IDFA 2018: new programs, new films

We present the new programs Luminous and Frontlight, and we announce titles selected for IDFA 2018 in the Paradocs, Masters, and Best of Fests sections. As of today, 86 more films have been added to the festival program.

View the press release.

Luminous and Frontlight are two new programs made up entirely of premieres, of which we announce 18 titles today. Together, these sections give us a broad, pluralist impression of the world we live in, but each section takes a different approach. The films selected for Luminous are character-, plot- or author-driven, immersing the viewer in a cinematographic experience that allows us to understand universal truths through individual stories. Luminous, among other titles, includes Sara de Gouveia’s The Sound of Masks, Daniel Rosenfeld’s Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark, and Ben Asamoah’s Sakawa.

In Frontlight, IDFA presents a selection of exceptional films that tell stories which have slipped from the radar of mainstream media, or films that explore familiar stories in greater depth. The emphasis is on social issues of global concern and the journalistic documentary. Frontlight includes Police Killing by Natasha Neri and Lula Carvalho, The Panama Papers by Alex Winter and Sylvana, Demon or Diva by Ingeborg Jansens, among others. Extensive DocTalks will follow many films. After The Panama Papers, for example, Trouw journalist Jan Kleinnijenhuis—who participated in the international investigation team that led to the revelations— will interview the filmmakers.

Masters brings together the latest films by auteurs whose work IDFA closely follows, and who have an unmistakable cinematographic signature. In 2018 many of these filmmakers present new works, including Werner Herzog (Meeting Gorbachev), Victor Kossakovsky (Aquarela), Sergei Loznitsa (The Trial and Victory Day), Errol Morris (American Dharma), Rithy Panh (Graves Without a Name) and Maria Ramos (The Trial). We will also present the latest films by cinematographic masters such as Ruth Beckermann (The Waldheim Waltz), Amos Gitai (Letter to a Friend in Gaza), Nicolas Philibert (Each and Every Moment), and Wang Bing (Dead Souls).

Striking documentary films from the international festival circuit are central to Best of Fests. The program features award-winners, audience favorites, and hotly debated titles from the past year such as Free Solo, Minding the Gap, and Touch Me Not.

Paradocs operates at the intersection of film and art. Using innovative forms, the filmmakers seek freedom of the documentary genre. This year’s selection consists of 13 films, including work from Feargal Ward (Memory Room) and Melanie Bonajo (Progress vs. Sunsets). This year, the festival’s collaboration with Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam consists of a joint curation of the Video Club, the media art series in which video works from the museum’s renowned collection are screened. This event will take place on Friday, November 16th in the Stedelijk’s auditorium. For the third edition of Video Club, guest curator and artist Basir Mahmood has put together a program around the theme Space. In addition, his latest film All Voices Are Mine will be shown during this evening, and then again at IDFA.

A regular feature of Paradocs is its collaboration with Amsterdam Art and EYE during the Amsterdam Art Weekend, in the last weekend of the festival. This year, the program is made up of three elements: guest curator Zippora Elders has curated a selection of video art including new work from the likes of Meiro Koizumi and Ansuya Blom (November 25th). In addition, there will be a live performance by Ryoji Ikeda (November 23rd), and a lecture by Belgian artist David Claerbout (November 24th) on his latest work, Confettti, which you can see in Annet Gelink Gallery. Amsterdam Art Weekend runs from November 22nd through 25th.

The full programs of Masters, Best of Fests, Frontlight, and Luminous will be made public in the coming weeks, when the competition programs are announced. Last week the first four programs of IDFA 2018 were announced. Click here for more information.

IDFA will take place from Wednesday, November 14th to Sunday, November 25th 2018 in various theaters in Amsterdam. The general ticket sales for IDFA 2018 will start on November 1st. IDFA Friends and relations can already buy advance tickets from October 29th. Tickets for some IDFA Specials will be available for purchase from October 18th.

IDFA’s audience program is supported by Fonds 21, VSBfonds and Creative Europe Media.