Alongside the VR Gallery (ticket required), a free-to-use VR booth is located in the DocLab exhibition in De Brakke Grond. Anyone can queue for this booth, but priority will be given to wheelchair users, people with mobility needs and holders of an industry pass.

Play, explore, and experience interactive documentary projects that use VR, AR, AI, games, new media, digital storytelling, and performances. Free entrance. Please reserve online to secure your spot.

Alongside IDFA DocLab's main location at de Brakke Grond, the exhibition continues just a short walk away at gallery @droog. Here, you can explore even more interactive documentary works. Free entrance.

During this screening, the short film Machine Boys will be followed by CycleMahesh.

The best films from IDFA 2024 selected by an international jury, especially compiled into a full day program. Purchase your tickets now to ensure your seat for this outstanding program! The full program will be announced after the Award Ceremony on Thursday November 21. 

Four films for 13+. In Somewhere to Be, Sara’s online account and identity are deleted. My Homeland is a cyborg anime celebrating heroes who have to flee. The Daughter of Both Women is a visual teen diary about hating your mom. Simply Divine tells a love story about the one you just can't forget.

Enjoy a full day of gems selected from the IDFA program in the most beautiful cinema in the world: Koninklijk Theater Pathé Tuschinski. Painstakingly curated by broadcaster VPRO’s film editors.

If Jerusalem Stone could speak, it would tell a story of civil occupation and expansion.From Imperial British bylaws to the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, and architecture’s role in covering the city’s history in a thin coat of limestone.

Three residents of Agadez explain how the international migration crisis has changed their lives. Strict EU policies brought poverty, unemployment, and a drug epidemic to this historic desert city in Niger.

No one in director Misha Vallejo’s family ever talks about his grandfather. A collection of photographs and slides is the starting point for a visually poignant exploration that digs into the effects of absent father figures throughout a family tree.

Laurent Pantaléon dives into the world of garanti talismans to ensure that his film is successful. On the island of Réunion these objects have an important role to play as a protective mechanism, an insurance policy and an identity symbol.

Two films for 13+. In Hey Dad, a young boy finds his father in an enchanted forest. Can he finally tell him his secret? In Hard to Break, Instagrammer Atte (18) tries to juggle his socials, addiction and relationship. Is all this freedom a blessing, or a curse?

A warm and attentive film capturing the lives of fishermen on an island in the US facing the threat of rising sea levels. The close-knit community, rooted in faith, navigates an uncertain future with the church at the center of their lives.

Veteran documentarian Claire Simon follows the daily routines at a progressive elementary school in a multicultural suburb of Paris. The heroes of the film are the tireless teachers, caregivers in the broadest sense of the word.

Evocative documentary about Ida and Minka, two young Finnish environmental activists. They channel their love for nature into a struggle for biodiversity, which is threatened by the greed of large corporations.

Immerse yourself in new worlds: in the VR Gallery you have fifty minutes to explore multiple virtual reality projects of your choice. If you want to experience all the works, you'll need to book three time slots.

In search of understanding and healing, filmmaker Bassam Mortada explores his father’s arrest, imprisonment and torture in 1989, re-constructing and reconsidering the experience that traumatized and divided his family.

During this screening, the short film Revolving Rounds will be followed by The Fen-fire.

Despite arrests and the bloody putdown of protests in 2019, young activists use music and poetry to energize their struggle for a livable and democratic Sudan. “Words are stronger than bullets,” is their mantra.

During this screening, the short film The Other Side of the Mountain will be followed by A Strange Colour of Dream.

An emotive mixed-reality tour of a Ukrainian living room in which elements appear—borscht on the table, a cuddly cat on the sofa—before, during and after the whole area is dragged into the war.

Victoria Verseau travels back to the hotel room in Thailand where she stayed during her gender-affirming surgery. Her memories provide the loose structure for reflections on femininity, loss, and death.

In this contemplative urban symphony, a queer director returns to his hometown of Tripoli, Lebanon to interview a cross-section of the population about their ideas and beliefs.

Contemplative, behind-the-scenes film about a group of civilian Syrian fighters in 2013. Between combat operations, the men live together, play cards and discuss the state of the country and their precarious, tension-filled existence.

A behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

Through painstaking excavation, the directors of these captivating films expose histories that have been hidden, ignored or suppressed. This compilation program consists of The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing; On the Battlefield; Entretierra; and Whoever Deserves It, Will Be Immortal.

Closely following volunteers offering practical help, Nicolas Philibert compassionately, respectfully and patiently focuses on Goulven, Muriel, Gad and Frédéric, four figures from his earlier films about psychiatric patients in Paris.

An intimate, observational dual portrait of an aging artist couple. With the inevitable end in sight, frustrations and existential questions arise that reveal the complexities of their long-term relationship.

Two Indonesians in Taiwan sit in a park in the evening and talk about their day. They write poems and start a radio station for Indonesian migrant workers, in a gentle, sensitive film that shows the process of its own making.

In an act of cinematographic sabotage, Aljafari reconstructs a Palestinian visual record based on the archive of the Palestine Research Center, which the Israeli army looted during its invasion of South Lebanon in 1982.

A hypnotic essay film about a small border town in Bosnia where asylum seekers are attempting to cross into the EU. At the same time, the local community is  still suffering from the after-effects of the battle that took place there three decades ago.

An emotive mixed-reality tour of a Ukrainian living room in which elements appear—borscht on the table, a cuddly cat on the sofa—before, during and after the whole area is dragged into the war.

In this screening, the short film Two Travellers to a River will be followed by Shadow World.

An unraveling of the murder of 49 Palestinian villagers by the Israeli Border Police in 1956. Featuring survivors, historians, a courageous journalist and a re-enactment of the trial of soldiers involved in the massacre.

The Wet’suwet’en people tirelessly resist the construction of oil and gas pipelines traversing their ancestral lands. An insider’s account.

In the apartment tower blocks forming Belfast’s Catholic New Lodge neighborhood, Joe McNally reenacts memories of his childhood during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The trauma of the past ruptures the present.

Palestinian theatre maker Jamal Hindawi, who lives in Lebanon, goes in search of a lost prop. His quest produces a compelling picture of damaged life in south Beirut.

Nine years after an environmental disaster in Brazil, Claudia Neubern travels to the affected area to meet locals. She finds people who are resolute and resilient, but nonetheless powerless against a mining company that shirks its responsibilities.

In 2020, with Covid on the increase, almost half a million farmers in India rose up in protest against the new farming laws. The film crew spent a year immersed in the daily struggle and the unyielding spirit of this historic and triumphant movement.

Using DNA extracted from a hat worn by actors in Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, this interactive installation explores the past and present of genetics and synthetic biology. A documentary in a drink, Drinking Brecht is a celebration of science for the people.

This unsettling directorial debut from Christine Angot pinpoints the isolation experienced by incest victims, and shows how this unfathomable form of abuse leaves a trail of impotence and destruction within families.

During this screening, the short film You Are the Truck and I Am the Deer will be followed by My Sextortion Diary.

Four Mexican journalists talk about their work. Their lives are in danger because they expose links between the worlds of crime and politics. But they see no other choice in this country where the right to information is under seige.

Summer, 1989. The Tiananmen protests have just been crushed and the Eastern Bloc is showing cracks. These tensions are palpable at the World Youth Festival in North Korea. In unique footage, it looks like a socialist dance on the edge of a volcano.

The protagonists in these powerful films reflect on what they've gained and what they’ve lost in their search for liberation and meaning. This compilation program consists of Please Step Aside!, Mama Micra, and Am I the Skinniest Person You've Ever Seen?

Animated film about three women living in Kenya, India and Saint Martin who are forced by climate change to move from the countryside to Nairobi, Dubai and Paris, respectively. Instead of a better life, they face bureaucracy and exploitation.

Retrieved from the archives, this rarely presented work by esteemed Syrian director Omar Amiralay delves into the historical events of that region, and is paired with the incisive contemporary work of artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, establishing a dialogue between past and present.

Four films for 9-12. The Flower by the Road is a dreamy journey without words, allowing us to make up our own story. In What’s the Film About?, two brothers and sisters refuse to talk about sex education. In A Place to Call Home, two young girls find themselves in an Alice in Wonderland-type world, searching for home. In With Grace, a family shows us how any setback can be overcome with a sense of humor.

In three acts, each with its own character, this ambitious film examines the world of animals, plants and stones, and questions the place of humans on our planet. It's at times didactic, at times observational, at times theoretical and at times poetic.

Argentine sisters Julia and Claudia studied architecture until Claudia fled to Sweden in 1977 during the dictatorship. Their letters, read aloud and accompanied by everyday cityscapes, follow their two increasingly divergent lives.

What is the function of art in a country that is constantly on the verge of collapse? In Haiti, a poverty-stricken country ravaged by social unrest and natural disasters, a theater festival is bravely hanging on in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Using AI, a simple selfie becomes a lifelike vision of the future. During this interactive group experience, the abstract idea of “generations to come” is brought home in a striking way.

Using DNA extracted from a hat worn by actors in Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, this interactive installation explores the past and present of genetics and synthetic biology. A documentary in a drink, Drinking Brecht is a celebration of science for the people.

An emotive mixed-reality tour of a Ukrainian living room in which elements appear—borscht on the table, a cuddly cat on the sofa—before, during and after the whole area is dragged into the war.

Godard’s controversial, key film of the 1968 counterculture era tracks the creation of the classic Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil” in the studio, intercutting extraordinary fictional scenes packed with radical political and cultural statements.

Chinese poet Xiuhua Yu has cerebral palsy and didn’t find true love until she was 46. In this sequel to the award-winning 2016 documentary Still Tomorrow, we follow her tumultuous journey as she falls in love for the first time.

In 1892, the French looted hundreds of works of art from the Kingdom of Dahomey, located in present-day Benin. In 2021, 26 works were returned to their country of origin. This award-winning documentary offers a fresh perspective on this key moment.

During Operation Condor, opponents of various US-backed dictatorships in Latin America were kidnapped, tortured and murdered. It paved the way for today’s “soybean republic” and its violent repression of indigenous people and landless farmers.

Four wonderfully cinematic films that navigate personal narratives, geological transformations, and spiritual realms through landscapes and universes. This compilation program consists of Perfectly a Strangeness; Lanawaru; How to Suture the Soil?; and Archipelago of Earthen Bones – To Bunya.

In scenes without commentary, Sergei Loznitsa observes the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion on every aspect of daily life in Ukraine. The war impacts on the population in countless ways, but never weakens their courage and resilience.

In his essay film about the British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, director Mark Cousins explores the unique way she looked at the world, focusing less on biographical details.

This extraordinary mockumentary, which caused a stir among British TV viewers in the late 1970s, reveals a plan to establish colonies on the moon and Mars because Earth was doomed to become uninhabitable due to global heating.

In southern Mexico, a family of Tsotsil women tend their sheep while honoring the memory of their land. Less a portrait than an encounter, the film evolves into an associative examination of the relationship between humankind and the landscape.

During this screening, the short film Tokkotai Paquetá will be followed by The Iron.

Georgina, a trans woman now in her seventies, belongs to the Wayúu people in Colombia. For years, she has been fighting for social acceptance and a correct ID. Step by step she moves, through the beautiful desert landscape, towards recognition.

Calmly insightful 16mm film exploring the trade in Peruvian and Ecuadorian prehispanic objects. The storytelling navigates the boundary between reality and fiction to reveal the gaping holes torn in indigenous culture.

The discovery of unmarked graves leads to a searching investigation into the abuse of indigenous children placed in a boarding school by the Canadian state. The film gradually exposes the role of the Catholic Church in a colonized society.

Corruption plagues Pedro’s work as an insurance claims adjuster in Mexico. Hoping to forget his worries, he accepts a role in a theater play with a seductive actress. But that makes things even more complicated. It’s the start of a complex quest.

Andy Warhol’s grave has become a tourist attraction that’s live streamed 24 hours a day. This impressionistic desktop film comprising screen recordings shows the grave at various times.