IDFA presents Shifting Perspectives: the Arab World

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will present its special program, Shifting Perspectives: the Arab World, which will focus on the image of the Arab world, during the 30th IDFA which will take place from 15 through 26 November.

With Shifting Perspectives: the Arab World, IDFA offers a counterbalance to Western stereotypes that ignore the complexity of the Arabic-speaking world and keep ‘the Arab’ at arm’s length as ‘the other.'

The program consists of 15 classic and new documentaries examining life in a range of Arab countries as seen from the perspective of makers from the region.

The films selected for Shifting Perspectives include Ghost Hunting (Palestine/France, 2017) by Raed Andoni, which won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award at the last Berlin Film Festival.

Other films selected include Abbas Fahdel’s family chronicle Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) (Iraq/France, 2015) and China Is Still Far Away (Algeria, 2008) by Malek Bensmaïl, which deals with Algerian identity and the legacy of the French colonial past.

The classic documentaries The Misfortunes of Some (France/Lebanon, 1982) and A Flood in Baath Country (France, 2004) by Omar Amiralay show life in Lebanon during the civil war, as well as Syria before its civil war.

The screenings will be followed by extensive discussions with the filmmakers.

The complete selection will be announced on 9 October.

Shifting Perspectives: the Arab World takes place from 17 through 19 November in the Kleine Komedie festival location.