New programmers and awards coming to IDFA

IDFA is delighted to announce that Sarah Dawson and María Campaña Ramia are joining the team of IDFA programmers. In addition, the festival presents a new award scheme for the upcoming edition, with a greater focus on documentary producers, editors, and cinematographers, as well as directors.

Sarah Dawson and María Campaña Ramia join IDFA program team

The IDFA team is very happy to welcome two new programmers. Sarah Dawson, currently an Associate Programmer and Program Manager at Sheffield Doc/Fest, will join IDFA as a Programmer in July after seeing through her tasks at Doc/Fest this month. Prior to Sheffield, Dawson worked in her home country of South Africa, where she served as the Festival Manager of the Durban International Film Festival. From July onward, Dawson will take over IDFA’s premiere-only program sections Luminous and Frontlight, as well as the festival’s long-running student competition.

Ecuadorian film programmer, critic, and author María Campaña Ramia has now joined the team as an Associate Programmer. Currently based in Rio de Janeiro, Campaña Ramia is a Programmer at Ambulante in Mexico. Previously she served as the Artistic Director of Quito’s EDOC and a guest curator at the Moreira-Salles Institute. This year, she will join the commission of IDFA’s flagship feature-length competition, and strengthen IDFA’s presence and outreach in Latin America.

Alongside the new programmers, the responsibilities of IDFA’s current programmers are undergoing several modifications. Senior Programmer Laura van Halsema will oversee this year’s mid-length competition, while Senior Programmer Raul Niño Zambrano and Programmer Jasper Hokken are set to take over the Dutch competition. Hokken will also be responsible for the IDFA on Stage program, which was introduced to high acclaim in 2018. Finally, Eveline Kaethoven is now the Program Coordinator. As in previous years, Senior Programmer Joost Daamen will be continue to responsible for the feature-length competition and Paradocs, Niño Zambrano for the first appearance competition, and Hokken for the short competition.

New award scheme, more short films at IDFA 2019

New program regulations have opened the door for more short films in IDFA’s festival offering. Notable changes include IDFA’s short film competition now standing as a premiere-only program section. Short documentary films must be slated for a European premiere, international premiere, or world premiere to be eligible for this revamped competition program. Moreover, shorts are now eligible for all non-competitive sections of the festival, including the premiere sections Frontlight and Luminous, and non-premiere sections Masters and Best of Fests. In 2019, IDFA will offer more short films than ever before.

The IDFA award scheme is also changing this year, with a greater focus on the talent and efforts of documentary producers, editors, and cinematographers, in addition to directors. IDFA will also introduce a new cross-section award for the best of use of archive in a film. Audiences can expect the complete details of the new award scheme to be unveiled later in 2019.