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IDFA 2020

IDFA announces its full 2020 programme

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- The world’s largest documentary film festival has announced its opening film as well as the titles in its competitive and non-competitive strands

IDFA announces its full 2020 programme
Gorbachev. Heaven by Vitaly Mansky

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has announced the full selection for this year’s edition, which comprises 258 titles and is set to run from 18 November-6 December. The 2020 festival will include a 48% share of women filmmakers, with this rising to 57% women directors in the competitions. The titles come from 72 different countries, including co-production countries.

The gathering will open with the world premiere of Nothing but the Sun [+see also:
film review
interview: Arami Ullón
film profile
]
by Paraguayan-Swiss director Arami Ullón. Ullón’s film will contrast the hot, arid atmosphere of Paraguay’s Chaco region with the devastating stories of the Ayoreo people, an indigenous community violently uprooted from their ancestral territory by white missionaries.

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Alongside the opening documentary, the festival has announced the titles partaking in the Feature-Length Documentary, First Appearance, Mid-Length and DocLab competitions as well as the non-competitive DocLab Spotlight section and the Creative Use of Archive competition.

In detail, the Feature-Length Documentary Competition will include the opening film and 11 other titles – namely, Vitaly Mansky’s Gorbachev. Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Latvia/Czech Republic), Claire Simon’s The Grocers Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World… [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
(France/Belgium), Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers Inside the Red Brick Wall (Hong Kong), Nantenaina Lova’s Morning Star (Madagascar/Reunion), Thomas Imbach’s Nemesis [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Switzerland), Milo Rau’s The New Gospel [+see also:
film review
interview: Milo Rau
film profile
]
(Germany/Switzerland/Italy), Yoichiro Okutani’s Odoriko (Japan/USA/France), Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph of a Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Norway/Iran/Switzerland), Maria Alvarez’s Le temps perdu (Argentina), Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti’s War and Peace [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Italy/Switzerland) and Renzo MartensWhite Cube [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Renzo Martens
film profile
]
(Netherlands/Belgium/DR Congo).

Meanwhile, the First Appearance strand will showcase 12 documentaries: Bruno Gularte Barreto’s 5 Houses (Brazil/Germany), Leandro Picarella’s Divinations [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
(Italy/France), Adrian Pirvu and Helena Maksyom’s Everything Will Not Be Fine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Helena Maksyom
film profile
]
(Romania/Ukraine), Ahmed Abd’s The Fifth Story (Qatar/Iraq), Miguel Eek’s The First Woman [+see also:
trailer
interview: Miguel Eek
film profile
]
(Spain), Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe’s The Last Hillbilly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(France/Qatar), Peng Zuqiang’s Nan (China/USA), Asmae El Moudir’s The Postcard (Morocco), Saad Khan’s Showgirls of Pakistan (Pakistan/USA), Francina Carbonell’s The Sky Is Red (Chile), Alina Gorlova’s This Rain Will Never Stop [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Gorlova
film profile
]
(Ukraine/Latvia/Germany/Qatar) and Karima Saidi’s A Way Home (Belgium/Morocco/France/Qatar).

Moreover, the line-up of jurors includes producers Marie Pierre Macia, Diana Elbaum and Els Vandevorst; film critic Finn Halligan; directors Hubert Sauper, Alice Diop and Audrius Stonys; festival directors Intishal Al Timimi and Christoph Terhechte; cinematographer Edward Lachman; and novelist Abdelkader Benali.

Speaking about the special circumstances of this year’s edition, artistic director Orwa Nyrabia said: “Amidst all the uncertainty and big questions of this era, the films and the new-media projects we have watched, discussed and selected offered us hope and affirmed our faith in the future. The IDFA 2020 programme tells us, without doubt or hesitation, that documentary art is just essential, relevant and meaningful. This is a more inclusive programme than ever, a programme that takes us a step further from the overwhelming immediate moment and shows us a larger worldview. It protects our sanity and helps us find balance in the middle of all the chaos.”

You can find the programmes of the side sections here. Meanwhile, the main competitive strands are available here.

The IDFA will run in Amsterdam venues and online from 18 November-6 December, while its online markets will unspool from 16-20 November.

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