IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
November 17 - 28, 2010
Amsterdam / Netherlands
IDFA Competition for Feature-length Documentary
for documentaries over 60 minutes
Fifteen films compete this year in the competition program for feature-length documentary, including two Dutch productions. The winner of the VPRO IDFA Award for Best feature-Length Documentary, consisting of a sculpture and a cash prize of € 12,500 will be announced on Friday, 26 November. The jury may also grant a Special Jury Award. Jury 2010: Orlando Bagwell (Canada), Frédéric Boyer (France), Vibeke Bryld (Denmark), Lixin Fan (Canada) and Monique van de Ven (Netherlands).
Katka
Director: Třeštíková Helena
Producer: Černá Kateřina
Production company: Negativ s.r.o., Czech TV
Katka , Czech Republic, 2010, 90 min, 35 mm, HD, Creative, Portrait, Time Laps
East European Forum 2007 / Docu Talents From the East 2009 / East Silver 2010
Helena Třeštíková's film is a remarkable documentary tracing fourteen years in the life of a young junkie and her futile battle with drug addiction. Why did she start taking drugs? She claims she wanted to be different. The year is 1996 and 19-year-old Katka lives in the Sananim therapy community in the town of Němčice with hope for a normal life – she dreams of having a boyfriend and even a family, some day. But there's no happy ending. The director records Katka's descent over the years into a spiral of theft, prostitution, physical and psychological deterioration – a spiral that is broken only by brief flashes of hope and resolutions to stop taking drugs. Katka's desire is sincere, but in the end drugs always win. Will Katka finally find the strength when she becomes pregnant and motherhood offers her life-sustaining motivation?
IDFA Competition for Mid-length Documentary
for documentaries between 30 - 60 minutes
Documentaries shorter than 60 minutes compete for the NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary. An international jury will evaluate the films and announce its three nominations at the IDFA Media Talk Show on November 24. The NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary, which consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of €10,000 provided by Dutch broadcaster NTR, will be presented at the IDFA Awards Ceremony on November 26. NTR Television will also buy and broadcast the winning film.
Family Instinct
Director: Gauja Andris
Producer: Melberga Madara
Production company: Fa Filma
Ģimenes lietas , Latvia, 2010, 58 min, HD, Drama doc, Portrait, Social issues
Docu Talents from the East 2010 / East Silver 2010
"Family Instinct" is a film about incest - an illegal act, social taboo and a violation of religious norms. Zanda is a 28-year-old woman, worn out by hard work. Surrounded by poverty and despair, she is trying to survive with her two children in a god-forsaken Latvian village. Her hardships can be traced back to living in a relationship with her brother Valdis. When Valdis is put in jail, the local community forces her to make a difficult choice: to stay with him or with her children. Despite her ill fortune, she manages to express her love for the children, still hoping to save her family. The film offers a tragicomic but highly authentic insight into the bleak reality of Latvian countryside today.
The Gamester
Director: Dashuk Victar
Producer: Dashuk Victar
Production company: Viktar Dashuk
Belarus, 2010, 59 min, Personal view, Politics, Social issues, Society
The prologue scene is a static shot of a fox tugging with its teeth at a piece of loose fencing, stubbornly wrestling with it. Director Viktar Dashuk wonders whether this behavior is playful or crazy. This is followed by a portrait in chapters of Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus since 1994. In his characteristic drawl, Dashuk commentates on footage of Lukashenko's public appearances, such as when he verbalizes the "thoughts" of Lukashenko's young son who must accompany his father to all kinds of events, including a military parade, an audience with the Pope, and encounters with ordinary folk. It is here that the sarcastic tone reaches its peak.
Lobotomy
Director: Khashchavatski Yury
Producer: Kaat Marianna
Production company: Baltic Film Production, Bramafilm, FreeProVideo, Belsat TV
Lobotomiya , Belarus, Estonia, 2010, 52 min, Beta SP, Creative, Politics, Social issues
East European Forum 2007 / East Silver 2010
On the basis of the Russian-Georgian war the film explores the methods of Russian media in the brainwashing of its citizens. The film explores with what tools today everybody can be made an enemy, and how heroes can be made of criminals. It is structured on the collision of the real information on this war and on how these events were presented in the Russian mass media over the last 20th years.
IDFA Competition for First Appearance
for documentaries by beginning filmmakers
Documentaries by beginning filmmakers compete for the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€ 5.000). IDFA supports beginning filmmakers with this competition. An international jury will evaluate the films and announce its three nominations at the IDFA Media Talk Show on November 24. The IDFA Award for Best First Appearance, which consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of €5,000, will be presented at the IDFA Awards Ceremony on November 26.
Cinema Komunisto
Director: Turajlic Mila
Producer: Plemic Iva
Production company: Dribbling Pictures
Serbia, 52 min, Creative
Docu Talents From the East 2008
When reality has a different script from the one in your films, who wouldn’t invent a country to fool themselves? The collapsing sets of Tito’s Hollywood of the East take us on a journey through the rise and fall of the illusion called Yugoslavia. Exploring the ruins of the forgotten film sets and talking to directors, producers, policemen and Tito's projectionist about the state-run enterprise and Tito's personal love for cinema and it's stars, Cinema Komunisto uses film clips to go back to the time when 'His story' became the official history.
IDFA Competition for Student Documentary
for student documentaries from film academies around the world
Student documentaries from film academies around the world compete for the IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary (€ 2.500,-). An international jury will evaluate the films and announce its three nominations at the IDFA Media Talk Show on November 24. The IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary, which consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of €2,500, will be presented at the IDFA Awards Ceremony on November 26.
Kill the Day
Director: Kutsila Andrei, Nalivaiko Aleksander
Producer: Kamienski Jaroslaw
Production company: Belsat TV
Dniuka , Belarus, 2010, 30 min, Beta SP, Creative, Personal view, Portrait
East Silver 2010
An ordinary village in Belarusian Palessje. An old pair, Antanina and her husband Viktar, sit knee by knee in their small village hut, decorated with home-made cloths. He drinks badly and wonders “what does one live in this world for?” It is very sad and gloomy in winter, but when the spring comes, the nature revives, and so do the people and the animals. Life goes on. But why does the old woman sigh so heavily? A very colorful and realistic image of old-time people microcosm. Sometimes amusing, sometimes tragic. There is swearing, quarrelling, disagreement; and at the same time harmonious coexistence of people and nature, man and woman.
Mushrooms of Concrete
Director: Payens Martijn
Producer: VandeKerckhove John, Vromman Jan
Production company: Erasmus University College, Academy of Film and Multimedia Marubi
Albania, Belgium, 2010, 23 min, History, Society
Albanian Communist Party Chief Enver Hoxha ran the country for 41 years, from 1944 to 1985. Over this period, the dictator left an indelible impression on the poorest country in Europe. Although he saw to it that electricity was available throughout Albania as early as 1967, he also isolated the country from the rest of the world. Hoxha was in constant fear of attack from outside and so he had 750,000 bunkers built at strategic locations, which still dot the landscape.
A Screening at The Tatry Cinema
Director: Chojna Igor
Producer: Malatynski Marcin
Production company: Polish National Film, Television and Theater School
Seans w kinie Tatry , Poland, 2009, 26 min, Digi Beta, Portrait
East Silver 2010
Darek Ambroszczyk is the only person working at a small declining cinema in Łódź. He spends hours in the ticket office of the empty Tatry cinema indulging in grumbling and manifesting his dislike for the world and accidental clients. Is it possible that every day routine may have completely drained his passion? Professional burnout is exposed by Darek’s discouragement and apathy. Darek lives a life of a local freak spending time in his cluttered flat with two unruly dogs.
Viva Maria!
Director: Smoczyńska Agnieszka
Producer: Ślesicka Katarzyna
Production company: Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing
Poland, 2010, 17 min, Digi Beta, Art and Culture, Portrait
East Silver 2010
The great Polish opera diva Maria Fołtyn created her greatest performance in Stanisław Moniuszko’s „Halka”, with which she toured worldwide – she was applauded by Stalin and admired by Castro. Today, when she is losing her voice she has decided to give way to her successors. The film „Viva Maria” is a tale of passion, sacrifice and devotion, and is an extraordinary story of passing down a voice.
Reflecting Images - Best of Fests
Reflecting Images is IDFA's largest non-competitive film program, divided into three sections: Best of Fests, Masters and Panorama. In Best of Fests, the festival presents documentaries that have made an impact on this year's international festival circuit.
Something about Georgia
Director: Kirtadzé Nino
Producer: Rozenberg Paul
Production company: Zadig Productions, ARTE G.E.I.E., YLE - Finnish Broadcasting Company, Sundance Institute, Georgian Public Broadcasting
Něco o Gruzii , France, Georgia, 2010, 100 min, Digi Beta, HD, Current affairs, Human Rights, Politics
East Silver 2010
The film is a political fable that depicts the frail equilibrium of the world and questions the values of international politics. It takes us through a critical and violent year in the life of Georgian state - from the presidential election of January 2008, when everything seemed possible, to the chaos of the August war with Russia and the sobering aftermath - and raises questions about political responsibility and the morality of international affairs. The story is told through its main actors: the Georgian president, the Georgian government, the political opposition, foreign leaders, international delegations and organisations and, most of all, the ordinary Georgian people.
The World According to Ion B.
Director: Nanau Alexander
Producer: Nanau Alexander
Production company: HBO Romania, Alexander Nanau Production
Lumea vazuta de Ion B. , Romania, 2009, 60 min, HD, Art and Culture, Portrait
East Silver 2010
Ion B. is a 62 year-old homeless man. His bed is a filthy foam mattress at the bottom of a garbage chute. Ion sorts through the daily household garbage of the block, avidly reading the books, magazines and newspapers he finds. Since the 70s he has been creating collages from them that he calls "my films".
Reflecting Images is IDFA's largest non-competitive programme, divided into three sections: Best of Fests, Masters and Panorama. In Panorama, IDFA is presenting films that are thought-provoking in form and choice of theme.
All for the Good of the World and Nosovice
Director: Klusák Vít
Producer: Klusák Vít, Remunda Filip
Production company: Hypermarket Film, Czech TV
Vše pro dobro světa a Nošovic , Czech Republic, 2010, 82 min, 35 mm, Cinema Release, Creative, Personal view, Social issues
Docu Talents from the East 2010 / East Silver 2010
An original portrait of a Czech village that houses a giant car plant built by South Korea's Hyundai. Before the village turned into an industrial zone, many of the landowners had no intention of selling their plots of land... Not until many of them faced pressure from their neighbours who had accepted approx. EUR 4000 in compensation and not until they received death threats. Using nine protagonists, the film paints a portrait of a village changed beyond recognition. A humorous yet compelling film about a field that yields cars.
Kapitalism - Our Secret Recipe
Director: Solomon Alexandru
Producer: Solomon Alexandru
Production company: HiFilm Productions, Seppia, Néon Rouge Productions
Kapitalism - reteta noastră secretă , Belgium, France, Romania, 2009, 76 min, HD, Current affairs, Personal view, Society
East Silver 2010
Alexandru Solomon invites Ceausescu to revisit Romania, 20 years after he has been executed. The dictator haunts present-day capitalist society, emerged in the Wild East and often deeply rooted in its communist past. The film offers incredible access to top magnates – at home, in their offices and in their minds – building a bitter-sweet portrait of a new ruling class. Capitalism with a K – an Eastern European cocktail of power and money. This is now part of Greater Europe. Unavoidable!
I Will Marry the Whole Village
Director: Mirković Željko
Producer: Dinic Mirkovic Tamara, Mirković Željko
Production company: Optimistic film
Serbia, 2010, 57 min, Culture, Personal view, Social issues
"The Serbian village of Gornji Mateijevac has all the prerequisites for a normal life: electricity, running water, sewage, paved roads, a school, and Internet." Forty-eight-year-old Peca's description sounds almost like an ad, and not without reason, for he sees it as his personal mission to get himself and the more than 200 other bachelors in his village hitched. He cheerfully pulls out all the stops to get his friends ready for their big day. Not an easy task, as the fortysomethings are shy and awkward, and they have no idea how to present themselves.
Run for Life
Director: Matičević Mladen
Producer: Matičević Mladen
Production company: Starhill d.o.o.
Serbia, 2010
East European Forum 2009 / Ex Oriente Film 2009
Run for Life is a story about three Ethiopian athletes who had participated at Podgorica half-marathon in November 2007 and afterwards decided to stay in Serbia and applied for political asylum. When Zoran Molović, a former Yugoslav athletic champion found out about their situation, he took them from the refugee camp, found them accommodation in the village of Pambukovica and became their coach. There the athlets train, wait for Serbian citizenship and hope that one day they will run for Serbia at world competitions. Should they return to Ethiopia, they would face poverty, war, and even jail. This is a film about their expectations, hopes, about their struggle with the situation, sorrow for their families but also about how Serbia will accept them.
Village Without Women
Director: Sarenac Srdjan
Producer: Robin-You Estelle
Production company: Les films du balibari, Mainframe Film Production
Selo bez žena , Croatia, France, 2010, 83 min, Digi Beta, HD, Creative, Social issues, Society
Ex Oriente Film 2008 / East European Forum 2008 / Docu Talents From the East 2009 / East Silver 2010
In Southwest Serbia, atop a mountain and four kilometres from the nearest road, the Jankovic brothers hold down the fort in the womanless village of Zabrdje. Dragan, Zoran, and Rodoljub, along with their neighbour, Velimir, represent the entire population of what was once a vibrant rural community. They live in tough conditions. No running water, no roads, not even a hint of a woman’s touch. Not to mention, the three brothers still share the same bedroom. Zoran, the eldest brother, dreams of marrying a woman capable of handling life in Zabrdje. Can he fulfil his dream and renew hope in his village?
For more details on the programme, please go to www.idfa.nl.