IDFA 2016 to open with Stranger In Paradise

The 29th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) opens on 16 November, 2016 with Stranger In Paradise by Dutch director Guido Hendrikx, who explores the relationship between Europe and the refugees in a film on the boundary between documentary and drama.

The film has been selected both for the Competition for First Appearance and the Competition for Dutch Documentary.

For the first time, IDFA will be opening at the Royal Theater Carré, which on Saturday, 19 November will host a full day of films plus post-screening discussions. IDFA runs from 16 to 27 November in the center of Amsterdam.

In Stranger in Paradise, Hendrikx explores the relationship between Europe and the refugees. In a classroom in Sicily, an actor personifies different European perspectives on asylum seekers as he addresses three separate groups of refugees.

He first represents a negative public attitude towards asylum seekers, followed by one of empathy and goodwill, and finally adopts the role of a pragmatic official explaining the complexities of immigration policy.

"IDFA has a reputation to maintain for strong, topical, controversial opening films," says festival director Ally Derks, explaining the choice of Stranger In Paradise as the opener for IDFA 2016. "Films that generate discussion on both form and content, by young, talented makers. Stranger In Paradise asks us to take a close look in the mirror regarding the refugee issue."

Hendrikx graduated in 2014 from the Netherlands Film Academy, where he directed the internationally acclaimed short films, Escort, and Onder Ons / Among Us.

Stranger in Paradise is produced by Frank van den Engel of Zeppers Film, in collaboration with VPRO.

For publicity on the film, please contact Noise Film PR, Mirjam Wiekenkamp, +31 (0)6 28652249, mirjam@noisefilmpr.com