For this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) running November 19-30, 30 films from the Nordic countries are among 298 international titles selected from 3,200 submissions. Nordisk Film & TV Fond is involved in 13 titles screening in the various sections, including four in the main competitions.
Two titles backed by the Fund are vying for the top VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary: the Danish film Democrats by Camilla Nielsson, a look at how Zimbabwe got a new constitution and is on verge of democratisation, and Something Better to Come (pictured) by Oscar-nominated Hanna Polak (The Children of Leningradsky). The Danish/Polish film follows over a 14 year period a teenage girl, Yula and her companions who live on the biggest refuse tip in Europe, less than 20 km from Moscow.
Another Nordic title vying for the top IDFA award is Those Who Said No by Iranian-Swedish director Nima Sarvestani, his most personal film featuring the Iran tribunal set up by survivors of Iranian state terror during the 1980 and families of the victims (watch out for Sarvestani’s interview to be published on November 21).
Other competing titles backed by the Fund comprise the Finnish entry in the First Appearance section Pixadores by Amir Escandari, the story of a group of Sao Paolo’s revolutionary graffiti artists, and Ida’s Diary by August B. Hansen, based on a young Norwegian girl’s video diary. The film is running in the mid-length doc competition.
In the parallel IDFA Forum, nine Nordic projects out of 50 selections will be looking for co-financing and co-production. The mid-length Norwegian project Varicella will screen at the Forum as part of a case-study of a six part Nordic doc series for children produced by Norway’s Sant & Usant, Denmark’s Final Cut for Real and Sweden’s Story AB.
For the full IDFA programme, check: www.idfa.nl