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.

In this tribute to compassion, we follow events on a ship belonging to aid organisation SOS Méditerranée, sailing along the Libyan coast. Now close to safety, boat refugees share their often terrifying escape stories.

It’s the year 2073, and a woman is struggling to survive in a devastated world. Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy) compiles the calamities of recent decades to form the prologue of a sinister science fiction film with a crystal clear message.

A poetic and at times tragicomic look at life in a remote, run-down Bulgarian village viewed from the perspective of animals. The film explores superstition, traditions in decline, and the interdependence of humans and animals.

A film made up of archive footage about how the US has handled climate issues since the 1970s. The fossil fuel lobby has turned the broad consensus on the need for intervention into a political battleground.

Every year, IDFA audiences select their favorites by rating films for the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award. A selection of these top-rated films will be showcased in an exclusive day-long program. Don't miss your chance to see the 2024 audience favorites! The full program will be announced after the Award Ceremony on November 21.

These vibrant, heartwarming films invite you into three close-knit communities to celebrate their traditions, culture, and life. This compilation program consists of Cohabitants, Echoes Within, and The Tunes.

An in-depth analysis of the controversial life and work of filmmaker and photographer Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003), who worked for the Nazis. Can her aesthetics be seen separately from the underlying message, as she herself claimed?

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?

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 portrait of women in Afghanistan fighting against Taliban oppression, largely filmed clandestinely. They hope to attract the attention of the international community through their demonstrations.

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.

Terrifying account of the rise and enormous political influence of evangelical fundamentalism in Brazil. TV evangelists and ultraconservative politicians seem to be leading the country toward a theocracy, with sometimes fatal consequences.

A wave of national protests in South Korea presents Arum Nam with a stark choice: will she be a patriot like her father or an activist like her mother? A lighthearted reflection on the director’s political coming-of-age.

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.

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

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

Climate change and desertification force a Mongolian herder and his family to move from the Gobi desert to the big city. The loss of their animals severs their connection with nature.

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.

Youth 9-12. What if, as a child, you had to learn to navigate life while always going unnoticed? In The Invisible Ones, the director attempts to create an invisible superhero who can act as a guardian angel for everyone who feels they can’t be seen.

In a pastel-colored musical about a women’s prison in Buenos Aires, a diverse cast of non-professional actors reenact their prison lives. Through fictionalization, the ex-convicts share their fears and dreams.

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.

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.

An old shepherd and a young nature lover live in the Ariège region, in the French Pyrenees, where the brown bear has been reintroduced. The nuisance caused by the protected animal leads to fierce confrontations between its supporters and opponents.

Following on from his 2011 film Two Years at Sea, Ben Rivers returns to the remote farmhouse belonging to hermit Jake Williams, where he captures the enchanting everyday wonders of the Scottish highlands on 16mm black-and-white film.

An in depth conversation with internationally acclaimed editor, producer and director Atanas Georgiev (Honeyland, Hollywoodgate) exploring the art of documentary storytelling in the editing room. Atanas will offer rare insights into deleted scenes and his editing timelines, while also revealing some of his producer’s strategies for bringing documentaries to global audiences.

The life story of Jakub serves as a symbol for the history of the marginalized Ruthenian community in Northern Romania and Western Bohemia. From interviews with other residents of his village, an oral history of a displaced people emerges.

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.

A Polish family takes in a Syrian refugee who is trapped in the grim border area between Polish and Belarusian pushbacks. Time is running out and there are few options. Despite the language problems, they develop a bond.

Borders are often framed as a matter of human rights, but in this trio of films we explore how they are perceived from the perspective of beings that exist outside the category of humanity.

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.

The election of the current Brazilian president Lula da Silva led to the storming of Congress by supporters of his opponent Bolsonaro. In the turbulent months that preceded it, Sandra Kogut portrays a country divided to the core.

In these touching films the directors use cinema, dance and poetry to explore emotions and stories that cannot fully be expressed in words. This compilation program consists of Unwritten Letter, Before Then, and Paci.

As the head of the Nazi film guild in the Netherlands during the Second World War, filmmaker Jan Teunissen became known as “the Dutch Leni Riefenstahl.” This revealing portrait also questions the boundaries between documentary and propaganda.

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.

As Edhi and Alice deal with the realities of gender reassignment, they face rejection and misunderstanding in South Korean society. An elegant portrait of two women in transition, with a distinct role for the film crew.

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.

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.

Creative visual collage of historical television and audio material, guiding you through an era when John Lennon and Yoko Ono took a unique approach to making the world a better place. Vibrant, musical, and surprisingly topical.

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.

During this screening, the short film Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button: Karen Black interview by Johan Grimonprez will be followed by Double Take.

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.

Following a break of seven years, two Latvian documentary makers return to the five children they filmed in 2015. How are the 14-year-olds feeling now, with the responsibilities of adult life on the horizon?

Four years prior to 9/11, Grimonprez made this film essay rewriting the history of plane hijackings in parallel with the rise of a catastrophe culture. The emerging television era turned terrorism into a spectacle while hiding the bigger picture.

None of the children in Ilkay Idiskut’s class are native German speakers, all needing extra attention. There’s a major shortage of teachers in Vienna. What this means for the children becomes clear when their teacher goes on maternity leave.

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.

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.

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.

A compelling exploration of the messiness of family love. When her troubled mother goes missing, Irish filmmaker Myrid Carten returns home to find her, but risks losing herself.

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.

Vicky Du goes in search of the story behind the silence of her parents, whose families fled Communist China, and who ended up in the US via Taiwan. Through family interviews, photos and videos, she reveals intergenerational trauma.

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.

A group of young women in a remote Egyptian town form an emancipated street theater company. After following them for four years, it appears that dreams are likelier to come true on stage than in reality.

Four adult siblings return to their parental home to clear it out following their mother’s death. The time has come to dissect the fairy tales of their unorthodox youth and look their monsters in the eyes.

A chronological collage of excerpts from film history accompanied by their original soundtracks, in which only a starry sky is visible. This raises an ever-expanding number of questions and, for those who are lucky, cosmic answers.

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?

Curated by Johan Grimonprez, this program is made up of two shorts and one mid-length film: every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the politics of Love; What I Will, Raymond Tallis | on tickling and Blue Orchids.

Three films for 13+. In Crushed, Camille (18) shares her love story that has turned violent. In Everything Will Be Alright, Samrawit (18) reenacts fleeing her home all by herself when she was eight. In Hey Dad, a boy finds his father in an enchanted forest. Can he finally tell him what’s bothering him?

Campaigning is fierce where the majority of the public school board members are up for reelection in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Tense observational portrait on a micro level of a deeply divided nation.

A playful VR experience in which you go on an adventure with an unknown fellow user. You meet in dreamlike surroundings and get to know each other in a way that’s entirely different from real-life interactions or dating apps.

An intimate portrait of Gaël Kamilindi’s mother, who died when he was five. From Switzerland, where the filmmaker grew up, he travels to Rwanda to reconstruct her life with those who loved her.

Artist couple Lynn Cruz and Miguel Coyula deploy a string of secret audio recordings to expose the various forms of control and intimidation that independent artists in Cuba have to suffer. In true Kafkaesque fashion, oppression looms everywhere.

A warm observational portrait of daily life in a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in the Dutch city of Weesp. The central kitchen is where memories are shared, and where cooking and eating offer comfort as well as an escape from homesickness.

Around 150 anarchists and farmers live in ZAD, an activist community in France. In unhurried, observational style, this film captures the group from within by showing everyday scenes and direct action—the antidote to “eco-anxiety”.

IDFA Meets is collaborating with interdisciplinary publication MacGuffin to together explore the impact of ‘the wall’—not merely as a physical barrier dividing space, but as a socio-political boundary with a profound psychological impact.

Collection of stories about people living in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, which was left without electricity when inundated by flooding in late 2022. Despite their precarious lives, the community manages to reinvent itself.

It’s August 1965 and the Beatles are in New York. While they are driving their fans wild in that city, images of the Watts riots emerge from the other side of the country, in Los Angeles. The result is unembellished realism with a poetic touch.

The digital revolution has opened up boundless possibilities. Are we the freest generation ever, or are we prisoners in a virtual universe deprived of true connection?

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.

Associative, music-driven video collage that captures the soul of Brazil in words and visuals, revealing that colonial thinking is still deeply rooted in everyday life.

Nasreen wants to become a singer—a far from obvious choice for a woman in Iran. Her sister Leila films Nasreen’s transformation from a vulnerable stay-at-home mother to a woman who takes matters into her own hands.

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.

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.

A portrait by Yolande Zauberman of trans women in nighttime Tel Aviv, many of whom have fled Palestine. The search for the mysterious title character is the red thread which loosely ties this intimate and unorthodox film together.

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.

As there’s not much chance to dance in the cinema, we invite you after watching your marvellous documentaries to the IDFA Dance Nights in Café Kuyl!

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.

With great enthusiasm, Erik van Lieshout roams the Brabant countryside of his youth. Farmers, local people and nature are caught between nitrate pollution and agricultural stench. For the artist, this is fertile ground.

As a child, filmmaker Inadelso Cossa was shielded from the cruel reality of Mozambique’s civil war. Now he visits the village of his youth, in a penetrating, sensory search for the ghosts of the past.

Valentina lives in rural Sicily. She is 27, and wants to escape the sometimes suffocating love of her parents. On the nearby American military base, meanwhile, communications satellites are causing dangerous radiation.

Using film as her impetus, Eleonora Camizzi asks her father with schizophrenia the questions she never wanted or dared to ask before. What begins as an interrogation about the past becomes a meaningful conversation in the present.

In these poignant films about hope, joy and grief, the directors creatively explore complex family dynamics and tensions. This compilation program consists of Milk; A Move; and Tough Love.

Award Ceremony for the presentation of the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award, made available by NPO Doc. The winning film was chosen by the audience and screens after the ceremony.

The very pregnant Lucy gives up her music studies in England, driven by financial struggles and the desire for a family life. What will her future look like now? A sensitive portrait of an unconventional artistic Sicilian family.

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.

More than 20 years after the release of her iconic electroclash album Peaches still has a lot to teach us, as this rousing document proves. A portrait of a feminist icon, queer fighter and all-round who-gives-a-shit.

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 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.

A contemplative portrait of the patients and staff in a French psychiatric hospital. In long, unhurried scenes, we see the philosophical, intelligent, sometimes hopeful human being beneath the layers of complex delusions, fears or depression.

A portrait of Polish mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz, who conquered eight Himalayan peaks before an apparently fatal fall in 1992—but is she in fact still alive, living in a Tibetan monastery? The search becomes a tribute to an inspirational sportsperson.

In a haunting, autobiographical essay, Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari questions what it means to be an artist, as censorship drains the color from his home city of Tehran, and from his life.

Compilation program featuring extraordinary films from the Paradocs selection: Like the Glitch of a Ghost; Misty Man; and Being John Smith.

Ernest Cole (1940-1990) was one of the first photographers to capture what apartheid meant to Black South Africans like himself. During his exile in the US, he photographed scenes of untold freedom next to scenes of overt racism.

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.

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.

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.

In her directorial debut, the filmmaker reflects on her life under the Iranian regime after 1979. The lives of countless strangers seep into her story through purchased home videos. Together, they create a single narrative about living in two worlds.