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.

Filmmaker Farah Kassem is just as loving, funny and hardheaded as her father, the elderly poet Mustapha. She returns to Tripoli after many years and tries to bridge the generation gap by surprising his poetry club with a poem of her own.

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.

After a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the film is not what we expect…

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.

When journalist Shiori Ito is raped by a colleague, she decides to seek justice, in the face of a Japanese culture of silence. In a legal battle that lasts years, she takes on police and politicians, and the unequal relationship between men and women.

Tens of thousands of young, well-educated Kenyans are hired online by undergraduates and doctoral students at Western universities to write their essays and theses. Oxford professor Patricia Kingori embarks on a search for these “shadow scholars.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Powerful audiovisual report on two years in Ukraine, close to and far from the front line. From the panic surrounding the invasion to the resigned acceptance of war as a part of everyday life.

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.

In a Lebanese beauty salon, Bouba injects her clients with Botox and fillers. The close-ups of the tortured and bleeding faces are gruesome and intriguing. Customers vent their worries as they paralyze their expressions. Meanwhile, war is at the door.

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.

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.

The universe of the famous Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal translated into a visual sound poem. Sounds of nature, instruments made from trash, teacups, horses’ hooves, the hubbub of the market: everything is music.

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.

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.

Selected by Juliana Fanjul, documentary chair at the International Film and TV School (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. This program consists of five short films: Abecé; Isla; El enemigo; La Bonita; and Los viejos heraldos.

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.

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?

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.

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.

A newsreel-style propaganda film from 1971 about the Palestinian resistance. This 'international declaration of war' combines militant voice-overs with footage of everyday life to reveal invisible power structures.

The British advocacy group Hope Not Hate investigates the working methods and finances of various far-right organizations. They regularly go undercover, because members of these groups only really speak their minds behind closed doors.

Since the 1990s, thousands of migrants have died in the Sonoran Desert, on the border of Mexico and the United States. A poetic exploration of this inhospitable terrain.

Dutch Docs Day brings together professionals from the Dutch documentary industry to critically reflect on the current state of documentary production the Netherlands. This year, the day focuses on the question: Less is more—but more of what?

A devastatingly bleak portrait of three Palestinian journalists risking their lives to report from Gaza. The word "PRESS" printed on their bullet-proof vests apparently no longer means anything.

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.

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.

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 this screening, the short film Man Number 4 will be followed by I’m Not Everything I Want to Be.

The Bunong, indigenous inhabitants of Cambodia, are trying to maintain their traditional way of life. But their efforts are being thwarted by deforestation, land grabbing and the construction of a dam. An account of depopulation in slow motion.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A film fanatic who pretends to be the popular Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf is eventually caught out and ends up in court. Just like this man who lives between film and reality, Close-up straddles the border between documentary and fiction.

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?

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.

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 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.

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”.

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.

Mark Brown’s great dream is to recreate a primary forest in his own garden. The film crew follows him along the French coast as he identifies the plants growing there. The resulting close-ups accompanied by his commentary are pure poetic science.

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.

Found footage documentary consisting entirely of commercials shown during the post-socialist period in Romania. Besides promoting all sorts of products, these absurd and sometimes vulgar advertisements extol the virtues of the new capitalist ideology.

A dilapidated country house makes an apt setting for a fascinating masterclass in acting. Eight talented young British actors work on Shakespeare’s Macbeth guided by two veterans in the business.

In these arresting films, personal, mechanical and societal systems are crumbling and failing the very people who depend on them. This compilation program consists of Lift Lady; Noise: Unwanted Sound; and The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp.

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.

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.

Palestinian filmmakers regained control over their images through revolutionary cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. This mosaic of long lost archival footage fills a gap in our collective memory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Over the course of the year that filmmaker Guillaume Massart spends in a Corsican prison without walls and barbed wire, what begins as an observational documentary develops into a breathtaking quest for humanity.

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.

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.

An intimate portrait of Najiba Noori’s Afghan mother, who was married off at the age of 13, and 40 years later wants to learn to read and write to start her own business. Meanwhile, a new Taliban takeover is looming.

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.

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

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.

A coffee plantation owner of multi-ethnic origin expands his enterprise together with members of his tribe. Is he a neo-colonialist taking advantage of his Ganiga family, or a new-style tribal leader who can bring economic prosperity?

From Brussels to Beirut, but then through a changed world. Memories, disagreements, a reunion. Filmmaker Angie Obeid invites her father Mansour to repeat the road trip he made 42 years ago.

An award-winning documentary about the ceaseless Israeli attacks on a network of Palestinian villages in the West Bank, heroically documented by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli journalists.

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.

The Shinto shrine Gokogu in the Japanese coastal town of Ushimado is a refuge for stray cats. Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda calmly and amiably observes not only the animals, but also the people who come and go.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Survey interviewer Amber Kumar Gurung travels through the heart of Bhutan with a questionnaire, assessing the well-being of his compatriots. This tender portrait shows how ít's possible to be happy in times of adversity.

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.

The highly anticipated IDFA Awards Ceremony! Attendance by invitation only.

Based on numerous testimonies, this compelling and moving montage of richly varied archive material from the interbellum brings the neshoma, the soul, of Jewish Amsterdam to life.

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.

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.

Persistent drought is causing escalating conflict between herders and landowners in the Laikipia region of Kenya. This story about climate change and colonial legacy focuses on two families living in separate worlds.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Endless folding, cleaning, tidying up: behind the scenes at a hotel in the Italian Dolomites, the staff do everything they can to prevent complaints. We see no tourists in this film, only the people who do the dirty work.

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.

Chronicle of a trip around the world through the eyes of an adventurous Canadian family who aim to collect visual memories. Three of the four children have a genetic condition that means that they will gradually lose their eyesight.

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.