IDFAcademy 2025 kicks off with an inspirational talk by accomplished filmmaker Firouzeh Khosrovani. She is at IDFA with her most recent film Past Future Continuous (co-directed with Morteza Ahmadvand) in the Envision Competition. Firouzeh’s previous film Radiograph of a Family (2020) won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for Best Creative Use of Archive. In her filmmaking, Firouzeh has engaged with the political and physical limitations on making films about family, exile and life in Iran through exceptional experimentation with the cinematic form. In both the abovementioned films, she makes distinctive artistic choices to explore the limits of the camerawork, use of archival material, and relationships with characters. She presents a signature poetic filmmaking approach that pushes the boundaries of the documentary. 

IDFA’s Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez will open the IDFAcademy with a conversation with Firouzeh on her oeuvre, her instinct to push the form, her cinematic language, and her persistence in using the constraints of her country to create engaging, emotional and exceptional narrations of family and politics.