IDFA reveals competition lineups and opening film for 37th edition

IDFA 2024 opens with the world premiere of About a Hero by Piotr Winiewicz. The film presents a bold exploration into largely uncharted territories of artificial intelligence—reflecting on questions of authenticity and our understanding of what is real. With Werner Herzog’s permission, Winiewicz sets out to challenge Herzog’s assertion that “a computer won’t be able to create a film as good as mine for at least another 4,500 years.” In a tantalizing experiment, Winiewicz trained an AI-system on Herzog’s oeuvre and asked it to generate a screenplay. The result is a disturbing search for the soul—of human beings and of creative work.

About a Hero has been selected for the International Competition. In the early stages of development, the project was supported by the IDFA DocLab R&D Program.

The International Competition presents thirteen films that draw on and transcend deeply personal histories to reflect on our world today. The selection brings together established veteran voices next to first-time filmmakers, with all films notably presenting their world or international premieres.Examining the rampant consequences of war and growing dominance of right-wing governments, several filmmakers present cautionary tales and reveal how our humanity prevails under political pressures. Elsewhere in the competition, by playing with our perception and warping the truth using technology, a number of filmmakers investigate our understanding of reality.

The Envision Competition offers twelve unparalleled films, each of them stylistically arresting, as visionary filmmakers forge new cinematic languages.Several established names in the art world turn to documentary cinema as their medium, each offering distinct explorations into personal questions. The selection showcases filmmakers venturing out of the box, whether presenting films shot from one fixed angle or examining the unexpected perspectives of non-human protagonists. By embracing experiment as a means to overcome both real and symbolic obstructions, the films challenge and invite audiences to experience something new.

The premiere-only section Luminous presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental. The selection presents twenty-three titles that delve into our deep emotional worlds and share truths from within. Twenty-one films in the selection are world or international premieres.

Several films in the selection speak to the importance of self-representation. In a reflection on how cinema displays realities, Ilrhan Kim’s Edhi Alice offers an elegant portrait of transness, following two women in transition in South Korea. In a fascinating portrait of Polish mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz, The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska draws on a wealth of archival material to reveal a story of a highly ambitious climber and her fight for agency.

The premiere-only section Frontlight showcases thirteen films that critically examine the truth and artistically explore the urgent issues of our time. Eleven of the selected titles are world or international premieres.

This year’s selection tells stories of people trying to stand up to oppression in different forms. Reflecting on the complex consequences of colonization, Toroboro: The Name of the Plants by Manolo Sarmiento chronicles the history and environmental impact of the genocidal colonization of the Waorani community in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Zainab Entezar’s Shot the Voice of Freedom shows a portrait of women in Afghanistan fighting against Taliban oppression.

With a majority of world premieres, the ten-title Immersive Non-Fiction Competition boldly expands the horizons of the documentary genre—showcasing multisensory experiences, artistic VR creations, interactive installations, and live performances that stretch new technologies to the limits of their potential in a non-fiction context.

Several artists explore the changing ways we embody spaces through an immersive and imaginative lens—with works that invite us to reconsider the boundaries between ourselves and our environments, through both digital landscapes and reimagined domestic spaces. Through performance and Extended Reality (XR), multiple artists create immersive and interactive works that explore everything from catalyzing intimacy in virtual encounters to reframing narratives in our political recollection.

With eleven premiere titles in the selection, the Digital Storytelling Competition builds on the rich history of interactive storytelling with captivating works by both new talent and established names.

Taking a novel approach to the use of artificial intelligence, several projects in the selection explore our deep connections to our ancestors and imagined future generations—using AI to reconstruct fragmented memories, revive fading oral traditions, and generate speculative genealogies. Multiple projects use existing digital platforms and tools in distinct and innovative ways to tell their stories, ranging from the preservation of cultural heritage, speculative virtual ecosystems, and marginalized genders navigating public spaces.

With seven selected titles, the non-competitive DocLab Spotlight section brings award-winning VR projects, immersive theater, and an expanded offering of fulldome projects, attesting the latter as a flourishing stage for new media.

In an age when technology shapes our lives and stories, multiple works in the selection examine the tension between the human voice and machine power. Several artists question how to preserve our narratives in a world increasingly mediated by machines, while others invite us to experience the intersection of human introspection and machine logic.

IDFA has also announced the nominations for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature, IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film, and the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award. The winners will be announced during the IDFA 2024 awards ceremony on Thursday November 21.

Additional titles have been added to several previously announced sections, including our new curated program Dead Angle: Borders, Signed, Guest of Honor Johan Grimonprez’s Top 10, Youth Competition, Paradocs, and Best of Fests.