IDFA unveils opening film and main competition selections
Ushering in its revamped program
structure, IDFA also announced the films selected for the newly minted International
Competition, Envision Competition and cross-section awards. Finally, the
festival presented the immersive and interactive artworks selected for the IDFA
DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction and the IDFA DocLab Competition
for Digital Storytelling.
IDFA 2021 runs from November 17
to 28 in Amsterdam, and its lineup of 264 titles is now complete.
“The works of filmmakers from
over 80 countries will be presented at the 34th edition of IDFA, and they are
showing us how artistic freedom, courage and engagement with the world come in
many different languages, styles and viewpoints. The documentary field is being
confirmed as a future-proof art form that is unapologetically open, diverse and
continuously developing. IDFA’s new program structure, as much as IDFA’s
Filmmaker Support and Industry activities, is changing to reflect this. So we
present a program that is worthy of our return to cinemas,” Nyrabia said.
IDFA 2021 will open with Four Journeys, the lyrical and intensely
personal debut feature by Louis Hothothot (Louis Yi Liu).
A first-person narrative of a
filmmaker born in China in 1986 as an “illegal” second child, Louis and his
family suffered devastating consequences at the hands of the authorities, with
painful reverberations still felt to this day.
After relocating to Amsterdam in
his twenties, the filmmaker returns home to reunite with his parents and sister
after a five-year hiatus, and he attempts to disentangle his densely knotted
family history.
Unfolding as a soft and sorrowful
stream of memories, absences and lingering shadows, Four Journeys premieres at IDFA bearing the mark of a new
documentary poetics to come: one laden with wonder, nuance and spirit.
International Competition
Fourteen singular films are
selected for IDFA’s new International Competition: a manifestation of classical
documentary at its most sublime, yet still full of surprises.
These are films that use a
clearly defined frame, but inside it, anything can happen. Artistically
confident, well-rounded and universally relevant, each of these titles express
an unparalleled cinematic mastery that is at once both intricate and
effortless.
Beginning with a particular entry
point - a story limited to a certain time, space or context - the filmmakers of
the International Competition incite us to find a link between ourselves and
these seemingly alien specificities of other ways of being.
Microcosms become entire
universes of truth, but always with care, creativity and passion. Together, the
selection opens onto a rich world of human experience full of survival, dreams,
disappointment, growing up, and above all, beauty.
Envision Competition
Fifteen exploratory, risk-taking
films of the highest caliber shine in IDFA’s new Envision Competition. This is
filmmaking that defies all expectations, rewriting the definition of
documentary with radical artistic choices of every stripe.
From the tenderest introspective
journeys to the most demanding encounters with rhythm, tone and form, the films
selected for Envision plunge us into the worlds of their directors, leading us
on a naked journey of discovery we won’t soon forget.
Several films in the selection
home in on images, objects and creations as the foundation for a narrative, carrying
a cinematic flow that isn’t driven by people moving through space.
Others confront trauma in
creative ways, unearthing difficult human experiences but never approaching
them head-on.
Collectively, the selection
unleashes the human act of creativity to make the invisible visible and
resonate with experiences beneath the surface, whether by subverting foreground
and background, shining the spotlight on undiscovered narratives or paying
homage to lives that’ve been forgotten.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction
Ten experiential projects by some
of the world’s top immersive and interactive artists are selected for the IDFA
DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction.
A testament to the power of
exceptional non-fiction storytelling across media and technologies, the
selected works reveal the full spectrum of immersive art - from stunning
in-headset experiences that dive deep into an artist’s psyche to softrobotics
installations that tickle your tastebuds through to immersive films that
challenge the boundaries of documentary cinema and VR cinema.
Within the selection, projects
journey into speculative worlds, engaging all our senses as they transform us
into a post-human being; others merge augmented reality with the harsh texture
of our current reality in crisis; several projects redefine live performance as
an immersive, shared experience; and still others take us literally outside
into nature to reconnect with the world around us.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling
The ten selected projects in the
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling illustrate all the different
ways to create stories and what these stories tell us about our current
reality. Together, the selection explores the liminal space between tangibility
and tactility, documentary and speculation, and self and community.
By drawing on technologies such
as the Internet, the browser, the smartphone, and the computer game, the
projects both appeal to the household devices around us and breakdown the
established formats we know.
In addition to some of the
leading new media artists of the last decade, the selection welcomes
storytellers from fields such as performance art, game development, radio, and
interactive media. All find new ways to innovate and re-imagine the potential
of interactive storytelling, often moving between the digital and the
physical.
In turn, users are invited to not
only follow a narrative, but become an active participant in it. Themes at play
include speculative fiction, artificial beings, control of self versus others,
how we relate to our environment, and the extent to which technology extends
our bodies.
Alongside the two DocLab
Competitions, IDFA has announced ten projects selected for the non-competitive
IDFA DocLab Spotlight section, including interactive and immersive highlights,
full dome experiences, and a one-off cinematic experience by a very special
guest. Cross-section awards
The films in the running for
IDFA’s newly expanded cross-section awards are now known, having been
shortlisted by the IDFA programmers. From the International Competition,
Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight, three international juries will
choose the winners of the IDFA Award for Best First Feature, the IDFA Award for
Best Dutch Film, and the FIPRESCI Award. From across the program, an
international jury will choose the winner of the Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame
Award for Best Creative Use of Archive.
Additions to previously announced sections
With the entire festival lineup
now known, IDFA has added six films to The Future Tense, five films to
unConscious Bias, two projects to IDFA on Stage, four films to Masters and nine
films to Best of Fests.
About IDFA 2021
The 34th edition of IDFA, celebrating
the art of documentary film from November 17 to 28 in cinemas across Amsterdam,
will be an in-person event.
In accordance with the
Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and Environment (the RIVM),
the festival will feature comprehensive health and safety measures,
prioritizing the wellbeing of all in attendance and updating attendees as soon
as the situation changes.
Tickets are now on sale for
Friends of IDFA and accredited guests.
General ticket sales for all
audiences begin November 3.
Accreditation for industry
professionals remains open.
Award for Best Dutch Documentary
is supported by Vevam fund
UnConscious Bias is supported by
VSBfonds
IDFA's audience program is made
possible by Vriendenloterij, VPRO, Fonds 21, de Volkskrant, Gieskes-Strijbis
Fonds, WeTransfer, Ammodo, NPO 2DOC, Oxfam Novib and IDFA
Vrienden/DikkeVrienden.
IDFA DocLab is supported by the
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Netherlands, CLICKNL,
Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, Netherlands Film Fund, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, A Lab
and Special Friends+.
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