Luminous | IDFA Festival

Luminous

The premiere-only section Luminous presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental—moving between intimate meditations on the filmmakers’ inner worlds and explorations of lives far beyond their own.

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32 Meters

32 Meters

Morteza Atabaki

Led by the independent-minded Halime, a group of friends in a Turkish village decide to organize a shooting competition for women. This unconventional plan initially meets with resistance in their patriarchal community.

9,192,631,770 Hz

9,192,631,770 Hz

Is time a phenomenon that can be captured with scientific precision, or is it a strictly personal experience? In this cinematic essay, director Todd Chandler explores how we control time, and how time controls us.

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Abel

Abel

A layered, subtle and majestically filmed documentary diptych about how the traditional, centuries-old existence of shepherds in both Sardinia and Palestine is now being shaped by the indirect or direct threat of war.

And She Didn’t Die

And She Didn’t Die

Using home videos, archive material, interviews, and reenacted scenes, the director portrays her mother, South African writer and resistance fighter Lauretta Ngcobo. A film about exile, the voice of black women, and the oral storytelling tradition.

As the Crow Flies

As the Crow Flies

Amadou (13) relates the epic journey that saw him cross the desert, sea and mountains to reach France, three years after his departure from Guinea Conakry. A personal and artistic film about illegal immigration, observed through the eyes of a teenager. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

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Blackout Dreams

Blackout Dreams

Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso, Andrea Settembrini

In Cuba, the nights are very dark indeed when there’s yet another power outage—but as much as possible, life goes on. In dreamlike black-and-white images, the pitch-dark night becomes a mysterious play of shadows, silhouettes, and glimmers.

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Do or Die

Do or Die

Toia Bonino, Marcos Joubert

Collaborating with Toia Bonino, Marcos uses his phone to make a film about his daily life in an Argentinian prison. Camaraderie and time prove to be precious commodities in his confined—and alternately dull and dangerous—existence.

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The Flight of the Stork

The Flight of the Stork

Soumaya Hidalgo Djahdou, Berta Vicente Salas

Soumaya, who grew up in Spain, decides to visit her grandmother in Algeria, the country her mother left years ago. A deeply personal exploration of generations, traditions, and cultures—so near, yet still another world.

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Grounded

Grounded

Simón Uribe Martínez

Old DC-3s are the lifeline for residents of the Colombian Amazon. The film crew joins one of the planes on a flight to remote settlements. But this connection is under threat, and without it communities will face total isolation.

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House of Hope

House of Hope

Marjolein Busstra

An intimate, observational film about a Palestinian woman, Manar, who runs a pacifist Waldorf school in the occupied West Bank. Amid escalating violence, stress, and uncertainty, she strives to provide a safe haven for young children.

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If You Don’t Like It, Look Away

If You Don’t Like It, Look Away

Margaux Fournier

Joëlle and her friends gather daily on a beach in Marseilles to tan topless, drink and talk about sex. They do so explicitly and unapologetically, resulting in a funny, liberating and disruptive film about a friends group of retired women. Current Future: Age suggestion 14+

The In-The-Head Film

The In-The-Head Film

Konstantin von Sichart

Are we being swept away in a maelstrom of creativity, or is this the activity of a mind going off the rails? This wildly expressive animation is certainly a remarkable experience—just keep breathing calmly.

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Mohammed & Paul – Once Upon a Time in Tangier

Mohammed & Paul – Once Upon a Time in Tangier

Through interviews, archival footage, and magical realism, the film explores the complex relationship between storyteller Mohammed Mrabet and author Paul Bowles in Tangier in the 1960s and 1970s—it also raises the question of who stories belong to.

Murmurations

Murmurations

Xavier Marrades

Isolated during COVID and longing to connect, filmmaker Xavier Marrades films the mesmerizing flight of starlings and reflects on his HIV diagnosis. Their movements evoke memories of grief, survival, resilience and collective strength.

My Word Against Mine

My Word Against Mine

Five people who hear voices undergo a new treatment: a psychiatrist invites the voices to take the floor. The sessions reveal how this revolutionary approach allows patients to gradually get a handle on what’s going on inside their minds.

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Nomad Spirit

Nomad Spirit

Raúl Soto Rodríguez

Seasonal laborer María “Chena” Benítez has to perform hard physical work to support her family, far away from her young son. Her only outlet is the diary where she records her thoughts.

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Outliving Shakespeare

Outliving Shakespeare

In an Armenian retirement home, a theater director rehearses a play with residents about Shakespeare and his characters. We follow the everyday concerns and deeper woes that befall the amateur actors from casting to premiere.

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Paikar

Paikar

Dawood Hilmandi

Years after leaving Iran, Afghan-Dutch artist and filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi returns to his childhood home. In Paikar, he portrays his relationship with his aging, authoritarian father.

Passion According to Agnieszka

Passion According to Agnieszka

Wojciech Staroń

Editor Agnieszka Bojanowska (1932–2019) was exacting in her work. This trait brought out the best in director Bogdan Dziworski in their regular collaborations. Behind the scenes in the editing room, the duo clash, exchange ideas, and inspire one another.

Pedro Tomás Explains the World

Pedro Tomás Explains the World

Kornelijus Stučkus

Pedro Tomás, an inhabitant of the Canary Island of La Palma, sees the world differently from most people—as a result, he can sometimes be misunderstood. In this short film, beauty and pain can be found close together.

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The Sessions

The Sessions

A young student undergoes trauma therapy for an act of sexual violence committed by someone she trusted. She lives with the consequences of this trauma every day, while her rapist appears to get away with what he has done.

Stories of a Lie

Stories of a Lie

Olia Verriopoulou

Greek-born filmmaker Olia Verriopoulou is astonished to discover that her friend Sofia knows nothing about her illness, as doctors and relatives have hidden it from her. She takes a playful approach in exploring this cultural practice.

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Truck Mama

Truck Mama

Eva, a mother of two, is proud to be a truck driver, but it’s not an easy life. During the long journeys through East Africa, she not only faces problems along the way, but also feels the distance from her youngest son.

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We Were Left Alone

We Were Left Alone

Adrián Canoura

An at times experimental film that initially appears to be about life aboard a fishing boat. Gradually it becomes clear that the filmmaker’s intention is to get to know his father better, a man who spent more time at sea than with his family.

Weeping Rocks

Weeping Rocks

Seventy-nine-year-old entomologist Art Shapiro has spent 53 years recording butterfly populations in California during his walks. Faced with alarming declines, he’s trying to come to terms with all the changes in his life.

The Wind and All Times

The Wind and All Times

Carla Valencia Dávila

Carla Valencia Dávila rediscovered videos of a cycling trip she took through Uruguay as a young woman. She reedited the footage into a journey through her own past and that of the continent that shaped her family.

The Wind Blows Wherever It Wants

The Wind Blows Wherever It Wants

With vast flocks of sheep, herders from Tusheti, Georgia, navigate back and forth between snow-covered mountain peaks and remote steppes—following the rhythms of the sun, the moon, and the seasons, on which the survival of this way of life depends.