The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) remains the most influential global platform for documentaries centered in Europe.
This year’s 38th edition (November 13-23) boasts 250 titles in short and feature form from 76 countries. It’s also the first year for Isabel Arrate Fernandez as artistic director, taking over for Orwa Nyrabia, who stepped down officially in July after announcing his departure last year. Arrate Fernandez previously headed up multiple IDFA filmmaker support programs.
On Tuesday, IDFA finalized its International Competition section, which includes first-time and established filmmakers reflecting on contemporary issues, with most arriving to Amsterdam as world premieres.
International Competition
“All My Sisters,” dir. Massoud Bakhshi (Austria/France/Germany/Iran), 78’ – World
Premiere
“December,” dir. Lucas Gallo (Argentina/Uruguay), 105’ – World Premiere
“Flana,” dir. Zahraa Ghandour (Iraq/France/Qatar), 85’ – European Premiere
“Flood,” dir. Katy Scoggin (United States), 75’ – International Premiere
“A Fox Under a Pink Moon,” dir. Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France/United
Kingdom/United States/Denmark), 76’ – World Premiere
“The Kartli Kingdom,” dir. Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (Georgia/France), 105’ –
World Premiere
“Mailin,” dir. María Silvia Esteve (Argentina/France/Romania), 89’ – World Premiere
“Palimpsest: The Story of a Name,” dir. Mary Stephen (France/Hong Kong/Taiwan),
109’ – European Premiere
“The Shipwrecked,” dir. Diego Gutiérrez (Netherlands), 115’ – World Premiere
“Silent Flood,” dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/Germany), 90’ – World
Premiere
“Synthetic Sincerity,” dir. Marc Isaacs (United Kingdom), 72’ – World Premiere
“Those Who Watch Over,” dir. Karima Saïdi (Belgium/France/Qatar), 88’ –
European Premiere
Also revealed were titles in the Envision Competition, which assembles a dozen boundary-pushing works that chart new cinematic languages, often in hybrid nonfiction-narrative form.
Envision Competition
“Amílcar,” dir. Miguel Eek (Spain/Portugal/France/Sweden/Cape Verde), 87’ –
World Premiere
“Blood Red,” dir. Martin Imrich (Czech Republic), 75’ – World Premiere
“Confessions of a Mole,” dir. Mo Tan (China/Poland), 92’ – World Premiere
“Fordlândia Panacea,” dir. Susana de Sousa Dias (Portugal/Brazil), 62’ – World
Premiere
“Holy Destructors,” dir. Aiste Žegulytė (Lithuania/France/Latvia), 85’ – World
Premiere
“I Want Her Dead,” dir. Gianluca Matarrese (Italy), 86’ – International Premiere
“Love-22-Love,” dir. Jeroen Kooijmans (Netherlands), 84’ – World Premiere
“Our Body Is an Expanding Star,” dir. Semillites Hernández Velasco, Tania
Hernández Velasco (Mexico), 84’ – World Premiere
“Past Future Continuous,” dir. Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani
(Iran/Norway/Italy), 76’ – International Premiere
“Powwow People,” dir. Sky Hopinka (United States), 88’ – European Premiere
“Treat Me Like Your Mother,” dir. Mohamad Abdouni (Lebanon), 76’ – World
Premiere
“Trillion,” dir. Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/United States), 80’ – World Premiere
The premiere-only Luminous section includes 27 films ranging from shorts to features, the personal to the experimental. The festival highlighted co-directors Toia Bonino and Marcos Joubert’ “Do or Die, “a rare, intimate portrait of prison life and a meditation on cinema itself — filmed entirely on a phone behind bars.” In “House of Hope,” Marjolein Busstra tracks a “Palestinian woman running a Waldorf school on the West Bank with her husband, capturing their struggle to create a safe haven for children amid escalating violence and uncertainty.” In “Paikar,” Dawood Hilmandi goes home to Iran to “confront his authoritarian father, crafting a poignant family portrait that wrestles with exile, reconciliation, and the meaning of home.” All titles are available on IDFA’s website.
Meanwhile, the premiere-only section Frontlight showcases 15 films that examine urgent issues of our time; often, these are more traditional talking-head style documentaries that tackle political truths. Eleven of the selected titles are world or international premieres.
Highlights include “Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me” by Mohammed Sawwaf, who follows a mother trying to reach her two newborn babies in urgent care, and who were evacuated amid bombings and detained via travel restrictions and checkpoints. “Steal This Story, Please!,” from Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, profiles independent journalist and Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman.
“As filmmakers and artists from all over the world share their work, they remind us that there is a space for reflection and connection. They bring other perspectives. They open conversations about cinema — about what touches us, what feels urgent, what truly matters right now. Through them, we get to be part of the courage of filmmakers and artists who refuse to give up — who keep pursuing their creative vision, and their commitment to stories that they feel matter,” IDFA’s Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez said of the IDFA 2025 program during our press conference.
The festival also announced its IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling, IDFA DocLab Spotlight, and cross-section awards: Best First Feature, Best Dutch Film, and Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award, all of which encompass titles across the festival’s sections.
IDFA 2025 will open with a selection of boundary-pushing short films: “As I Lay Dying” by Mohammadreza Farzad and Pegah Ahangarani, “Intersecting Memory” by Shayma’ Awawdeh, and “Happiness” by Firat Yücel.
“We believe the selection of films set the tone for a festival that explores major issues of the present, that makes room for new voices, fresh forms, and unexpected perspectives,” Arrate Fernandez said.