipuljit Basu

India, Finland, Latvia, 2025, 100′

Making �ilms is a way for a group of sex workers in the Indian city of Kolkata to give their lives a new, hopeful impetus. Full of energy and with growing self-con�idence, they show who they really are.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 7

�� ����� The Pulse 1

�� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

�� ����� Tuschinski 2 SA �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Signed Remake

Ross McElwee

United States, 2025, 117′

The death of his son Adrian forces Ross McElwee to look back. Was there something he missed? Through means of old family videos and memories, the �ilmmaker tries to make sense of how both their lives unfolded.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 MO �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 + Talk TH �� ����� Tuschinski 5 FR �� ����� Pathé Noord 3

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Return to al-Ma’in

Forensic Architecture

United Kingdom, 2025, 31′

Seeds

Brittany Shyne

United States, 2025, 123′

Top 10

Palestinian historian Salman Abu Sitta worked with Forensic Architecture to create a reconstruction of his vanished birthplace, al-Ma’in. They discovered that the Israeli army has brought the old route from al-Ma’in back into use.

MO �� ����� Pathé City 6

SA �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Rosa de Areia

Desert Rose

Top 10

Margarida Cordeiro, António Reis

Portugal, 1989, 88′

This �ilm essay evolves as a collage of texts, symbols, and visual poetry among the rocks and valleys of the mountainous Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal—a landscape where history leaves its traces and is transformed into myth.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 3 TH �� ����� Pathé City 1

Río Turbio

Shady River

Tatiana Mazú González

Argentina, 2020, 82′

Top 10

An unusually composed account of women’s resistance in a male-dominated mining town in Patagonia. The women’s stories, including the founding of a feminist radio station, add color to the struggle of the “coal women.”

FR ��

Tuschinski 3 TH �� ����� Pathé City 2

A Scary Movie

Una película de miedo

Sergio Oksman

Spain, Portugal, 2025, 72′

Signed

Filmmaker Sergio Oksman tries to discover what frightens his 12-year-old son, while his own fears start to weigh on him. This �ilm shows that the feelings we fear most go far deeper than �iction. FR ��

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 6

City 6

1

4 + Talk

Paradocs

The Seasons

As estações

Maureen Fazendeiro

Portugal, France, Spain, Austria, 2025, 83′

The southern Portuguese region of Alentejo, its history, and its inhabitants are explored creatively by interweaving dreamlike 16mm footage with local legends, poems, and the �ield notes of two German archaeologists from the 1940s.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Cinema 2

4

Pathé Noord 9

In contemplative black-and-white scenes, this award-winning documentary captures the daily lives of Black farmers in the American South, as they struggle to preserve their way of life and ancestral land amid poverty and discrimination. FR

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Luminous, Best of Fests

Shorts: Current Future –My Other Universe

Three �ilms for ages 14+ exploring unique universes. In If You Don’t Like It, Look Away retired girls laugh and talk about sex. In A Missed Call a man in outer space phones home. My Sister’s Room shows a teen in her bedroom dealing with her mental health. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Tuschinski 4

Zaal 2

Luminous, Best of Fests

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests Shorts: Flashbacks to the Present

In carefully crafted, beautifully executed �ilms, the �ilmmakers recount memories of violence, protest and occupation that still haunt us today. This compilation program consists of Dead Tongue, As I

The Sessions WP De sessies

Sien Versteyhe Belgium, 2025, 71′

A young student undergoes trauma therapy for an act of sexual violence committed by someone she trusted. She lives with the consequences of this trauma every day, while her rapist appears to get away with what he has done.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

SA ��

Eye: Cinema 1

International Competition The Shipwrecked WP De schipbreukelingen Diego Gutiérrez Netherlands, 2025, 115′

Tender, contemplative and visually stunning �ilm about life’s big questions. How should one live in challenging times? Mexican-Dutch �ilmmaker Diego Gutiérrez searches for answers in Mexico through portraits of survivors in a fractured world.

SA ��

Eye: Cinema 1

Pathé City 4

Tuschinski 5

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Pathé Noord 10

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Signed, Best of Fests Shorts: All Eyes On ...

In these politically charged �ilms, workers, lovers and activists in Amsterdam and Brussels struggle to stay connected during overwhelming times of genocide and oppression. This compilation program consists of Wishful Filming Far From Beyrouth and happiness

Shorts: Current Future –Roots

of My Future

Three �ilms for 14+ about our pasts and futures. In As the Crow Flies, a teenager has to leave his home forever. Paci�ic Vein is a colorful tour of the Western lifestyle. Skin Despair examines the effects of male micro-aggression on a teenage girl. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 7

Pathé City 7

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Tuschinski 5

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests

Shorts: Current Future

– When Everything Changed

Three �ilms for 14+ that explore change. Some of You Fucked Eva recalls the day when all the cheerleaders fainted at once. In kiss kiss bang bang, the director is transitioning and �ilms his girlfriend’s reaction. Beneath Which Rivers Flow shows the bond between a boy and nature. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

SA ��

Pathé City 6

Kriterion 1

Tuschinski 5

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Luminous, Best of Fests

Shorts: Dreamscapes

In these playful, immersive, creative �ilms, lucid dreams and aspirations are captured, offering evocative glimpses into the subconscious. This compilation program consists of Blackout Dreams, +10k and The In-The-Head Film

Pathé City 6

Tuschinski 6

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Tuschinski 6

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Frontlight, Luminous, Best of Fests

Shorts: Elusive Being

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests, Signed Shorts: Inhospitable Landscapes

Through

shots of

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Luminous, Best of Fests Shorts: Manufactured Control

In haunting re�lections on how we structure our world, these powerful �ilms explore the ways in which the systems we create both enable and oppress us. This compilation program consists of 9,192,631,770 Hz Air Horse One, Detach and Fear Nothing

Shorts: Paradocs

Compilation program featuring extraordinary �ilms from the Paradocs selection: Slet 1988 Bardo and Manal Issa, 2024

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Luminous Shorts: Passages

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Signed Shorts: Bound Together

In these engaging, intimate portraits, the directors explore uncomfortable family stories with transgenerational implications. This compilation program consists of Heartbeat Dreams for a Better Past and Triangle

Colorful, poetic, expressive �ilms about fragile ecosystems that harbor mysterious, delicate, resilient human and more-than-human beings. This compilation program consists of Asparagus Bear, Murmurations and Solenopsis invicta

In these tender and poignant �ilms, a volcano, a sea, and a �ield carry the tangible memories of disasters that still resonate deeply today. This compilation program consists of Pedro Tomás Explains

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests

Shorts: Powering Through Patriarchy

Through determination and a burning desire for equality, the women in these urgent �ilms strive to claim their place in an infuriatingly male-dominated world. This compilation program consists of Auto Queens, The Men’s Land and Rahhala: Hayya ala Hayya

Tuschinski 5

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, Best of Fests Shorts: Shadow Industries

Imaginative and creative �ilms on the often-ignored lives of manual workers, whose anonymous labor is taken for granted. This compilation program consists of In�inity River L’mina and Paper Houses and Horses SA ��

Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 7

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Tuschinski 3

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk Ukraine, Germany, 2025, 90′

This idyllic portrait of a paci�ist religious community living in seclusion in Ukraine offers a unique perspective on the country at war, as its members �ind a way of their own to contribute to the struggle.

Tuschinski 4 + Talk hosted by De Groene Amsterdammer

Kriterion

Sirens Call

of Fests

Miri Ian Gossing, Lina Sieckmann Germany, Netherlands, 2025, 121′ An unusual combination of documentary, road movie and science �iction about psychologist Gina Rønning and the American merfolk subculture in which she found a home as the mermaid Una. Shot on 16mm, the �ilm has a languid, �luid atmosphere. FR

Signed

The Six Billion Dollar Man

Eugene Jarecki

United States, Germany, 2025, 129′

From secret recordings to interviews with former heads of state, this account leaves no stone unturned in showing how Julian Assange made enemies at the highest levels. Tense, detailed and disturbing.

FR �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

Tuschinski 5

Skin Despair

La desesperació de la pell

Mireia Vilapuig Spain, 2025, 20′

Mireia only has one video from when she was 13. Playful teen images accompany her memories from that year. Like when a man offered her a hotel room. This �ilm powerfully reveals how sexual violence has become just a normal part of girls’ lives. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Pathé City 7 Shorts

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 Shorts

Tuschinski 5 Shorts

IDFA Junior

Skip and the Rhythm Rangers

Olivier S. Garcia

Netherlands, 2018, 15′

Dance is the most important thing in 14-year-old Skip’s life—even if that means being teased by classmates who think dancing is for girls. When his group gets the chance to take part in a dance competition, he’s completely committed to the rehearsals. Screening in Dutch as part of IDFA Junior.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

Slet 1988

Marta Popivoda

Paradocs

Germany, France, Serbia, 2025, 22′

A legendary dance solo from the last mass public performance (slet) in former Yugoslavia sparks a re�lection on how bodies, architecture, and political ideas change simultaneously—but each in their own way.

FR �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 7 Shorts

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

TH �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts FR �� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

Best of Fests

Solenopsis invicta

Victor Missud France, 2025, 31′

A cactus nursery in Sicily is tended by a remarkable community living in harmony with nature—until the outside world intrudes in the form of pest controllers. An affectionate group portrait, �ilmed with imaginative freedom.

SA �� ����� Tuschinski 4 Shorts

SU �� ����� Pathé City 2 Shorts

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5 Shorts FR �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

SU �� ����� Tuschinski 2 Shorts

Best of Fests

Some of You Fucked Eva

Lilith Grasmug France, 2025, 15′

At a high school in North Carolina in 2002, a group of cheerleaders all fainted at the same time. This artistic �ilm is a strange and engaging dark trip revolving around this mystery—recalling the incident, but without a desire to ever solve it. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

SA �� ����� Pathé City 6 Shorts

SU �� ����� Kriterion 1 Shorts

�� ����� Tuschinski 5 Shorts

�� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1 Shorts

Synthetic

International Competition

doesn’t play by the rules.

Signed

Tales of the Wounded Land

Abbas Fahdel

Lebanon, 2025, 120′

Dead Angle: Institutions

State Legislature

Frederick Wiseman

United States, 2006, 217′

During the full three months of a legislative session, Frederick Wisemans shows the day-to-day activities in the Idaho Legislature—demonstrating the achievements, values, constraints and limitations of the democratic process.

SU

Steal This Story, Please! IP

Carl Deal, Tia Lessin

United States, 2025, 101′

Frontlight

An impressive portrait of the New York-based independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman, who reports courageously on global injustices. At a time when press freedom in the US is under threat, these are hitting closer and closer to home.

SA

Amid countless streets piled high with rubble, a Lebanese family report on life in their war-torn city of Nabatieh and their fellow citizens, who, alongside deep grief and outrage, feel a determination to rebuild their homes.

Tuschinski 6

International Competition Those Who Watch Over EP Ceux qui veillent

Karima Saïdi

Belgium, France, Qatar, 2025, 89′

A multireligious cemetery in Brussels is open to all. Karima Saïdi captures the visitors and the tending of the gravestones—reminders of the deceased who are buried here in their new homeland. SU

Tuschinski 4

The Pulse 1

Signed Time to the Target

Vitaly Mansky

Retrospective: Susana de Sousa Dias Still Life

Natureza morta – Visages d’une dictature Susana de Sousa Dias

Portugal, France, 2005, 72′ Portugal’s Carnation Revolution of 1974 brought an end to the longest dictatorship of 20th-century Europe. A collage of news images, propaganda �ilms and police photos sketch a picture of this almost forgotten and barely processed era.

MO ��

Tuschinski 3

Eye: Cinema 2

Olia Verriopoulou Greece, France, 2025, 76′ Greek-born �ilmmaker Olia Verriopoulou is astonished to discover that her friend So�ia knows nothing about her illness, as doctors and relatives have hidden it from her. She takes a playful approach in exploring this cultural practice.

Surprise Screening

Attend an extra, surprise screening of a

that was a resounding success during the festival.

Latvia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, 2025, 179′

Even in Lviv, far from the front lines, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is all-pervading. The �ilmmaker follows daily life in his hometown for a year, giving a central role to the military brass band that accompanies the endless funeral processions.

Tuschinski 5

SA

Tuschinski 3

Pathé City 1

Timestamp

Kateryna Gornostai Ukraine, Luxembourg, Netherlands, 2025, 126′

Best of Fests

The war impacts young people in Ukraine as well as adults. Filmmaker Kateryna Gonorstai travels east through the country, �ilming schools in bomb shelters and lessons about mines. How do children cope with all this and how do they see the future?

Tuschinski 6

Tuschinski 3

Best of Fests

To Use a Mountain

Casey Carter

United States, 2025, 99′

Against the impassive logic of government analysis and archives, a people’s history of resistance emerges through a visceral journey across the landscapes, ecologies, and personal histories of the candidate sites for a nuclear dumping ground.

Dead Angle: Institutions

Toute la mémoire du monde

All the World’s Memory

Alain Resnais France, 1956, 21′

A tour of the National Library of France, which holds one of the world’s largest collections of human knowledge. A somewhat wry voiceover guides us along miles of bookshelves, thousands of pounds of newspapers, and into rooms totally �illed with maps.

SA �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

4

Best of Fests

The Travelers

Les Voyageurs

David Bingong

Cameroon, Spain, 2025, 60′

On the border between Morocco and Spain, young African men wait for their chance to enter Europe. One of them documents their repeated attempts, providing an eyewitness account from the front line of the refugee crisis.

SA ��

Treat Me Like Your

Mohamad Abdouni Lebanon, 2025, 76′

A revealing documentary, in the form of a photographic scrapbook, about the forgotten history of the trans community in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Four trans women engage in conversation, re�lecting and recalling memories.

SA ��

5

Kriterion 1

Dead Angle: Institutions

The Trial

El juicio

Ulises de la Orden Argentina, Norway, France, Italy, 2023, 177′

A record of the unique trial of the Argentine military junta in 1985, edited from hundreds of hours of television footage. The viewer is present in the courtroom as witnesses paint a horrifying picture of perverse state terror.

SA

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary Triangle IP

Anaël Dang

France, 2025, 31′

Revealing portrait of the family formed by director Anaël Dang and his parents. Twenty-one years after a painful family secret came to light, they re�lect on the past and their mutual bond.

SA

Trillion

Victor Kossakovsky

Norway, United

A woman walks barefoot over a rocky outcrop, somewhere by the sea. Who is she, and what is she doing there? Is it a meditation, an act of penance, de�iance perhaps? Or a gesture of love?

A minimalist, masterful call to action by Victor Kossakovsky. SU

SA

The Pulse 1

Tuschinski 2

�� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel Shorts

Luminous

Truck Mama WP

Zipporah Nyaruri

Kenya, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, 2025, 85′

Eva, a mother of two, is proud to be a truck driver, but it’s not an easy life. During the long journeys through East Africa, she not only faces problems along the way, but also feels the distance from her youngest son.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 6

Tuschinski 2

Pathé City 5 P&I WE

Podium Mozaïek TH

Bijlmerbios FR

SA

The Pulse 1

Pathé Noord 12 Frontlight

True North IP

Michèle Stephenson

Canada, United States, 2025, 96′

Personal testimonies and previously unseen footage help to shed light on a crucial chapter in the history of the Black liberation movement in Canada, which culminated in a prolonged student occupation in Montreal in 1969.

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 3 P&I

Podium Mozaïek

Pathé City 4

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Kriterion 1

Under the Flags, the Sun

Best of Fests

Bajo las banderas, el sol Juanjo Pereira Paraguay, Argentina, United States, France, Germany, 2025, 90′

Produced entirely from archival footage, this �ilm paints a picture of the propaganda machine surrounding dictator Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay with an iron �ist from 1954 to 1989.

TH ��

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Noord 3 Special Screenings

The Underground Orchestra

Het ondergronds orkest

Heddy Honigmann

Netherlands, France, 1997, 112′

In The Underground Orchestra now restored, Heddy Honigmann (1951–2022) follows refugees who make music in the streets and metro of Paris. A compelling portrait of exile, perseverance, humanity and the power of music.

WE �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

SU

Tuschinski 3 Paradocs

Underground Kaori Oda Japan, 2024, 83′ A spectral apparition guides us through layers of time. Fragmented memories, transcending time and place, linger below the surface—in caves, in underground tunnels, at the bottom of an arti�icial lake.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 3

SU �� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 6

TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Best of Fests

The Vanishing Point

Bani Khoshnoudi Iran, United States, France, 2025, 104′

This sensitive and meticulously crafted visual essay weaves an Iranian family history into the broader history of the country. A personal account of an empty childhood home, quiet resistance, and loud political protest.

FR �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2

Dead Angle: Institutions War and Peace

Guerra e pace

Massimo D’Anol�i, Martina Parenti Italy, Switzerland, 2020, 128′

Every day we can witness scenes from countless violent con�licts all over the world, through television, news sites, social media and newspaper images. This exciting, dreamlike �ilm explores the intimate relationship between war and cinema.

SA �� ����� Pathé City 4

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 3

Frontlight

We Are Pat EP

Rowan Haber

United States, 2025, 87′

Pat is a non-binary U.S. television character from the 1990s. A rare role model for young queers at the time, but also a painful and uncomfortable caricature. Who created Pat? Why? And what would Pat sketches look like in today’s world?

MO ��

Tuschinski 6 FR ��

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

SU �� ����� Podium Mozaïek

We Want the Funk!

Stanley Nelson, Nicole London

Signed

United States, 2025, 85′

The history of funk is the story of Black Americans asserting their identity. The upbeat We Want the Funk! also shows its religious, economic, and geopolitical dimensions.

FR �� ����� Tuschinski 1 MO �� ����� Kriterion 1

TU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1

WE �� ����� Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

TH �� ����� Tuschinski 2

FR �� ����� Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel IDFA Meets SA �� ����� Bijlmerbios

Luminous

We Were Left Alone WP

Fomos �icando sós

Adrián Canoura Spain, 2025, 82′

An at times experimental �ilm that initially appears to be about life aboard a �ishing boat. Gradually it becomes clear that the �ilmmaker’s intention is to get to know his father better, a man who spent more time at sea than with his family.

TU �� ����� Pathé City 5

WE �� ����� Tuschinski 5

WE ��

��

Signed

While the Green Grass

Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts

Peter Mettler

Switzerland, Canada, 2025, 420′

Re�lections on the human condition and our environment �low together in a stream of consciousness. Peter Mettler’s chronicle of the miracles contained in everyday things and occurrences elevates the diary into the realm of visionary cinema.

SU

Pathé City 4 P&I

The Pulse 2

Pathé Noord 8

�� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

�� ����� The Pulse 2

Weeping Rocks WP

Karlis Bergs

Luminous

United States, Latvia, 2025, 86′

Seventy-nine-year-old entomologist Art Shapiro has spent 53 years recording butter�ly populations in California during his walks. Faced with alarming declines, he’s trying to come to terms with all the changes in his life.

SU �� ����� Pathé City 6

�� ����� The Pulse 2

�� ����� Pathé City 5 P&I

�� ����� Pathé City 4

�� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

�� ����� Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Best of Fests

Welded Together

Anastasiya Mirashnichenka France, Netherlands, Belgium, 2025, 96′

An intimate, moving portrait of Katya, a woman in her early twenties, who is a professional welder. Abandoned as a child, she tries to mend her broken family while also protecting her toddler sister from their mother’s addiction.

FR �� ����� Pathé City 2

SU �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

MO �� ����� The Pulse 2 TH �� ����� Pathé City 5 SA �� ����� Tuschinski 2

Frontlight

When I Get Jailed WP

Anastasiia Vedenskaia France, 2025, 65′

Russians wanting to commemorate opposition leader Navalny are arrested and convicted. In scenes that rarely reach the public eye, we see how peaceful protests are continuing in Russia, despite Putin’s ruthless repression.

SU �� ����� Eye: Cinema 2 TU �� ����� Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

WE �� ����� Pathé City 4 P&I TH �� ����� Pathé City 5 SA �� ����� De Balie: Grote Zaal

�� ����� Tuschinski 2

Best of Fests

Whispers in the Woods

Le chant de forêts

Vincent Munier

France, 2025, 94′

Along with his son and father, nature photographer Vincent Munier (The Velvet Queen, 2021) takes us to his home in the unspoiled Vosges mountains of France. If you look and listen closely, the world reveals a breathtaking beauty.

FR

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

The Wind and All Times IP

Wishful Filming

Sarah Vanagt

Belgium, 2025, 35′

A playful exploration of Brussels, where political or personal messages can be found on every street corner. But amid the gra�iti and stickers, secret inscriptions on notes have also been hidden by construction workers.

Écrire la vie – Annie Ernaux racontée par des lycéennes et des lycéens

Claire Simon France, 2025, 90′

In this spirited celebration of the power of literature, secondary school students across France share their experiences of reading the raw and compelling work of French author and Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux.

Signed With Hasan in Gaza

Kamal Aljafari

Germany, Palestine, France, Qatar, 2025, 106′

A journal-style account of a 2001 road trip through Gaza, traveling from north to south. Scenes of daily life—by turns vibrant and bleak—form an unintended portrait of a society now likely lost forever.

FR �� ����� Kriterion 1 SA ��

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Luminous

El viento y todos los tiempos

Carla Valencia Dávila Ecuador, 2025, 83′

Carla Valencia Dávila rediscovered videos of a cycling trip she took through Uruguay as a young woman. She reedited the footage into a journey through her own past and that of the continent that shaped her family.

TU

Luminous

The Wind Blows Wherever It Wants WP

Ivan Boiko

Georgia, United Kingdom, 2025, 69′

With vast �locks of sheep, herders from Tusheti, Georgia, navigate back and forth between snow-covered mountain peaks and remote steppes—following the rhythms of the sun, the moon, and the seasons, on which the survival of this way of life depends.

Frontlight

The Woman Who Poked the Leopard IP

Patience Nitumwesiga

Uganda, South Africa, Germany, United States, 2025, 108′

After serving a a prison sentence for insulting the Ugandan president, activist and poet Stella Nyanzi runs for parliament. Although she herself calls it a sham election, it is the only way to criticize the government.

SU

Tuschinski 6 MO

Kriterion 1

Eye: Cinema 2

Bijlmerbios

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal

Best of Fests

Wrestlers

Catcher

Derhwa Kasunzu Burkina Faso, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, 2025, 63′

A club of aging Congolese wrestlers are training for a special “catch wrestling” tournament—it’s a �inal tribute to their beloved sports hero and former world wrestling champion, Pierre Kelekele Lituka.

SA

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Eye: Cinema 2

United States, 2025, 102′

A powerful account of the four-day demonstration against the 1999 WTO ministerial conference in Seattle, Washington, composed entirely of excerpts from news broadcasts, police cameras, amateur videos, and press conferences.

New Media & Performances A-Z

IDFA DocLab is a platform for interactive and immersive documentary art. Founded in 2007, IDFA DocLab pushes the boundaries of how we perceive and engage with non-�iction narratives by blending art, reality, and technology. The program features installations, VR, games, live performances, the DocLab Playrooms, fulldome screenings, and this year’s new Interactive Cinema.

DocLab Exhibition at de Brakke Grond

With the theme Off the Internet, DocLab turns to interactive and immersive art in search of new forms of presence and connection. The DocLab Exhibition invites visitors to step into a space that is both digital and physical, where screens dissolve into shared presence. With works including installations, VR, games, digital art, and live performances.

DocLab Playrooms

Free walk-in events on November 15, 17 & 18 at de Brakke Grond. From the art of perception to the future of digital preservation: experience new technologies and prototypes, and meet the artists during interactive showcases.

VR Gallery

In the VR Gallery at de Brakke Grond, you can explore various virtual reality �ilms and experiences: a range of projects to broaden your scope, long after you’ve removed the headset. One VR Booth in the exhibition space is open for free walk-ins.

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling A Ü T O/M Ö T O R IP

Albert Johnson United States, France, Italy, 2025, 57′

An interactive music album set in a virtual re-creation of Chicago. Explore the hip-hop history of the city in 31 chapters, tracking the genre’s in�luence all the way to New York and Spoleto, Italy.

Part of DocLab: Interactive Cinema

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

Another Place

Domenico Singha Pedroli France, 2025, 19′

A ghost story told from the �irst-person perspective of a trans woman seeking asylum in Paris. A VR experience about alienation, missing home, and searching for connection in an unfathomable world.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

Arti�icial Sex

(Ep. 1 & 2) WP

Anan Fries Germany, Switzerland, 2025, interactive

Anan Fries (Posthuman Wombs) uses AI bots and 3D printers to explore the potentials of queerness and creativity within the digisexual revolution. A multimedia video essay that you may—no, must—physically touch.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA

DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Coded Black EP

Maisha Wester United Kingdom, 2025, 120′

A darkly atmospheric, immersive game about the history of slavery and racism in the US and the UK—featuring powerful archival material and the stories of both well-known and unknown heroes.

Part of DocLab: Interactive Cinema

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Deep Soup WP Luna Maurer, Roel Wouters Netherlands, 2025, 18′

This �ilm, made with video contributions from users around the world, shows the emergence of a physical intelligence in a kind of primordial soup, fed with images of friction and gravity in our physical reality.

MO �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

MO �� ����� Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel TH �� ����� Eye: Cinema 1 + Q&A

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab at the Planetarium: Down to Earth

Planetariums invite us to look up at the stars. But during this evening, we will turn our gaze to the ground, exploring the myriad worlds that meet and diverge on the earth we share. Presented with ARTIS-Planetarium and co-curated with Diversion.

SA �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium + Q&A TU �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab Exhibition

Visit the DocLab exhibition and discover new interactive documentary projects. Featuring installations, VR, games, digital art, DocLab Playrooms, and special performances — all at De Brakke Grond.

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Interactive Cinema

New this year is the Interactive Cinema, where games and web documentaries turn into shared experiences. Think Twitch or co-op gaming: but live, in a shared physical space, where that collective moment makes all the difference. You will �ind the Interactive Cinema in the DocLab Exhibition.

DocLab at the Planetarium: Down to Earth

Planetariums invite us to look up at the stars. But during this evening, we will turn our gaze to the ground, exploring the myriad worlds that meet and diverge on the earth we share. Presented with ARTIS-Planetarium and co-curated with Diversion.

Special Performances & Screenings

Several performances, screenings, and experiences in the IDFA DocLab program have limited capacity. We recommend you book your ticket in advance.

idfa.nl/doclab

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

The internet isn’t what it used to be. Discover and experience the future of digital art and indie games, and play: not alone, but together, on the big screen in the DocLab exhibition. An ongoing event featuring experiments and live presentations.

SA �� ����� de Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Playroom: Hacking Reality

Look beyond your screen and see the world like never before. Beyond fact and �iction, we’ll explore the art of our own perception with various creators. An ongoing event with immersive and interactive experiments, live in the DocLab exhibition.

TU �� ����� de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab Playroom: I Feel Zine

What’s on the internet that you would like to save? Create your own zine and explore how we can preserve virtual worlds. From DIY archiving to the future of immersive preservation. Ongoing event, live in the DocLab exhibition.

MO �� ����� de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab: Interactive Cinema

Interactive Cinema transforms games and web documentaries into shared experiences. Think Twitch or co-op gaming: but live, in a shared physical space, where that collective moment makes all the difference.

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition

DocLab: VR Booth

One VR Booth in the DocLab exhibition is open for walk-ins: here, you can experience one virtual reality project of your choice. Just drop by! Want to be sure you get in, and to explore more projects? Then book a time slot in the VR Gallery.

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition DocLab: VR Gallery

In the DocLab VR Gallery, you get �ifty minutes to explore multiple virtual reality projects of your choice. To experience all the available works, you’ll need to reserve four time slots.

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight Eternal Habitat

Sergey Prokofyev Germany, 2025, 6′ Glide endlessly through space and time, and through detailed constructions that attest to �ilmmaker Prokofyev’s other career as an architect, in this behind-the-scenes look at the vast, dynamic environments in which our �leeting lives unfold.

SA �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the Planetarium TU �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

The Exploding Girl VR

La �ille qui explose VR Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel France, Greece, 2025, 19′

An embodiment of her generation, Candice explodes daily—bloodily—under pressure from depression, anxiety, and rage. Searching for an escape from loneliness in an indifferent world, she navigates her way through soulless sex and psychedelic violence.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight Feedback Fulldome, un musical antifuturista WP Feedback Fulldome, an antifuturist musical Collective AMiXR Peru, Netherlands, 2025, 20′ A fulldome adaptation of a VR musical in which you drink a mystical beverage and then travel through digital and physical dimensions. Three �igures, inspired by Andean futurism, guide you through a ritual that examines tradition, identity & technology.

SA �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the Planetarium TU �� ����� ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista WP Feedback VR, an anti-futurist musical Collective AMiXR Peru, 2025, 20′ A VR musical in which you drink a mystical beverage and then travel through multiple digital and physical dimensions. Three �igures, inspired by Andean futurism, guide you through a ritual that examines tradition, identity, and technology.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery FR

Sjef van Beers Netherlands, 2025, 5′ In his video installations, artist Sjef van Beers questions the stereotypical image of the gamer. He explores the underlying social mechanisms through text and animation, in search of a new political identity for these isolated young men.

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

Handle with Care WP

Ontroerend Goed

Belgium, 2025, 60′

No actors. No technicians. Just the audience—and a box. Using elements from the box, audience members create their own performance. Interactive and immersive, and utterly unpredictable.

Regular ticket sale

SU 16 14:00, 19:30 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

MO 17, TU 18, WE 19 19:30 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

In 36,000 Ways (SiteSpeci�ic Installation) WP

Karim Ben Khelifa

Germany, Tunisia, 2025, 3′

A confrontation with a piece of shrapnel, brought back from the front lines in Ukraine. It is just one of the 36,000 deadly shards produced by a single fragmentation weapon. But here this tool of destruction becomes an invitation for empathy and re�lection.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset �lip shovelware rant manifesto

Nathalie Lawhead

Slovenia, 2024, 30′

This tirade in the form of a “walking simulator” is a blistering call to action against big tech, a paean to the free space the internet once was, and a lament for all we’ve lost to techno-capitalism.

Part of DocLab: Interactive Cinema

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

Lesbian Simulator WP

Iris van der Meule

Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, 2025, 40′

Create your lesbian avatar, go on your �irst date and visit your �irst rave. But also: come out of the closet and face harassment and public disapproval. This cartoonish VR game puts everyone in the situations you can encounter as a lesbian woman. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

On show in DocLab Exhibition & VR Gallery

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Life Needs Internet 2010–2025 WP

Jeroen van Loon

Netherlands, 2025, interactive

What is your relationship with the internet? How does it shape your life?

Jeroen van Loon collected over 1,400 letters on this topic from people around the world. The result is an installation that asks: Do we need the internet in our lives?

On show in DocLab Exhibition FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

A Long Goodbye

Kate Voet, Victor Maes

Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, 2025, 30′

72-year-old Ida, who lives with dementia, navigates her way through the day with the help of cassette tapes recorded by her husband and Post-it notes left throughout the house. In this tender VR experience, we get to know her as she rediscovers herself.

Part of DocLab: VR Gallery FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

MILKMAN ZERO: The First Delivery

Matt Romein

United States, 2025, 30′

The simple task of delivering bottles of milk spirals out of control in the theatrical computer game MILKMAN ZERO. A faceless narrator manipulates the player, normalizing violence and sacri�icing humanity on the altar of e�iciency.

Regular ticket sale

SA 15, SU 16, MO 17 18:30 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line

SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

Nothing to See Here WP

Celine Daemen

Netherlands, 2025, interactive Peer into this stereoscopic viewing box and experience an alternative reality in the middle of a busy public space. Is that man who’s behaving strangely real or �ictional? And what’s happening behind your back? Is reality actually an objective truth?

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Spotlight

The Odeus

Thomas Vanz

France, 2024, 4′

This sublime vision of the vast celestial vault is achieved not with computers, but by �ilming liquids and chemical solutions at an extremely close range, in the tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Tree of Life

SA ��

ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the Planetarium TU ��

ARTIS-Planetarium DocLab at the Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

The Oracle: Ritual for the Future (for humans and non-humans) WP

Victorine van Alphen

Netherlands, 2025, 60′

The Oracle is a thought-provoking futuristic ritual about the evolving relationship between humans, bodies and AI. Blending personal perspectives with an eerie systemic presence, participants delve into sensuality, death, agency and irreversible change.

Regular ticket sale

FR 14 17:00, 18:45, 21:15 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

SA 15 10:45, 12:30, 14:45, 16:30 Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction Reality Looks Back WP

Anne Jeppesen

Denmark, United States, 2025, 21′

An exploration of the everyday mysteries of quantum mechanics, in which the state of particles is only certain when observed, and split déjà vus imply parallel realities.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Down to Earth

SA 15 20:30 ARTIS-Planetarium

TU 18 20:30 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

The Rift WP

Janire Najera, Matthew Wright, 4Pi

Productions

United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, 2025, 6′

Water is the unifying element in this fulldome �ilm, where powerful dance and exhilarating music interweave nature and culture, humanity and environment. Filmed in bamboo forests, abandoned buildings, rivers and vast plains across Zimbabwe.

On show in DocLab Exhibition

FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond

SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab at the Planetarium: Down to Earth

SA 15 20:30 ARTIS-Planetarium

TU 18 20:30 ARTIS-Planetarium

IDFA DocLab

DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

Tracing Colombia WP

Trazando Colombia

Jan Rothuizen

Colombia, Netherlands, 2025, 60′

An immersive interactive �ilm in which visual artist Jan Rothuizen travels to Colombia with his camera and drawing tools for an exploratory personal journey. What traces of the country’s complex history will he �ind in modern Colombia?

Part of DocLab: Interactive Cinema FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

for

Under the Same Sky

Khalil Ashawi, Hadeel Arja Palestine, Turkey, 2024, 38′ In this 360° VR documentary about the war in Gaza, the camera, mounted on a long pole, shows the horrors of Israeli occupation through the eyes of Palestinian journalists. On show in DocLab Exhibition & VR Gallery FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling Unimaginable Red WP

Vitor Freire, Monique Grimord, Grace Turtle Netherlands, 2025, 15′

A sensual journey through a possible version of Amsterdam’s red-light district, where pleasure is everywhere to be had. Eroticism, anarchy and a seductively vibrating console go hand in hand.

Part of DocLab: Interactive Cinema FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Presentation in DocLab Playroom: Connected O�line SA 15 14:00 Brakke Grond

IDFA DocLab Program & Competition, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction We Are Dead Animals WP Tote Tiere Maarten Netherlands, Germany, 2025, 20′ Bring animals back to life in the virtual paradise created by Tote Tiere Maarten—from a deer shot by hunters to a hedgehog run over by a car. A collectible album of animal cards, with a twist. On show in DocLab Exhibition & VR Gallery FR 14 to FR 21 11:30-20:30 Brakke Grond SA 22 11:30-18:00 Brakke Grond

Schedule per day

Thursday 13 November

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Documentaire Paviljoen: Spiegel

Audience program

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

Carré

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal The Pulse 1

The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 de Brakke Grond

de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

ARTIS-Planetarium

Café Kuyl de Brakke Grond

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

ITA: Studio 1

ITA: Nieuwe Foyer

ITA: Pleinfoyer ITA: Koninklijke Foyer Kanarieclub

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3 Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6 Pathé City 7

Cinema 1

2

Kriterion 1

Grond

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

Pulse 1 The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3 de Brakke Grond de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal de Brakke Grond

Industry program

Tuschinski 5

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

De Balie:

The Beauty of Errors (Mouka Filmi)

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7 Eye: Cinema 1 Eye: Cinema 2 De Balie: Grote Zaal Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal VU Rialto: Zaal 4

Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Brakke Grond

Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

Audience program

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5 Pathé City 7

Balie:

Zaal

Filmmaker Talks

A key pillar of the IDFA Talks program, the Filmmaker Talks focus on the guest’s body of work through in-depth interviews. Renowned and emerging directors dive into their craft and approach, offering insight for anyone interested in the art of documentary �ilmmaking. Find all Filmmaker Talks in the A–Z on page 33.

Filmmaker Talk: Kamal Aljafari

Monday, November 17 | 16:15 | Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Filmmaker Talk: Mary Stephen Tuesday, November 18 | 16:15 | Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Filmmaker Talk: Stanley Nelson

Wednesday, November 19 | 16:15 | Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

The Pulse 1

The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Podium Mozaïek Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal de Brakke Grond de Brakke Grond: Rode Zaal

Industry program Wednesday 19

Tuschinski 3

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

De Balie: Grote Zaal

De Balie: Filmzaal

De Balie: Pleinzaal

Thursday 20 November

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé City 1

Pathé City 2

Pathé City 3

Pathé City 4

Pathé City 5

Pathé City 6

Pathé City 7

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

The Pulse 1

The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal

Bijlmerbios de Brakke Grond

Audience program

Friday 21 November

Tuschinski 1

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé Noord 1

Pathé Noord 2

Pathé Noord 3

Pathé Noord 4

Pathé Noord 5

Pathé Noord 6

Pathé Noord 7

Pathé Noord 8

Pathé Noord 9

Pathé Noord 10

Pathé Noord 11

Pathé Noord 12

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Documentaire Paviljoen

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

VU Rialto: Zaal 4

The Pulse 1

The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal Bijlmerbios de Brakke Grond

Audience program

Saturday 22 November Audience program Saturday 22 November

Tuschinski 2

Tuschinski 3

Tuschinski 4

Tuschinski 5

Tuschinski 6

Pathé Noord 1

Pathé Noord 2

Pathé Noord 3

Pathé Noord 4

Pathé Noord 5

Pathé Noord 6

Pathé Noord 7

Pathé Noord 8

Pathé Noord 9

Pathé Noord 10

Pathé Noord 11

Pathé Noord 12

Eye: Cinema 1

Eye: Cinema 2

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Documentaire

Paviljoen: Spiegel

Kriterion 1

Rialto De Pijp: Bovenzaal

The Pulse 1

The Pulse 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 1

Ketelhuis: Zaal 2

Ketelhuis: Zaal 3

Podium Mozaïek

Cinema De VlugtRode Zaal

Cinema De VlugtTheaterzaal

Bijlmerbios de Brakke Grond

Café Kuyl

Audience program

Sunday 23 November

Tuschinski

Audience program

Unifrance supports

Colophon

Editorial

Head of Marketing, Communication & Press: Martine van Duijn

Communication Project Manager: Laura Das

Editorial board: Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Caspar Sonnen

Senior Editor: Roxy Merrell

Writers: May Abdalla, Matthew Carey, Sushmit Ghosh, Judy Kibinge, Dana Linssen, Brigid O’Shea, Vladan Petkovic, María Campaña Ramia

Coordinator �ilm descriptions: Sasja Koetsier

Translator: Mark Baker

Designers: Emiel Efdee, Theo Imhoff, Ninthe Kiemeneij (cover)

Partners and advertisements

Head of Development: Martijn van Dijk

Development Coordinator: Ellen Bannink

With

Mailin by María Silvia Esteve (2025)

24 �ilms in the IDFA 2025 o�icial selection made with support of the IDFA Bertha Fund, took part in IDFA’s training programs, and/or were presented at IDFA Forum Read more at idfa.nl/harvest