The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) opens on Thursday for its 39th edition, with 253 films from 80 countries screening until November 22.
The festival was founded in 1988 by Ally Derks, at a time when documentaries rarely made it into Dutch cinemas. The first edition showed 72 films to around 2,000 visitors.
There are prizes for the best films in the International Competition and the Envision Competition, which is for more experimental work.
There are also prizes for the best debut, the best Dutch film and the best use of archive footage. The winners will be announced on November 19.
Here are some highlights to look out for:
White Tiger Column
The opening film follows a group of young recruits through 45 days of training at a jungle camp run by Myanmar’s resistance movement. Canadian directors Robert Mentov, Dwight Jantzi and Bryan Dickie filmed the volunteers’ daily routines as they prepare to fight. The film is in the International Competition and is also nominated for the award for best first feature.
You Can See Everything
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood-testing company Theranos, invited comedian Nathan Fielder and director Lance Oppenheim into her home in the weeks before she went to prison. They filmed her daily life with her partner, hotel heir Billy Evans, and their two children. The film was made in secret from 2023 and unveiled at a surprise screening at the Telluride film festival in September.
Musk
Oscar winner Alex Gibney’s portrait of Elon Musk runs to almost four hours. Gibney expanded the film after Musk briefly became one of President Trump’s closest aides and set about cutting the federal government. The film premiered at the Venice film festival in September.
30 mei, 1969 (gritu di un pueblo)
On May 30, 1969, aworkers in Curaçao went on strike, which grew into a popular uprising against exploitation and inequality. The Dutch government sent troops to the island, causing political turmoil. Curaçao-born filmmaker John Leerdam made the film 25 years later, interviewing people who were involved and drawing on archive footage. It first screened at IDFA in 1995, and is returning this year in a new restoration by Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum.
No Man’s Air
On July 20, 1974, the last flight landed at Nicosia Airport before Turkey invaded Cyprus. The airport has sat ever since in the no man’s land between the Greek and Turkish parts of the island. In this 42-minute film, Dutch filmmakers Peter Delpeut and Gerco de Ruijter use found footage to reconstruct that flight, with the Cypriot captain narrating off screen.
