25/10/2019 - The festival unveiled its complete selection and this year’s jury members during a press conference earlier this week

Earlier this week, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced the full programme of its 32nd edition, set to run from 20 November-1 December. The event will be opened by Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows [+see also:
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film profile], an Iranian-Norwegian co-production that explores the secluded world of five young women living in a small juvenile detention centre.

This year, the feature-length competition will host 12 world or international premieres, with a strong focus on humanist filmmaking taking centre stage. The European productions and co-productions selected include Jørgen Leth’s I Walk [+see also:
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interview: Jørgen Leth
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interview: Patricia Pérez and Heidi Ha…
film profile] (Spain/France/Switzerland/Cuba), Kivu Ruhorahoza’s Europa, “Based on a True Story” [+see also:
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film profile] (Rwanda/UK/Switzerland), Valentina Pedicini’s Faith [+see also:
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interview: Valentina Pedicini
film profile] (Italy), Laura Herrero Garvín’s La Mami [+see also:
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interview: Laura Herrero Garvín
film profile] (Mexico/Spain) and Maasja Ooms’s Punks [+see also:
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film profile] (Netherlands). For the full line-up of this strand, please click here.

The competition for debut feature films, entitled “First Appearance”, comprises 12 titles, all set to have their world or international premieres, and directed by socially engaged filmmakers with a remarkable creative vision. In detail, the European productions and co-productions are Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s Aswang [+see also:
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film profile] (Spain), Ilia Povolotskiy’s Froth (Russia/Qatar), Eva Marie Rødbro’s I Love You I Miss You I Hope I See You Before I Die (Denmark), Małgorzata Goliszewska’s Lessons of Love [+see also:
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interview: Małgorzata Goliszewska and …
film profile] (Poland), Tali Yankelevich’s My Darling Supermarket (Brazil/Denmark), Lucy Parker’s Solidarity (UK), Marija Stojnić’s Speak So I Can See You [+see also:
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interview: Marija Stojnić
film profile] (Serbia/Croatia/Qatar), and Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili’s A Tunnel (Georgia/Germany). For the full line-up of this strand, please click here.

The IDFA was also delighted to announce that 64% of the competition titles are directed by female filmmakers, with this figure standing at 47% across the overall programme. Moreover, 67% of the selected IDFA Forum projects are by women, 57% of the IDFA Bertha Fund-financed films are by female filmmakers, and 70% of IDFAcademy’s talents are women. All in all, these outstanding numbers represent the highest percentage of female filmmakers in the festival’s history. Speaking about this important achievement, IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia said: “We are on track. Reaching a fairer representation was much easier than it seemed to be. We only had to keep our goal in mind. The outstanding films that found their way to us this year were a humble reminder that we are in the presence of some exceptional female filmmakers.”

During the press conference, the festival also announced the movies selected for the Digital Storytelling, Immersive Non-Fiction, DocLab Spotlights, Mid-Length Documentaries, Frontlight, Luminous, IDFA on Stage, Focus: It Still Hurts, Masters, and Best of Fests strands. Notable titles include works by Alan Berliner (Letter to the Editor, USA), Anders Østergaard (Winter Journey [+see also:
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film profile], Denmark/Germany), Thomas Balmès (Sing Me a Song [+see also:
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film profile], France/Germany/Switzerland), Yolande Zauberman (M [+see also:
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film profile], France), Barbara Kopple (Desert One, USA) and Ignacio Agüero (I Never Climbed the Provincia, Chile).

Finally, this year’s main competition jurors will be Claire Simon, Mila Turajlic, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gaston Kaboré and Rima Mismar.