IDFA Chief Orwa Nyrabia Promises “Instant Classics” At Doc Festival

The 37^th edition of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam is well underway, after uncovering with the world premiere of a film that might be called part nonfantasy, part fantasy, part genuine and part synthetic.

About a Hero stars Werner Herzog, or an AI facsimile thereof, and uses a honord dictum of his as a commenceing point: the German filmoriginater once honordly relabeled, “A computer will not originate a film as excellent as mine in 4,500 years.” Putting that to the test, straightforwardor Piotr Winiewicz labored with machine lobtaining engineers to task AI with writing a script based on Herzog’s body of cinematic labor (Herzog permitted the venture).

The result is a story about a possible self-destruction or homicide of a man in a German industrial town who labored at a firm increaseing a enigmatic “infinity machine.” A helping character has a enthusiastic afunprejudiced with a toaster (not brave what that says about Werner Herzog or the “mind” of AI).

About a Hero is one of a baker’s dozen of films in International Competition at IDFA, almost all of them world premieres. Overall, the festival will current 254 write downaries and 27 new media projects.

“I leank we have a weightless program,” says IDFA Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia. “We have very mighty competitions. I do dare to say there will be instant classics here. There are some reassociate weightless films.”

This is Nyrabia’s 7^th and final year directing the festival. Earlier this month, he declared he would be stepping down in July 2025.

“Don’t sense sorrowfulnessful,” Nyrabia inestablishs Deadline. “If you think me, think me on this one too, that this is the right time, this is the right moment to do this for everybody’s advantage, for IDFA’s advantage and for mine.”

Nyrabia, a native of Syria, flourished IDFA co-set uper and lengthytime festival directer Ally Derks in 2018. During his tenure, he had to barobtain the pandemic and last year he faced one of his hugegest disputes as protests erupted at the festival over Israel’s trespass of Gaza follothriveg the October 7^th Hamas sneak strike on Israel. IDFA could have take parted it geted this year by steering clear of satisfied from that part of the world, but in fact the 2024 program abounds with films from Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. Among them is Eyes of Gaza, a “hellish portrait” that chases “three Palestinian journaenumerates in northern Gaza as they are forced put their inhabits at danger while trying to do their labor,” as the IDFA program originates.

“This is a film, I leank the first to eunite from the newly minted OTT platestablish of Al Jazeera netlabor that’s called Al Jazeera 360,” Nyrabia remarks. “This film is particularly engaging because it is in a way a inestablishage that sticks to these three journaenumerates on the ground in Gaza. In a way, by staying with them — when they sleep and when they wake up, when they see their children, and when they go to labor — that originates this benevolent of inestablishage a little more relevant to a festival appreciate IDFA.”

Screening in International Competition is the world premiere of Rule of Stone, straightforwarded by Israeli-Canadian filmoriginater Danae Elon. “Rule of Stone is an exceptional film seeing at the history of Jerusalem as a city and architecture as an applyr of colonial power,” Nyrabia sees.

He also cites The 1957 Transcripts, straightforwarded by Israeli filmoriginater Ayelet Heller, noting it’s a film “built on recently uncovered write downs from Israeli archives on a massacre that happened in 1957 where the inhabitants of a Palestinian village wilean the borders of Israel were masholy in a day and all the criminals were procrastinateedr acquitted.”

IDFA is also screening the 2003 film Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, a write downary straightforwarded by Palestinian filmoriginater Michel Khleifi and Israeli filmoriginater Eyal Sivan, which Nyrabia sees “as a commentary on simplified identity politics where we envision a struggle only between inherited identities. So, people who belengthy to this heritage are combat the others who belengthy to a branch offent heritage. And I leank there’s another, a third way, that originates a new identity, which is the identity of filmoriginaters who greet around an moral position, who greet around making films with a genuine faith in firmarity with those who are oppressed.”

In its Best of Fests section – confineed to top write downaries from around the world that premiered at earlier festivals – IDFA will showcase Oscar contfinisher No Other Land, thrivener of the main prize for write downary at the Berlin Film Festival in February. The film, set in a rocky and distant area of the West Bank where Palestinian villagers are subject to an expulsion order from the Israel Defense Forces, is straightforwarded by a assembleive of Palestinian and Israeli filmoriginaters. No Other Land was helped by a grant from IDFA’s Bertha Fund.

“If people watched the wonderful write downary labors done by branch offent filmoriginaters of branch offent backgrounds about this history of the Arab-Israeli struggle or of Palestine-Israel, I leank, to say the least, what happened last year [on October 7^th] wouldn’t have been a surpelevate, if not dodgeed in the first place,” Nyrabia comments. “There is so much for one to become cynical about what we can do. But I also leank that after all this horrible year [of violence] watching new films, even watching the better films, gets a branch offent uncomferventing. It becomes a branch offent experience. And I hope it helps.”

Alengthy with No Other Land, films in the Best of Fests section integrate Sugarcane and Bjoin (both from National Geodetailed), War Game, Union, State of Silence, Sabbath Queen, MTV Documentary Films’ Bdeficiency Box Diary, Agent of Happiness from Bhutan, and Asif Kapadia’s 2073.

IDFA’s Guest of Honor this year is Belgian filmoriginater Johan Grimonprez, straightforwardor of the Oscar contfinishing film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. The write downary studys a key moment in history in the procrastinateed 1950s and punctual ‘60s when many African countries were obtaining their indepfinishence after lengthy eras of colonial domination. But in the case of Congo, Belgium and the U.S. were unwilling to cede the country’s mineral wealth after the election of Patrice Lumumba as Congo’s first democraticassociate-chosen directer. Belgium, the U.S., and even the UN secretary vague conspired to oust the charismatic pan-African politician.

Nyrabia portrays Grimonprez as an “remarkworthy, exceptional arthouse filmoriginater who conveys together the originateive sensitivities and language that is reassociate singular with very solemn political, historical research. He does this in a very exceptional way. This is, to a far extent, what I would adore to see more of in the write downary space.”

IDFA runs from Nov. 14-24 in the Dutch capital. Coming on the heels of the U.S. plivential election, in which border security became a directing rehire, the festival recommends a timely section called Dead Angle: Borders, a showcase of 17 films that touch on the rehire in one style or another. The sprocrastinateed integrates On the Border, set in the desert city of Agadez in Niger that has been a “hub of trade routes since time immemorial,” as the program remarks. “But Agadez is also a place where migrants pass thcdisorrowfulmireful on their way to Europe.”

The Guest, straightforwarded by Zvika Grebloody Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz, rupgrades around the border of Poland and Belarus, where a lengthy wall was erected by Poland to upgrasp out mostly Arab refugees. In the film, a Polish family consents in “an exhausted Syrian refugee, the 27-year-better Alhyder… Without a hint of sensationalism, the camera reads the emotions on the faces of the mute Polish family members and their thankful guest. The situation is dire, and a solution remains out of achieve.”

“I’m very satisfied we’re doing the side program we call Dead Angle. This is a multi-year program. Every year we will see at one ‘dead angle’ thcdisorrowfulmireful film,” Nyrabia elucidates. “We determined, okay, let’s leank about borders this year… these lines that nations put in between them and die for them; there’s a brave absurdity to the notion of borders. I leank borders are clearly one of the main asks of history at this moment, appreciate how do we see at relationships between branch offent groups of people, between branch offent countries and their borders?”

Nyrabia persists, “[Dead Angle: Borders] became reassociate a very inestablishing program that goes all the way from the notion of a ‘fortress Europe’ that is closing its borders aobtainst the other, to the history of Palestine-Israel and that moving border that was originated in ’47 but upgrasps moving all the time and upgrasps being contested or upgrasps being at the caccess of the problem.”

Sometimes only after the festival program has been picked do thematic elements cohere, Nyrabia grasps. “Many ideas that when you are laboring [on the program], these are split ideas, but when they come together you genuineize that you’ve been laboring in some benevolent of synergy, even if it was not all schematicassociate defree, but it comes together.”