IDFA 2023

A fascinating delve into the life and work of Shere Hite and her contributions to the feminist movement, the intriguingly titled feature documentary is blessed with challenging and evocative archival material as it examines responses to her ground-breaking 1976 survey of thousands of women’s individual sexual experiences, while also detailing the modelling work she did to make ends meet while undertaking her research.

The Guest of Honour this year was Chinese auteur Wang Bing. In Amsterdam the  director was celebrated with a dedicated retrospective showcasing six of his films, including Youth (Spring), Man in Black and Mrs. Fang, a Top 10 programme and a one-on-one conversation with Orwa Nyrabia that zoomed in on his career and body of work.

The winners of IDFA's 36th edition competition programs were announced November 16. 1489 (Armenia) by Shoghakat Vardanyan won the IDFA Award for Best Film. The award is accompanied by a €15,000 cash prize. Ariel Kuaray Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho won the IDFA Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition for Canuto’s Transformation (Brazil). The award is also accompanied by a €15,000 cash prize. All winners…

IDFA announced November 15 that Mohammed Almughanni’s Son of the Streest has won the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch. Amber Fares’s Coexistence, My Ass! took home the Forum Award for Best Rough Cut, and the DocLab Forum Award went to Turbulence by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts. Each award includes a cash prize of €1,500. Coexistence, My Ass! will also receive closed captioning and subtitles from inVision Subtitling.

In her new feature doc, which world-premiered at IDFA, Dutch director Saskia Gubbels observes, at first hand, how change is effected within the Amsterdam Fire Department towards wider gender and ethnic inclusivity. The central character, commander Gerrie, put up little objection to his every move, and that of his close team, being followed, but he certainly wasn't going to change behaviour for the camera, says director Gubbels.

Five films in official selection, one immersive project in DocLab competition, and a delegation composed mainly of women form the core of the Chilean offer at IDFA in 2023. “This year, there is a special emphasis on the diversity of generations of directors and thematic richness and languages, reflecting the quality and diversity of Chilean productions,” comments Chiledoc’s Diego Pino.

IDFA paid tribute this week to NFTS doc luminary Dick Fontaine, who died unexpectedly last month, with a screening of his 1982 film I Heard It Through The Grapevine, which features author James Baldwin. “It was the most sudden news because we wanted to celebrate Dick Fontaine. We planned to invite him and have him with us - but then he passed away,” IDFA director Orwa Nyrabia tells Business Doc Europe. “It [the screening] became much more like a posthumous tribute, a way of raising our hat to him.”

UK viewers are likely to be deeply shocked by Our Land, Our Freedom, a world premiere at IDFA 2023. It reveals the brutality with which British colonial soldiers treated freedom fighters during the Kenyan Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s. “We are only scratching the surface with this film. We would have loved to have gone much deeper…maybe if Netflix offers us a 10-part series, we will!” says co-director Meena Nanji.

Director Guillermo Asensio and executive producer Emma Darby talk to Business Doc Europe about their highly cinematic and meditative portrait of renowned Taiwanese/Scottish potter Nancy Fuller, set in the highlands of Scotland. “It as an antidote to the hyper-accelerated, hyper-stimulated and very turbulent world that we live in,” says Darby. “It's an ode to beauty, stillness, and nature.”

From early justifications for slavery to the discrimination faced by Black Americans today, Stamped From The Beginning argues that economic power has always been at the heart of systemic racism. Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams uses interviews and animated sequences to especially highlight the anti-racist activism of Black women.