IDFA Creative Director Orwa Nyrabia is in buoyant mood and, it seems, justifiably so.
In 2018 he set out to implement root and branch re-appraisal of both gender and geo diversity within the documentary and wider film industries, and to lead his festival and his sector into a more enlightened era.
In most festivals, even the progressive IDFA, women have always been inadequately represented within festival selections (both competition and non-competition), Nyrabia argued, and the idea of geo-representation needed a complete overhaul.
Fast forward to 2019 and matters are a lot different, with 64% of IDFA competition titles directed by women, and an overall share of 47% across all selections. But there is still more to be done, he points out, even at his own festival.
“Masters is still relatively stuck in the past, with many more male filmmakers than female being recognized or confirmed by the industry as ‘masters’. [Of the competing sections] feature-length documentary competition has the lowest share [of female directors] in IDFA 2019, being 50/50. Feature-length films… are the industry’s high-end format, the most expensive to make, the riskiest to invest in… and it seems that male filmmakers still own more than their fair share here too.”
“We still need to work more on this,” he continues. “IDFA can certainly contribute, but alone we can only do little. We need the combined efforts of the press, of critics, and of the industry at large, to invest in, recognize and celebrate the mastership of many outstanding women filmmakers. We will keep on.”
While he is less specific on actual numbers to underline his assertions on greater geo-inclusivity at IDFA 2019, his satisfaction is nevertheless palpable. “We have more films, projects, filmmakers and guests from Africa, Latin America and Asia than before. We have films from and by the world, not only about the world. We are on track. However, it is not a matter of [just] one year. It is a strategic challenge.”
And as he looks further afield, how is the industry at large performing? “I believe the documentary film community is doing well when it comes to gender parity. Most of the influential funds, producers, broadcasters and distributors of documentary film have [made this] a priority now. Maybe some do more or less than others but there’s a positive general atmosphere, and most are trying.”
“Geographical diversity is a bit different. The industry is not finding its way around fair representation yet, because it has been established on the opposite. It is a matter of accepting that the past was unjust for many populations and filmmakers out there, and that change is necessary… that even when it feels like losing some privileges, it is in everybody’s benefit on the long run.”
The dozen films that comprise this year’s Feature-length Competition selection are intensely personal an human essays, and culled from all corners of the globe, from South Korea to Egypt and from Mexico City to the suburbs of Rotterdam.
But if you think the selection is driven by a desire to give pat voice to ordinary folk in a series of trying circumstances, then think again, he underlines.
“Trying circumstances will never give a film [an] extra grade with me. I did not come from comfort myself. I understand the tendency of friends and colleagues living in prosperous countries to sympathize with the poor. I do not. I identify and I believe that equal opportunity is a right and not a gift or a charitable approach… it is what should be,” he underlines.
“The establishing ethos here aimed at being open, we did not allow ourselves to go lower than 50/50 in gender and we tried to make sure that each competition brings films from various parts of the world to our audiences. Our feature-length competition includes high production value films, as well as films that seem to be very high-budget, but are not, and films that seem to be low-budget and are not.”
Nyrabia continues: “What we sought was a line-up of coherent and sincere films. We welcome well-established makers next to relatively unknown names. We selected films made by world-renowned makers, such as Jørgen Leth and Marianne Khoury next to new rising names such as Laura Herrero and Hilal Baydarov. The line-ups of First Appearance and Mid-Length competition are also very varied in style and in the way each film/filmmaker understands documentary film, or film in general.”
“The process of selecting the films was participatory, our process involved persons from various backgrounds, sensitivities and tastes. The aim was to reflect the reality of documentary filmmaking today. Documentary is not a genre of film, it is as large as film itself,” he adds.
The festival opens November 20 with Sunless Shadows by Mehrdad Oskouei, a picture of life in an Iranian juvenile detention centre, where a group of adolescent girls serve their sentences for murdering a male member of their family. They reveal their thoughts, feeling and doubts when left alone with a camera.
“Sunless Shadows is an exceptional tour-de-force. It takes us to a very harsh reality with exceptional tenderness. It is shaped with so much love and care. It also approaches an urgent topic, being violence against women, from a surprising angle. It tells us about the violence that some women resort to, when it seems like there’s no other way out from being the victim,” comments Nyrabia.
“This complexity is fascinating. You cannot approve or accept murder, but then, can you not see how it comes to happen? The creative solution that Mehrdad Oskouei came up with to relate his characters stories and reflect their state of mind and their emotional conditions, is moving and distancing at the same time. It is an exceptional piece of film that communicates well with wide audiences as much as with critics.”
