IDFA 2015 selection announced

The selection for the upcoming IDFA, which takes place in Amsterdam for the 28th time from 18 to 29 November, is now online. 

The program contains 319 titles (from 3,425 submissions), 78 of which documentaries will have their world premieres at the festival. 

A total of 50 Dutch productions are included in the program, spread across the various program sections. 

This year’s Top 10 is provided by Errol Morris, and a retrospective of his work will also be screened. 

In addition, IDFA presents a number of special programs such as Sounds Real, focusing on sound in the documentary, in EYE. 

The festival’s main locations remain Pathé Tuschinski, Pathé de Munt, EYE and Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond; Café de Jaren on Nieuwe Doelenstraat continues as the festival café. 

The winners of the various competition programs will be announced on Wednesday 25 November.

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary 

15 films will compete in the feature-length documentary competition. 

Two of the documentaries in this competition are Dutch productions: A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert, which opens the festival on Wednesday, 18 November, and Ester Gould’s A Strange Love Affair with Ego. 

The jury, made up of Laurent Bécue-Renard (France), Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Chad), Hanna Polak (Poland), Jonathan Rosenbaum (USA) and Barbara Visser (the Netherlands) will present the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, a cash prize of € 12,500 and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary worth € 2,500. 

Bolshoi Babylon by Nick Read (Russia / UK) 

A revealing look behind the scenes of the world-famous Russian Bolshoi Theatre, where a constant struggle between ambition, love of art and nepotism is played out. 

Carolina's World by Mariana Viñoles (Uruguay) 

An affectionate portrait of 20-year-old Caro, who has Down’s syndrome. Sitting at her mother’s kitchen table, she talks openly about her life. 

Clear Years by Frédéric Guillaume (Belgium) 

An intimate, candid account of a man watching through his camera lens as his family falls apart. 

Don Juan by Jerzy Sladkowski (Sweden / Finland) 

A funny, painful portrait of 22-year-old Oleg, whose mother Marina is trying to free him from his lethargic state. 

A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert (the Netherlands) 

Hoping to gain insight into his family history, Tom Fassaert heads to South Africa to visit his grandmother Marianne. But Marianne has something else in mind. 

Natural Disorder by Christian Sønderby Jepsen (Denmark) 

Jacob, who has cerebral palsy, will never lead a normal life. But who defines what is normal? In a play, he defends his right to exist as an abnormal person. 

Next Stop: Utopia by Apostolos Karakasis (Greece / Germany / France) 

Greek workers take over their abandoned workplace. Their movement becomes a beacon of solidarity – but how long can they keep going?

Patient by Jorge Caballero (Colombia)

While Nubia fights and fears for the life of her terminally ill daughter, we are given a bewildering insight into the absurd bureaucracy of the health system in Colombia.

The Road by Zanbo Zhang (China)

The construction of a gigantic motorway in China brings three parties into opposition with one another: the local population, the construction company and the labourers.

Snow Monkey by George Gittoes (Australia)

A collage of joy and brutality in Afghanistan. Local gang members take acting roles in a Pashtun film directed by an open-minded Australian.

Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran / Germany)

Illegally living in Tehran, 18-year old Afghani refugee Sonita dreams of being a rapper in this exciting document of her search for her own life path through life.

A Strange Love Affair with Ego by Ester Gould (the Netherlands)

Her admiration for the self-assurance of her sister Rowan prompts the filmmaker to explore our narcissistic society – with shocking results.

Thru You Princess by Ido Haar (Israel)

A virtual musical encounter between a cappella singer Princess Shaw from New Orleans and Israeli composer-producer Kutiman leads to an internet hit.

Thy Father’s Chair by Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora (Italy / USA)

Ageing Orthodox Jewish twins Abraham and Shraga have to look on as a clean-up team gets to grips with their polluted home in Brooklyn.

Ukrainian Sheriffs by Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine / Latvia / Germany)

Tragi-comic portrait of a pair of sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village where – alongside various simmering situations – political developments are also a threat to order.

Other Competitions and Awards

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

In the IDFA Competition for First Appearance, 15 debut films compete for the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance.

The jury is made up of Gábor Hörcher (Hungary), Philippa Kowarsky (Israel), Scott Macaulay (USA), Menna Laura Meijer (the Netherlands) and David Wilson (USA). 

The jury will present the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€ 7,500) and the Special Jury Award for First Appearance, in honour of Peter Wintonick (€ 2,500). 

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary 

In the IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, 15 documentaries of between 40 and 60 minutes compete for the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€ 10,000) and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary (€ 2,500).

One Dutch production is competing in this competition, namely My Cancer by Meral Uslu.

The jury is made up of Diana Bustamante (Colombia), Tone Grøttjord-Glenne (Norway), Oeke Hoogendijk (the Netherlands), Stanley Nelson (USA) and John Zaritsky (Canada).

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Eleven Dutch documentaries are eligible for the Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary worth € 7,500.

In addition, the jury will present the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary (€ 2,500).

The jury is made up of Emel Celebi (Turkey), Amy Dotson (USA), Don Edkins (South Africa), Diana El Jeiroudi (Syria) and Richard Liang (China).

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling 

The DocLab project that makes the most creative, efficient use of digital technology to tell a documentary story is eligible for the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (€ 5,000).

In addition, the jury will present the IDFA DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award (€ 2,500).

The jury is made up of Hay Kranen (the Netherlands), Margaux Missika (France) en Oscar Raby (Chili).

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

In the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary, 15 student films from film academies in various parts of the world compete for the ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary, worth € 5,000, and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary (€ 2,500)

One Dutch production is included in the competition: My Silicone Love by Sophie Dros.

The jury is made up of Jiri Konecny (Czech Republic), Prerana Langa (India) and Maria Mok (the Netherlands).

IDFA Kids & Docs Competition

For the first time, an expert jury will present the IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary (€ 2,500) to the Best International Youth Documentary.

The jury consists of: Jon Bang Carlsen (Denmark), Mischa Kamp (the Netherlands) and Teodora Ana Mihai (Belgium).

IDFA DOC U Competition

A special selection from the IDFA film program for young people aged 15 up is judged by a youth jury which will present the IDFA DOC U Award, worth € 2,500.

BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award

All competition films, as well as the films from other program sections made this year compete for the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award, worth € 5,000.

Regular programs

Best of Fests Documentaries that have made waves at festivals around the world during the past year. Masters

The latest films by the giants of the documentary world, including Rithy Panh, Barbara Kopple, Frederick Wiseman, Nikolaus Geyrhalter and Eduardo Coutinho.

Panorama Documentaries on urgent current social issues.

Paradocs Experimental documentaries take centre stage in this program. 

For the third year now, Paradocs cooperates with Amsterdam Art Weekend, which gets Amsterdam galleries to open their doors and uses IDFA as a screening location on the last weekend of the festival: Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA.

For the fourth successive year, IDFA is collaborating with the Stedelijk Museum.

Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA is made possible thanks to support from Stichting Ammodo.

Top 10

This year’s Top 10 is compiled by Errol Morris.

Errol Morris Retrospective

An overview of the work of Errol Morris.

Music Documentary

As in previous years, music documentaries have a special place at IDFA.

18 documentaries, selected in cooperation with Amsterdam venue de Melkweg, are included in IDFA’s regular Music Documentary program.

The music documentaries compete for the IDFA Music Audience Award, worth € 2,500.

Special programs

Benjamin Barber: Jihad vs. McWorld 2015

The book Jihad vs. McWorld from 1995 by American political theorist and advisor Benjamin Barber forms the starting point for the special program Benjamin Barber: Jihad vs. McWorld 2015.

During IDFA, Barber will present his own selection of documentaries from the IDFA program which reflect in different ways on his book and his later work, all of which in one way or another examines the functioning of democracy.

Discussions will take place to accompany films from the selection in the Kleine Komedie theatre with Barber and filmmakers, chaired by regular moderator Chris Kijne.

Benjamin Barber: Jihad vs. McWorld 2015 is made possible thanks to support from the Democracy and Media Foundation.

Sounds Real

During the upcoming festival, the Sounds Real program will examine the role of sound in the documentary.

For Sounds Real, IDFA has asked five international sound designers to choose two documentaries with an exceptional sound design: one by themselves and one by a fellow sound designer.

This program follows on from the themed programs Based on the Same Story from 2013 and Framing Reality from 2014, which focused on the documentary as a film genre.

Alongside the role of sound in documentary cinema, IDFA DocLab will be investigating the possibilities of sound for interactive documentary, media art and virtual reality.

Sounds Real is made possible thanks to support from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Seamless Reality

Following on from the previous IDFA DocLab themed programs Interactive Reality and Immersive Reality, this year in cooperation with Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond a new themed program on digital documentary in the post-internet era is presented: DocLab: Seamless Reality.

The program will focus on the often invisible, elusive relations between our digital and physical realities and investigate how virtual reality and other up-and-coming digital technologies change the way we experience our reality.

Seamless Reality is made possible thanks to support from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, the Creative Industries Fund NL, the VAF and the Film Fund.

Dutch Docs 65-90 and their Shadows Bert Hogenkamp of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision has compiled a program for IDFA on the Dutch documentary in the period 1965 to 1990 – a period characterised by a range of parallels with documentaries from outside of the Netherlands.

Hogenkamp has selected six Dutch documentaries and linked these to documentaries from other parts of the world which are their counterparts in terms of both form and content. 

Don’t Blink - Robert Frank

To accompany the international premiere of the documentary Don’t Blink – Robert Frank (USA, 2015) by Laura Israel, IDFA and the Stedelijk Museum are devoting attention to the work of this American photographer and filmmaker.

Alongside screening the documentary about Frank, the Stedelijk Museum will be exhibiting a number of his photographs from its own collection and IDFA and the Stedelijk will present a selection of his films in the auditorium of the Stedelijk Museum on 20 and 21 November.