XXL SIZE DRAMATURGY

IDFA Film Festival - notes...

“Oh, I’m bubbling like champagne!...”— boasts a character of one of the festival films in Amsterdam, much Ado About Dying (Dir. Simon Chambers). He has little time left to “bubble”—but what courage! What undeniable, unending courage… Indeed, here on the IDFA screens, the characters of such Shakespearean grandeur are common, as a rule; scrawny dramaturgy rarely appears.

The IDFA International Film Festival in Amsterdam, the largest documentary forum in the world, sends waves throughout the documentary film season. Fantastic number of films and programs. The selection is envied by other festivals. Naturally, it is from here that the waves of currently prominent documentary filmmaking spread through the year—in many senses: affecting further fates of festival selections, shows in cinemas and online platforms, and production of new projects.

Premieres take place in the Tuschinski theatre, a magnificent building adored by several generations of film aficionados. Since the 1920s, its art-deco exteriors and interiors have been immersing audiences in the world of illusions… Scarlet silks “with dragons and snakes” adorn its walls, its stained-glass windows enigmatically flicker...

Oh, the film authors always run the risk of falling short—their creations must equal the elegance of the decor. In Nabokov’s professor Pnin’s eternal words (uttered in thanks to the guests who had praised his enchanting punch-bowl of aquamarine glass): “and let us note that the content is exquisitely consistent with the form…”

In the direction of film classics and “antique” shooting, Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams (1982)—about the wizard of documentary film, Werner Herzog—brings true joy to any cinephile. The plot is about one of the craziest films in the history of cinema, Fitzcarraldo: a melomaniac sets out to build an opera house in the jungle. It is a story of super-productive insanity—as Herzog himself repents. The story of impeccable indulgence of imagination. Yes, Herzog is a true documentary icon.

Anyhow, the whole assemblage of Amsterdam programs is the indulgence of our imagination. In a good way.

IDFA information:

IDFA 2022 presented over 290 documentary films and interactive/immersive projects from over 80 countries, including 81 world premieres, 41 international premieres, and 17 European premieres. Over the course of 11 days, audiences en professionals could attend 1000 film screenings, performances, live events, the DocLab exhibition, VR cinema, and education screenings, taking place at over 20 locations across the city of Amsterdam.

IDFA’s program DocLab for interactive and immersive non-fiction exceeded all expectations. With the theme Nervous Systems, IDFA’s new media section returned in 2022 for its its sixteenth edition to the heart of Amsterdam for 10 days of in-person digital and XR programming. Referring playfully to our nervous systems—both inside the body and in the reality that surrounds us—the program focuses on experiential storytelling through different senses, art forms, and technologies. With digital art installations, multisensory experiences, live events, motion capture performances, and the ever-expanding metaverse, as we collectively ask: How does it feel to be alive? How can we experience the world? These questions are posed against the backdrop of the nervous times we live in, in which the biggest challenges we face today are systemic in nature.

But still with all these experiments we'd like to move back to our personal Realities – as Pnin (that character, we already quoted) was dreaming to create a wonderful dream mixture of poetry, social history, and petite histoire. Making history palpable…

And the list of winners:

· IDFA Award for Best Film – International Competition: Apolonia, Apolonia, directed by Lea Glob

· IDFA Award for Best Directing – International Competition: Much Ado About Dying, directed by Simon Chambers

· IDFA Award for Best Editing – International Competition: Journey Through Our World, editor Mario Steenbergen

· IDFA Award for Best Cinematography – International Competition: Paradise, cinematographer Paul Guilhaume

· IDFA Award for Best Film – Envision Competition: Manifesto, directed by Angie Vinchito

· IDFA Award for Best Directing – Envision Competition: The Fabulous Ones, directed by Roberta Torre

· IDFA Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution – Envision Competition: My Lost Country, directed by Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez

· Special Mention – Envision Competition: Notes for a Film, directed by Ignacio Agüero

· IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction: In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, directed by Darren Emerson

· Special Jury Award for Creative Technology: Plastisapiens, directed by Miri Cherkhanovich and Edith Jorisch

· IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling: He Fucked the Girl Out of Me, directed by Taylor McCue

· Special Jury Award for Creative Technology: His Name Is my Name, directed by Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill.

· IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary: Away, directed by Ruslan Fedotow

· Special Mention – Short Documentary: The Porters, directed by Sarah Vanagt

· IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (14+): Home Is Somewhere Else, directed by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos.

· IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (9-13): Ramboy, directed by Matthias Joulaud

· Special Mention – Youth Film: Jasmin’s Two Homes, directed by Inka Achté and Hanna Karppinen

· IDFA Award for Best First Feature: The Etilaat Roz, directed by Abbas Rezaie

· Special Mention – First Feature: Guapo’y, directed by Sofia Paoli Thorne

· IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film: Journey Through Our World, directed by Petra Lataster-Czisch and Peter Lataster

· Special Mention – Best Dutch Film: Inside My Heart, directed by Saskia Boddeke

· Beeld & Geluid IDFA Reframe Award: Private Footage, directed by Janaína Nagata

· Special Mention – Beeld & Geluid IDFA Reframe Award: The March on Rome, directed by Mark Cousins

· IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch: Niñxs, directed by Kani Lapuerta

· IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut: The Tuba Thieves, directed by Alison O’Daniel

· IDFA DocLab Forum Award: We Speak Their Names in Hushed Tones, directed by Omoregie Osakpolor