Festival program

This year, IDFA introduced a new format for its thematic programs: a multi-year curated program titled Dead Angle. This program explores our blind spots, both in historical and contemporary contexts – using documentary as a torch to illuminate the dark corners of our awareness. This year’s edition focused on the theme Borders—not only as physical barriers, but as profound metaphors for identity, community, and the human condition.

The second focus program, Spotlight on Cuba, invited audiences to rediscover Cuba’s complex political history through a selection of nineteen films. At its core was a retrospective of groundbreaking Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez, complemented by a curated selection of films by students from EICTV (The International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba).

Renowned artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez was this year’s Guest of Honor. During his Guest of Honor Talk in the Royal Theater Tuschinski, he shared insights into his work, which examines global conflicts and the ways in which media shape our perception of reality. Through his signature approach—reassembling historical footage into new collages—Grimonprez offers fresh perspectives on complex issues, exposing the manipulative power of media and how images unconsciously shape our collective memory and worldview.

In his unconventional Top 10, Grimonprez invited audiences to explore the tip of the iceberg of his personal film archives. Presented in thematic chapters, the selection reflecting the key themes that define his artistic practice.

IDFA DocLab is an interdisciplinary platform for interactive documentary art and immersive storytelling, offering both audiences and professionals the chance to engage with the intersection of documentary, art, digital media, and emerging technologies.

This year’s program centred around the theme This Is Not a Simulation. Can computers generate something truly new? How do interactive media, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence reshape our perception and physical experience of the world? Can reality itself be virtual—and, more importantly, would we want it to be?

This Is Not a Simulation rejected the notion of reality as a dream or construct of an all-knowing supercomputer. The program showcased 28 immersive artworks, AI experiences, and live performances by creators working across theater, film, games, new media, and bio-art—each exploring the fundamental nature of reality as the connective tissue that binds us together.

DocLab Exhibition
This year’s DocLab exhibition took place across two venues: its long-standing home de Brakke Grond and a new location, @droog. The ten-day exhibition was more diverse than ever, featuring projects from artists of various backgrounds and working across a wide range of media and formats. The selection included VR and AR experiences, live performances, AI installations, a book on digital image culture, video installations, and a generative audio experience.

VR Experiences
Interactive and immersive digital artworks allow for experimentation with new exhibition formats and audience engagement. This year, visitors could experience the VR works free of charge at de Brakke Grond as part of the new media exhibition, or purchase tickets for uninterrupted 50-minute sessions in the VR Gallery at @droog. The VR booths were in high demand during the festival, with time slots for the VR Gallery selling out well in advance, signaling the growing interest in immersive art.

Playrooms
The DocLab Playrooms were newly introduced in 2024 and are built on the strength of the community gathered by a festival like IDFA. This was presented as a series of three curated and interactive events for professionals and the general audience to get hands-on experience and knowledge from key artists, producers, and each other. Each DocLab Playroom had its own setup, theme, and format: production studio Anagram opened its playful R&D process in The Body Amorphous, theatre company Ontroerend Goed presented an invite-only try-out of Handle with Care, and some of the leading AI artists at IDFA last year opened the hood of their machines in search of something human during various sessions in the playroom How to Not Make It About AI.

DocLab at the Planetarium
In 2024, DocLab also continued its collaboration with ARTIS-Planterarium and presented two evening programs. There was an increased level of R&D involved in making this year’s program happen. The collaboration entailed developing full-dome presentations and adaptations of new media works selected for the DocLab Exhibition which were not originally in that format. 
Earlier in the year, DocLab co-hosted an outreach event in collaboration with ARTIS-Planetarium and WeMakeVR to provide an opportunity to explore full dome as a creative space.

Year-round activities
In addition to the festival program, DocLab also presented a range of activities for professionals. For the seventh consecutive year, it hosted the DocLab Research & Development Program, presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other partners.

As part of the year-round activities, DocLab organized a showcase on SXSW titled Designing Friction and the Immersive Experience with Luna Maurer and Steye Hallema, and presented an online talk in collaboration with MIT, inviting the team of CEPIR to speak about their research findings on the climate impact of the XR sector. Additionally, in collaboration with IDFA’s new venue Het Documentaire Paviljoen, various new media activities were supported, ranging from a VR Gallery to different test events of new projects by Dutch studios and artists.

IDFA’s great added value compared to regular cinema screenings, is that the festival provides context for films and projects—by means of conversations with filmmakers and audiences, and reflections by experts, events, and publications.

During the festival, the Film Talks and Filmmaker Talks cater to both audiences and professionals. Film critic Neil Young sat down with French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert to discuss his creative vision and boundless curiosity. A special curated program on Radu Jude took place in De Kleine Komedie, exploring themes of love and death, the fragility of the human body, and the relationship between image and reality. The program featured screenings of Sleep #2 and Eight Postcards from Utopia, followed by a conversation with IDFA’s Artistic Director, Orwa Nyrabia, and more. 

On Thursday, November 21, the IDFA Awards Ceremony took place at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, announcing the winners of the 37th edition of IDFA. The IDFA Award for Best Film in the International Competition was awarded to Trains by Maciej J. Drygas. The IDFA Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition went to Chronicles of the Absurd by Miguel Coyula.

IDFA's audience program is made possible by VriendenLoterij, Deloitte, VPRO, Fonds 21, de Volkskrant, WePresent by WeTransfer, NPO, Beeld & Geluid, De Groene Amsterdammer, National Geographic Documentary Films, Oxfam Novib, OneWorld, Creative Europe Media, Nederlands Filmfonds, European Cultural Foundation, Vfonds, Brook Foundation, and IDFA’s Friends, Special Friends, and Special Friends+.

IDFA DocLab is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, CLICKNL, Nederlands Film Fund, Onassis ONX, Agog, and IDFA’s Special Friends+.

DocLab research and development partners are Agog, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, ARTIS-Planetarium, Beeld & Geluid, Diversion cinema, Droog, East City Films, Fak'ugesi Festival / Digital Lab Africa, MIT Open Documentary Lab, Onassis ONX, PHI, POPKRAFT, Tiny Planets, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, and WeMakeVR.