Phie Ambo’s IDFA Forum Pitch Entry ‘Fire, Water, Earth, Air’ Finds Nordic Partners (EXCLUSIVE)

IDFA – the largest documentary film festival in the world — has just wrapped its 36th edition, and it was a memorable one by every definition. Two hundred and fifty films screened in Amsterdam, representing work from across the globe –the Middle East to Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Europe.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Oscar winner Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of Palme d’Or-winning director Bille August‘s prestige limited series “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which also stars Sam Claflin. A sprawling adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, the English-language series is produced by Mediawan’s banner Palomar, the leading Italian company behind “Inspector Montalbano” and “The Name of the Rose,” in collaboration with another Mediawan label, France’s DEMD Productions.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Yes Studios, the Tel Aviv-based producer and distributor behind “Fauda,” has scored major deals on “44 Hours,” a documentary feature about Gil Avni, a healthy 33-year-old father of two who was diagnosed with cerebral edema and miraculously recovered. The feature-length documentary has been acquired by Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. and by NRK in Norway for its linear channels and VOD platform.

announcing their split in September, Turner has seemingly moved on, and Jonas allegedly had a big reaction to the news.As previously reported by Hollywood News Daily, just weeks after her divorce was announced, Sophie Turner was photographed kissing British aristocrat Peregrine Pearson. Reportedly, Joe Jonas saw the photo and wasn’t thrilled with his ex.“Frustration is the emotion running through him right now, and it doesn’t seem like that will be changing anytime soon. Joe is livid with the latest coming from Sophie, making him look like a horrible father,” a source told The Daily Mail.“’It is disgusting in his eyes what she has chosen to do.”The source went on to reveal that Jonas had believed he and Turner were turning the page when it came to their divorce and co-parenting.

Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly is leaving the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam with a major award: Best Director in International Competition for his film Life Is Beautiful. But where he goes next is uncertain – he can’t return to Gaza for the time being because the border is closed as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.

Christopher Vourlias Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly, who won the best director award at documentary festival IDFA on Thursday for “Life Is Beautiful,” has expressed his sense of helplessness amid the rising death toll in Gaza, where he was born. On Oct. 7, Hamas – a terrorist organization that has ruled Gaza since 2006 – launched coordinated attacks in Israel, killing over 1,200 civilians, and taking over 240 civilian hostages.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor It took director Ariel Kuaray Ortega almost two decades to be able to tell a story he’s heard throughout his entire life: the strange tale of Canuto, a man who mysteriously transformed into a jaguar and then died a tragic death. The resulting film, “Canuto’s Transformation,” had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, where it took the award for best film in the Envision Competition and the outstanding artistic contribution award.

Documentaries about the impact of war claimed two of the top prizes as the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam handed out awards Thursday night.

Blaga’s Lessons, Bulgaria’s International Film Oscar submission, has set a release in multiple countries.

International Documentary Festival Amsterdam has long enjoyed a reputation as a politically engaged festival – standing up for artists and speaking out for freedom of expression. For instance, IDFA forcefully advocated for Ukrainian filmmakers at last year’s event, making no secret of its position on Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Five years after opening the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam with his feature debut “Kabul, City in the Wind,” Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Aboozar Amini returns to IDFA to present his latest, “Kabul, Year Zero,” at the festival’s industry section, Forum. The choice to return to IDFA was an obvious one to Amini and frequent collaborator Jia Zhao of Silk Road Film Salon, who is co-producing “Kabul, Year Zero” alongside Julia Niethammer for Chromosome and Heejung Oh for Seesaw Pictures.

Documentary’s gatekeepers are playing it awfully safe lately, in the estimation of Orwa Nyrabia, artistic director of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, the world’s largest documentary film festival. 

Annika Pham Due to world premiere in IDFA’s international competition program on Monday, the Danish doc “As the Tide Comes In” is a collaborative work between Basque-born director Juan Palacios (“Meseta,” “Pedaló”), and the team behind the multi-awarded film “The Lost Leonardo”: Sofie Husum Johannesen, making her debut here as co-director, Andreas Dalsgaard, acting as executive producer and idea initiator, editor Nicolas Nørgaard Staffolani and producer Kasper Lykke Schultz. With their shared anthropological perspective, the filmmaking team have captured the extraordinary life of the 27 residents of the tiny Danish Wadden Sea island of Mandø, which can only be reached at low tide.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Selected as this year’s Guest of Honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Chinese director Wang Bing sat down with the festival’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia for an in-depth talk on his career on Friday at the imposing Tuschinski Theatre in the Dutch capital. Bing commented on not wanting his films to be “political” while reflecting on the entirety of his career, from his nine-hour-long debut “West of the Tracks” to the recent Cannes competition title “Youth (Spring)” — “I’m not particularly interested in politics (…) I don’t want my films to become a political tool.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Rise and Shine World Sales has acquired In-Soo Radstake’s “Selling a Colonial War,” which world premieres in the International Competition section of documentary festival IDFA in Amsterdam. “Selling a Colonial War” looks to encourage the Dutch government and society to accept responsibility for their actions as a colonial power in Indonesia – and especially their actions when fighting a war in Indonesia after the country declared independence in 1945. The Dutch government still refrains from using the term “war crimes” to describe their actions as this would have great impact on calls for reparation.

Taylor Swift has postponed tonight’s Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires due to what she called “truly chaotic” weather, a description that might also apply to the media frenzy with the arrival in Argentina last night of Travis Kelce.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has issued an apology after three activists burst on stage during the opening ceremony on Nov. 8 with a banner that read “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” The slogan, which calls for the destruction of Israel, has been used by Hamas, the terrorist group behind the Oct.

Leading members of the Israeli film community are accusing the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam of “allowing and applauding” a pro-Palestinian protest that interrupted IDFA’s opening night ceremony, which saw three activists take the stage with a banner emblazoned with the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Toronto-based sales agent Syndicado Film Sales has acquired international rights to Zara Zerny’s feature debut “Echo of You” ahead of its world premiere at Amsterdam’s doc festival IDFA. Through candid, revealing interviews, “Echo of You” presents a group of Danish men and women, all aged 80 plus. With poignant openness and honesty, they share their thoughts on their life partnerships; lost loves who, one way or another, are no longer with them.

Manchester United have reportedly decided not to make an approach for Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo in January and will instead postpone their interest to the summer.