IDFA 2017 selection announced

The selection for the upcoming IDFA, which takes place for the 30th time in Amsterdam from 15 to 26 November, is now online.

The program contains 312 titles (from 3,886 submissions), of which 90 documentaries will have their world premieres during the festival. A total of 44 Dutch productions are included in the program, spread across the various program sections. Fifteen of the films included in the program were realised with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF).

The winners of the various competition programs will be announced on Wednesday, 22 November.

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Fifteen films are included in the competition program for feature-length documentary. Amal by Egyptian director Mohamed Siam and Of Fathers and Sons by Talal Derki were made with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF).

The jury, made up of Zaradasht Ahmed (Norway), Galia Bador (Israel), Ernesto Pardo (Mexico), Diana Sanchez (Canada) en Frank Scheffer (The Netherlands) will present the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, with a cash prize of € 12,500, and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary worth € 2,500.

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

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

The Next Guardian van Dorottya Zurbó en Arun Bhattarai made with financial support from the IBF. The jury is made up of Sigrid Dyekjær (Denmark), Ilona Hongisto (Finland), Niels Van Koevorden (The Netherlands), Jose Rodriguez (USA) and Severine Roinssard (France). The jury will present the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€ 7,500) and the Special Jury Award for First Appearance (€ 2,500).

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

In the IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, 15 documentaries between 30 and 60 minutes in length compete for the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€ 10,000) and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary (€ 2,500). Raghu Rai, an Unframed Portrait by Avani Rai is supported by IBF. The jury consists of Yael Bitton (Switzerland), Reber Dosky (The Netherlands) and Lars Skree (Denmark).

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

Ten DocLab projects that make creative use of digital platforms to tell a documentary story are eligible for the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (€ 4.000). Jury members are Hugues Sweeney (Canada), Annelies Termeer (Netherlands) and Dan Tucker (United Kingdom).

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

Ten DocLab projects that make creative use of new media, interactive and immersive technology to realize a documentary experience or performance are eligible for the IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction (€ 4.000). Jury members are Toby Coffey (United Kingdom), Julia Kaganskiy (United States of America) and Klasien van de Zandschulp (Netherlands).

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Fifteen Dutch documentaries compete 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 Khalil Benkirane (Qatar), Nicoline van Harskamp (The Netherlands) en Young-woo Kim (South Korea).

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

In the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary, fifteen student films from international film academies compete for the ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary worth € 5,000 and an Amira camera, provided on loan by ARRI, and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary (€ 2,500) with an Amira camera, provided on loan by ARRI. The jury is made up of Rémi Bonhomme (France), Sophie Dros (The Netherlands) and Vincent Moloi (South Africa).

IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs

In the IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs, 15 international youth documentaries compete for the IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary (€ 2,500). In addition, the jury made up of Daan Bol (The Netherlands), Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran) and Christian Popp (France) will present the IDFA Special Jury Award for Children’s Documentary (€1,000).

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

15 short films compete in this new competition. An international jury will evaluate the films and select the winners of the IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary and the IDFA Special Jury Award for Short Documentary. The jury consist of Tamás Almási (Hungary), Gema Juarez (Argentina) and Dana Lixenberg (The Netherlands).               

VPRO IDFA Audience Award

All of the films screening in competition and the films made this year screening in other program sections compete for the VPRO IDFA Audience Award worth € 5,000.

All competition programs are supported by Ammodo

Amsterdam Human Rights Award for Best IDFA Documentary

Established by the City of Amsterdam, this award for best human rights documentary at IDFA consists of a 25.000 euro prize. Jury members are: Maite Alberdi (Chili), Eric Gandini (Italy), Dirk van der Straaten (The Netherlands). The three nominated films will be screening at IDFA on Universal Children’s Day on Monday November 20th in Tuschinski 1. In the morning this is the location for a children’s program featuring films on children’s rights.

Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Scholarship

With the Cultuurfonds Documentary Scholarship the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds each year awards a documentary talent with a 50.000 euro grant, allowing the recipient to make a documentary about a subject of their choice. The scholarship is intended for a documentary filmmaker with a proven track record, who has already earned modest recognition in the documentary field.

Regular programs

Masters: The latest films from the big hitters of the documentary world, including Barbara Kopple, Frederick Wiseman and Agnès Varda. Documentaries that have kicked up a storm at international festivals during the past year.

Panorama: Documentaries dealing with urgent current social issues.

Paradocs: This programs focuses on the experimental documentary. For the fifth year, Paradocs will be cooperating with Amsterdam Art Weekend. IDFA will be one of the exhibition venues during the last weekend of the festival: Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA. IDFA and the Stedelijk Museum will also be collaborating for the sixth time.

Top 10: This year’s Top 10 is compiled by new media artist and guest of honor Jonathan Harris. The Top 10 is supported by the Mondriaan Fund.

Retrospective Jonathan Harris: An overview of the work by Jonathan Harris. The Jonathan Harris retrospective is supported by the Mondriaan Fund.

Music Documentary: As in previous years, music documentaries have a special place at IDFA. Sixteen documentaries are included in the regular Music Documentary program, selected in cooperation with concert venue de Melkweg.

Special programs

Camera in Focus: Following in the footsteps of programs focusing on sound design and editing in previous years, IDFA is this year placing special focus on cinematography in the documentary through the program Camera in Focus. Established DoP's as well as up-and-coming camera talents will discuss specific films they've worked on and their unique, inspirational ways of capturing stories through images.

DocLab: Uncharted Rituals: DocLab, IDFA’s platform for interactive media art, will focus this year on the ritual dance between man and technology. Searching for new forms of interaction—in the cinema, on the internet and on the streets. Among many others, this programma features American internet art pioneer and main guest of this year’s festival edition, Jonathan Harris. This program is supported by the Dutch Film Fund and the Mondriaan Fund

Shifting Perspectives: The Arab World: With this program of films and debates, 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’. Shifting Perspectives: The Arab World consists of 15 films, both classic and new, examining life in a range of Arab countries as seen from the perspective of filmmakers from the region.

The Visual Voice: IDFA is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and we will also be saying goodbye to founder and director Ally Derks. In the program The Visual Voice, 18 renowned directors are honoring the festival, its founder and the documentary genre by screening their favorite films.

IDFA’s audience programming is supported by Fonds 21, Creative Europe Media, the VSBfonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Turing Foundation.

IDFA’s media partners are VPRO, de Volkskrant, VICE and the Groene Amsterdammer.

Trailers for IDFA 2016 on the Youtube channel

The trailers for the films from the IDFA program can now be seen on IDFA’s Youtube channel.

The 30th edition of IDFA will take place November 15 – 26.