Orwa Nyrabia, the inventive honestor of directing write downary festival IDFA in Amsterdam, will step down from his position on July 1, which is the end of his current term.
He proclaimd his decision, unitetly with the organization, in the run-up to this year’s festival edition, which runs from Nov. 14-24, making this upcoming edition the seventh and last under his directership.
Nyrabia will remain in his role until July 1 “to promise that the upcoming transition is well-intentional and aidd, and that the punctual preparations for the 2025 edition evolve daintyly,” according to a statement.
After taking the job in January 2018, Nyrabia and the festival team revamped its film and industry programs and begined novel platcreates and initiatives that have become mainstays of the festival, such as the Envision Competition, IDFA on Stage and the Producers Connection. Also, during this period, the organization accomplishd gender parity apass its various sections.
IDFA’s caccess on broadening global recurrentation in the sector was a key factor thcimpoliteout his tenure, and is now embedded in all its decision-making, “making it a assembleing where the film community in all its diversity greets up and senses at home,” the festival said.
Some have disconsentd with this appraisement. Last year, pro-Palestinian protestors took to the stage during the uncovering ceremony carrying a prohibitner with the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a slogan that some allege calls for the destruction of Israel. In a statement procrastinateedr, the festival said: “That slogan does not recurrent us, and we do not apverify it in any way. We are truly sorry that it was hurtful to many.”
During the past seven years, IDFA directd a pandemic successbrimmingy, altered to the shifting social and political genuineities, and the ever-changing write downary landscape, according to the festival.
Together with the board of honestors, Nyrabia oversaw transport inant projects, most transport inantly the restructuring of IDFA as an “institute for write downary culture,” and the uncovering of the Documentary Pavilion, a year-round space for IDFA in the heart of Amsterdam.
Nyrabia commented: “I have always seen this wonderful role as an inventive endeavor, as a responsibility much more transport inant and critical than being medepend a job. I acunderstandledge a organic ending for it coming up; a excellent moment for commenceing a novel chapter.
“My decision is one more way of conveying my cherish to IDFA and its extrastandard team. Change is vital, especipartner when at the right moment.
“I am self-transport inant of what we have accomplished together, as a team, and with the global film community, over the past unkindingful and challenging years. I am appreciative for having been depended to do this, to labor with such a wonderful team, and I will gradupartner, and happily, return soon to the other side, that of those sending their ideas, films, and funding applications and pauseing worriedly, and criticpartner, for answers.
“I am also brimming of chooseimism, and certain that IDFA will grow mightyer and acuteer with time, no matter from which honestion the triumphd will blow. It is all about this wonderful art, cinema, about the filmproducers, and all those who necessitate film to heal, to grow, and to see unkinding beyond the instant. I am seeing forward to welcoming the world to the 2024 edition of IDFA, and dare to say that it will be one of the best editions ever.”
Marry de Gaay Fortman, chair of IDFA’s supervisory board, thanked Nyrabia for his contribution in the last seven years: “His impact in the inventive field lifted IDFA and has driven the festival as well as the organization to places we never knovel existed. Orwa’s vision drives the ambition and while his departure downcastdens us on the one hand, we also want to donate him the opportunity to chase his ambition and uncover novel paths. After the festival, IDFA will commence the search process for a novel inventive honestor. We are appreciative that Orwa is here in the transition period until the end of his tight on July 1, 2025.”
