IDFA Announces 2024 Competition Slate Including “Instant Classics”

At a news conference today, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced its full competition lineup for 2024, including the prestigious International Competition slate.

The world’s biggest documentary festival will unfold in the Dutch capital from November 14-24.

“The IDFA 2024 program is exceptional in quality and in range,” IDFA Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia said in a statement. “The diversity of artistic tendencies is staggering. The program introduces some of the most beautiful works of recent years, including a few instant classics. Filmmakers of various artistic sensibilities, ages, experiences, privileges, and viewpoints made films as singular as they are. It is a complex and rich image of a world in great pain, of a humanity that is fighting, resisting, and still [capable] of imagining a fairer future. It is a program that defends documentary cinema better than ever before.”

“Regrettably,” Nyrabia also noted, the lineup features fewer “African films than we hoped for, but overall with a wide representation of our planet and the many different humans on it!”

The festival will kick off with the world premiere of About a Hero, directed by Piotr Winiewicz. The film, part of IDFA’s International Competition, “presents a bold exploration into largely uncharted territories of artificial intelligence—reflecting on questions of authenticity and our understanding of what is real,” according to a release. “With Werner Herzog’s permission, Winiewicz sets out to challenge Herzog’s assertion that ‘a computer won’t be able to create a film as good as mine for at least another 4,500 years.’ In a tantalizing experiment, Winiewicz trained an AI-system on Herzog’s oeuvre and asked it to generate a screenplay. The result is a disturbing search for the soul—of human beings and of creative work.”

Winiewicz’s film is one of 13 slated for International Competition. Intriguingly, one is only identified as an “Anonymous film.” No filmmaker(s) or synopsis is provided. [Scroll for the full list of competition films announced today].

Collectively, the baker’s dozen of films in International Competition “draw on and transcend deeply personal histories to reflect on our world today,” IDFA notes. “Examining the rampant consequences of war and growing dominance of right-wing governments, several filmmakers present cautionary tales and reveal how our humanity prevails under political pressures. Elsewhere in the competition, by playing with our perception and warping the truth using technology, a number of filmmakers investigate our understanding of reality.”

IDFA also announced the lineups for the Envision Competition, as well as Luminous and Frontlight strands. Envision, a section devoted to films of particularly bold authorial expression, “offers twelve unparalleled films, each of them stylistically arresting, as visionary filmmakers forge new cinematic languages… The selection showcases filmmakers venturing out of the box, whether presenting films shot from one fixed angle or examining the unexpected perspectives of non-human protagonists.”

Among the film in the Envision lineup is Higher than Acidic Clouds, directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari. Last year, Iran’s theocratic regime temporarily barred him from making films or traveling outside the country.

The Luminous slate will feature the international premiere of The Shepherd and the Bear, directed by Max Keegan, a film that has been described as a “modern folktale” about the rewilding of bears in a remote area of the French Pyrenees. The introduction of the ursine creatures wreaks havoc on local livestock, triggering conflict between herders and government agents responsible for overseeing the program. It premiered in September at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine.

The Frontlight section “showcases thirteen films that critically examine the truth and artistically explore the urgent issues of our time.” Among the films in that strand are The 1957 Transcripts, an account of the shocking killing of Palestinian villagers living in the Israeli town of Kfar Qasim over a half century ago, based on newly revealed documents.

That strand also includes the European premiere of The White House Effect, a film exploring “the dramatic origin story of the climate crisis” directed Bonni Cohen and Oscar nominees Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk.

“This year’s selection tells stories of people trying to stand up to oppression in different forms,” IDFA says of the Frontlight section. “Reflecting on the complex consequences of colonization, Toroboro: The Name of the Plants by Manolo Sarmiento chronicles the history and environmental impact of the genocidal colonization of the Waorani community in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Zainab Entezar’s Shot the Voice of Freedom shows a portrait of women in Afghanistan fighting against Taliban oppression.”

In all, the 37^th edition of IDFA will showcase more than 250 films. Below is the lineup of films announced today:

Selected films: International Competition

• About a Hero, dir. Piotr Winiewicz (Denmark/Germany/United States), 84’ – World Premiere

Selected films: Envision Competition

• Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries, dir. Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti (Italy/Switzerland), 208’ – International Premiere

• Loss Adjustment, dir. Miguel Calderón (Mexico/Uruguay), 74’ – International Premiere

Luminous

The premiere-only section Luminous presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental. The selection presents twenty-three titles that delve into our deep emotional worlds and share truths from within. Twenty-one films in the selection are world or international premieres.

Selected films: Luminous

• A Strange Colour of Dream, dir. Yasemin Akinci (France, Turkey), 74’ – World Premiere

• Whoever Deserves It, Will Be Immortal, dir. Nay Mendl (Cuba), 19’ – World Premiere
• The Last Expedition, dir. Eliza Kubarska (Poland, Switzerland), 85’ – International Premiere
• Been Here Stay Here, dir. David Usui (United States), 90’ – World Premiere

Selected films: Frontlight

• The 1957 Transcripts, dir. Ayelet Heller (Israel), 75’ – International Premiere

• The Ban, dir. Roisin Agnew (Ireland, United Kingdom), 27’ – International Premiere
• Blowing in the Wind, dir. Eyad Aljarod (Syria, The Netherlands), 139’ – World Premiere
• The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp, dir. Dennis Harvey (Sweden, Ireland), 20’ – European Premiere

• The Shadow Scholars, dir. Eloïse King (United Kingdom), 98’ – International Premiere
• Shot the Voice of Freedom, dir. Zainab Entezar (Afghanistan), 70’ – World Premiere
• Toroboro: The Name of the Plants, dir. Manolo Sarmiento (Ecuador, Brazil), 103’ – International Premiere

• The White House Effect, dir. Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos, Jon Shenk (United States), 97’ – European Premiere

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

With a majority of world premieres, the ten-title Immersive Non-Fiction Competition boldly expands the horizons of the documentary genre—showcasing multisensory experiences, artistic VR creations, interactive installations, and live performances that stretch new technologies to the limits of their potential in a non-fiction context.

Several artists explore the changing ways we embody spaces through an immersive and imaginative lens—with works that invite us to reconsider the boundaries between ourselves and our environments, through both digital landscapes and reimagined domestic spaces. Through performance and Extended Reality (XR), multiple artists create immersive and interactive works that explore everything from catalysing intimacy in virtual encounters to reframing narratives in our political recollection. Explore the selection here.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

With eleven premiere titles in the selection, the Digital Storytelling Competition builds on the rich history of interactive storytelling with captivating works by both new talent and established names.
Taking a novel approach to the use of artificial intelligence, several projects in the selection explore our deep connections to our ancestors and imagined future generations—using AI to reconstruct fragmented memories, revive fading oral traditions, and generate speculative genealogies. Multiple projects use existing digital platforms and tools in distinct and innovative ways to tell their stories, ranging from the preservation of cultural heritage, speculative virtual ecosystems, and marginalized genders navigating public spaces. Explore the selection here.

IDFA DocLab Spotlight

With seven selected titles, the non-competitive DocLab section brings award-winning VR projects, immersive theater, and an expanded offering of fulldome projects, attesting the latter as a flourishing stage for new media.

In an age when technology shapes our lives and stories, multiple works in the selection examine the tension between the human voice and machine power. Several artists question how to preserve our narratives in a world increasingly mediated by machines, while others invite us to experience the intersection of human introspection and machine logic. Explore the selection here.

Cross-section awards

IDFA has also announced the nominations for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature, IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film, and the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award. The winners will be announced during the IDFA 2024 awards ceremony on Thursday November 21.