IDFA Competition for Short Documentary | IDFA Festival

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IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

The IDFA Competition for Short Documentary has titles that showcase a healthy boom for the short film form. A mosaic of styles and themes defines this selection, exploring everything a short documentary can be. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film.

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14 Paintings

14 Paintings

Chinese painters who once made reproductions of Western masterpieces now create their own work. Fourteen paintings and the places where they hang tell a story of creativity, hope, capitalism, and artistic freedom and constraint.

A

At That Very Moment

At That Very Moment

Rita Pauls, Federico Luis Tachella

An boy raised in the mountains films his home surroundings, while letting his thoughts flow freely. The jumbled-up images match the energy of a child, but the boy also proves to be a surprisingly deep and existential thinker.

B

Between Delicate and Violent

Between Delicate and Violent

Şirin Bahar Demirel

Hands can tap into memories that the brain can’t access. In an experimental exploration of this physical memory, Şirin Bahar Demirel edits family album photos to expose the domestic violence that lies beneath the images.

Blow!

Blow!

Mar’s dream is to record the sound of whales “singing,” so she joins a research team studying these marine mammals. It’s only when the camera and microphone are underwater that we realize how noisy life is above sea level.

D

Dreams About Putin

Dreams About Putin

Nastia Korkia, Vlad Fishez

In this essay about the subconscious, the nightmares and hopes of many Russians, a portrayal of dreams they share on social media produces a disturbing, sometimes dryly comic film about the current state of Russian society.

H

How to Please

How to Please

Elina Talvensaari

An Iraqi asylum seeker gets stuck in the rigid Finnish immigration system, aptly portrayed in this short film as an AI-generated voice on an Escher-like treadmill. You can’t come in, but you can’t get out either.

L

Landslide

Landslide

Daniel Cortés Ramírez

A cycle of oppression and resistance, of funeral processions and protest marches, moves through time like a swelling land mass. Is history a movement forward or a repetition? In this film, composed entirely of archival footage, it is both.

M

A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars of the Seas

A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars of the Seas

Many women from the Philippines are trafficked to care for families all over the world. This visually ingenious split-screen film tells their story, allowing you to make your own connections between modern slavery and neo-colonialism.

My Father

My Father

Pegah Ahangarani

A personal, essayistic narrative using archive footage and personal photos, exploring how the lives of the filmmaker and her family have been affected by the Iranian Revolution and the shift to a religious fundamentalist state.

N

Newsreel 242 – Sunny Railways

Newsreel 242 – Sunny Railways

A tribute to the tens of thousands of politically idealistic young people who helped build a railroad between Sarajevo and Šamac in 1947. Their hope for a better world has evaporated, but their idealism is an enduring source of inspiration.

O

Our Special Little Secret

Our Special Little Secret

An autobiographical essay in which the filmmaker uses her own home videos to investigate how she must have experienced sexual abuse by a family member as a child, and what impact this has had on her life as an adult.

P

People from the Heart of the Earth

People from the Heart of the Earth

Jhon Nara Gomes, Joilson Flores Brites, Sarah Brites, Cledson Ricarte, Ludimar da Silva, Beibity Flores, Itamar Gonçalves, Jhon Lailson Gomes Almeida, Vagner Gomes, Jhon Malison Franco, Luisa Lanna, Anailson Flores, Genito Gomes, Jhon Malis Franco, Luciana de Oliveira

A meditative, at times hypnotic film by and about the Kaiowa Indigenous Nation in Brazil, who have been struggling for the land of their ancestors for more than 30 years. A unique inside view of their history and the importance of traditional territory.

Postcards from the Verge

Postcards from the Verge

Natalia Koniarz

A young Polish couple embark on a dangerous bike ride across the Andes. Amid the breathtaking, endlessly deserted landscape, tensions between them grow. Yet on this journey they also discover who they really are.

R

Red Flag

Mónica Taboada-Tapia

The pleasant beach in downtown Cartagena, Colombia is closing: due to rising sea levels the coastline needs better protection. Against the idyllic backdrop of sun and sea, regular visitors discuss their hopes and fears for the future.

S

The Story of Ne Kuko

The Story of Ne Kuko

Around 1878, a nkisi was stolen from Congolese chief Ne Kuko. Not only was the theft of this object with spiritual powers a great loss for Ne Kuko, it also disrupted the local community.