The documentary festival has experienced protests, open letters and film withdrawals this week.
After an eventful week at International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), festival director Orwa Nyrabia is hoping to organise a symposium at which the film community can discuss how best to address the various issues facing festivals as they steer through the choppy waters of geo-political events.
IDFA is one of the first major festivals to have taken place since the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza. IDFA’s various programmes and sidebars included films and projects from both Israel and Palestine.
After an eventful week at International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), festival director Orwa Nyrabia is hoping to organise a symposium at which the film community can discuss how best to address the various issues facing festivals as they steer through the choppy waters of geo-political events.
IDFA is one of the first major festivals to have taken place since the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza. IDFA’s various programmes and sidebars included films and projects from both Israel and Palestine.
- 11/17/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
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. Speaking exclusively to Variety, Zhao said, “It was a very conscious choice to get back to IDFA because Aboozar’s first project was here, and to have had a first feature be seen by so many people — many of whom still have some fresh memories of it — was special to us. Of course, IDFA still had to choose us, but the Forum always had priority.”
“For me, seeing people’s...
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. Speaking exclusively to Variety, Zhao said, “It was a very conscious choice to get back to IDFA because Aboozar’s first project was here, and to have had a first feature be seen by so many people — many of whom still have some fresh memories of it — was special to us. Of course, IDFA still had to choose us, but the Forum always had priority.”
“For me, seeing people’s...
- 11/14/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
The Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded, including five additional projects from Ukraine.
IDFA Forum (November 12-15), the co-production and co-financing market of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), has selected its 2023 edition titles, with the likes of Aboozar Amini, Asmae El Moudir and Michael Madsen returning with their latest projects to Forum Pitch, while the Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded.
Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind screened at IDFA in 2018, and is now pitching Kabul, Year Zero, which threads together four vivid coming-of-age stories against the backdrop of war.
After presenting The Postcard at IDFA...
IDFA Forum (November 12-15), the co-production and co-financing market of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), has selected its 2023 edition titles, with the likes of Aboozar Amini, Asmae El Moudir and Michael Madsen returning with their latest projects to Forum Pitch, while the Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded.
Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind screened at IDFA in 2018, and is now pitching Kabul, Year Zero, which threads together four vivid coming-of-age stories against the backdrop of war.
After presenting The Postcard at IDFA...
- 10/5/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Helmer’s previous film was 2018 silent comedy The Bra.
German director Veit Helmer has returned to the Caucasus for the third time to shoot his latest feature film Gondola (working title) in the Georgian mountains, following his 2008 Azerbaijan-set Absurdistan and 2018 silent comedy The Bra, set in Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Principal photography started last week on a 36-day shoot which is set to run until the end of September. The film tells the story of two female cable car operators who fall in love as pass each other in their gondolas travelling between a mountain village and the town in the valley below.
German director Veit Helmer has returned to the Caucasus for the third time to shoot his latest feature film Gondola (working title) in the Georgian mountains, following his 2008 Azerbaijan-set Absurdistan and 2018 silent comedy The Bra, set in Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Principal photography started last week on a 36-day shoot which is set to run until the end of September. The film tells the story of two female cable car operators who fall in love as pass each other in their gondolas travelling between a mountain village and the town in the valley below.
- 8/23/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Milcho Manchevski, Pablo Berger.
Co-productions from French director Michel Hazanavicius and Belgian filmmaking duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are among 24 selected for funding in the latest Eurimages round.
Hazanavicius, whose 2011 title The Artist which won five Oscars including best picture and director, receives €470,000 towards Franco-Belgian animation The Most Precious Of Cargoes.
Adapted from a 2019 novel by French writer Jean-Claude Grumberg, the animated film is set during the Second World War, when a Jewish father throws one of his twins from the train to Auschwitz in a desperate attempt to save him. The boy is then discovered by a childless Polish couple.
Co-productions from French director Michel Hazanavicius and Belgian filmmaking duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are among 24 selected for funding in the latest Eurimages round.
Hazanavicius, whose 2011 title The Artist which won five Oscars including best picture and director, receives €470,000 towards Franco-Belgian animation The Most Precious Of Cargoes.
Adapted from a 2019 novel by French writer Jean-Claude Grumberg, the animated film is set during the Second World War, when a Jewish father throws one of his twins from the train to Auschwitz in a desperate attempt to save him. The boy is then discovered by a childless Polish couple.
- 3/22/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Amsterdam-based documentary festival IDFA has crowned Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family as Best Feature-Length Documentary at its 2020 Awards Ceremony.
Taking place both at the city’s Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakke Grond as well as online, the ceremony also saw prizes awarded to Gorbachev. Heaven, which took Best Director for Vitaly Mansky, Inside The Red Brick Wall, which won Best Editing, and Nemesis, which took Best Cinematography.
The Best Feature-Length Documentary winner receives €20,000 while other awards range from €10,000 to €2,500.
Jury members for the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary were Marie-Pierre Macia, Ed Lachman, Alice Diop, Abdelkader Benali, and Finn Halligan.
IDFA 2020 still has 10 more days to run, but the fest has unveiled some stats for its event to date, saying the on-site portion of the festival had effectively been a sell-out (albeit with severely restricted numbers of screenings and capacities) with 15,000 admissions, while it had had 62,000 online film views and 3,000 online industry delegates.
Taking place both at the city’s Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakke Grond as well as online, the ceremony also saw prizes awarded to Gorbachev. Heaven, which took Best Director for Vitaly Mansky, Inside The Red Brick Wall, which won Best Editing, and Nemesis, which took Best Cinematography.
The Best Feature-Length Documentary winner receives €20,000 while other awards range from €10,000 to €2,500.
Jury members for the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary were Marie-Pierre Macia, Ed Lachman, Alice Diop, Abdelkader Benali, and Finn Halligan.
IDFA 2020 still has 10 more days to run, but the fest has unveiled some stats for its event to date, saying the on-site portion of the festival had effectively been a sell-out (albeit with severely restricted numbers of screenings and capacities) with 15,000 admissions, while it had had 62,000 online film views and 3,000 online industry delegates.
- 11/26/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The festival has received over 62,000 online film views.
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family has won the best feature-length documentary award at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which held its awards ceremony this evening in Amsterdam and broadcast online worldwide.
The Norway-Iran-Switzerland co-production receives the €20,000 prize; it was selected by a Competition jury consisting of producer Marie-Pierre Macia, directors Ed Lachman and Alice Diop, writer Abdelkader Benali and Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The film is Khosrovani’s take on growing up in Tehran and her parents’ relationship – her...
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family has won the best feature-length documentary award at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which held its awards ceremony this evening in Amsterdam and broadcast online worldwide.
The Norway-Iran-Switzerland co-production receives the €20,000 prize; it was selected by a Competition jury consisting of producer Marie-Pierre Macia, directors Ed Lachman and Alice Diop, writer Abdelkader Benali and Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The film is Khosrovani’s take on growing up in Tehran and her parents’ relationship – her...
- 11/26/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The Shoot the Book adaption market — a staple at the Marché du Film since 2014 and a rising player on the global film scene — continues to evolve.
As the program — a joint initiative between publishing trade group Scelf (Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française) and the publicly funded Institut Français — continues to host curated pitch sessions at markets in Cannes, Shanghai and Los Angeles, it will also look to expand its B2B rendezvous component that was introduced last year.
“Our ambition is very simple,” says Scelf director Nathalie Piaskowski. “We want to entrench and entwine the two events. We want to make the rendezvous a fixture — and export it to other markets and festivals.”
And so on June 25, Shoot the Book will kick off this year’s edition with a morning pitch session — spotlighting 10 literary properties selected by an industry jury — and return in the afternoon for a three-hour...
As the program — a joint initiative between publishing trade group Scelf (Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française) and the publicly funded Institut Français — continues to host curated pitch sessions at markets in Cannes, Shanghai and Los Angeles, it will also look to expand its B2B rendezvous component that was introduced last year.
“Our ambition is very simple,” says Scelf director Nathalie Piaskowski. “We want to entrench and entwine the two events. We want to make the rendezvous a fixture — and export it to other markets and festivals.”
And so on June 25, Shoot the Book will kick off this year’s edition with a morning pitch session — spotlighting 10 literary properties selected by an industry jury — and return in the afternoon for a three-hour...
- 6/22/2020
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Hong Kong, 20 January 2020 – The Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) today announces 33 projects shortlisted for its 18th edition, featuring a host of top Asian filmmakers as well as 11 first-feature directors.
HAF18 will take place this year from 25 to 27 March at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre alongside the 24th Hong Kong Filmart.
HAF18 received a total of 338 submissions from 17 countries and regions – including, for the first time, a documentary project from Mexico. Some of the project highlights are as follow: Hong Kong: Hong Kong offers a strong lineup of seven locally-flavoured projects, including works by Pang Ho-cheung, Derek Chiu and Ng Kai-chung. Best known for his Love in a Puff trilogy, Pang presents The End, which recounts the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from a dead director for the ending of his unfinished script; Derek Chiu returns after winning the Osaka Asian Film Festival’s Grand Prize with No.
HAF18 will take place this year from 25 to 27 March at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre alongside the 24th Hong Kong Filmart.
HAF18 received a total of 338 submissions from 17 countries and regions – including, for the first time, a documentary project from Mexico. Some of the project highlights are as follow: Hong Kong: Hong Kong offers a strong lineup of seven locally-flavoured projects, including works by Pang Ho-cheung, Derek Chiu and Ng Kai-chung. Best known for his Love in a Puff trilogy, Pang presents The End, which recounts the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from a dead director for the ending of his unfinished script; Derek Chiu returns after winning the Osaka Asian Film Festival’s Grand Prize with No.
- 1/21/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace,” the moon-mission chronicle “Apollo 11” and the first film from Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, “American Factory,” have made the short list for the International Documentary Association’s 2019 Ida Documentary Awards, the Ida announced on Thursday.
The announcement narrows the field to 30 feature films and 21 shorts that will move on to a second round of voting.
The IDA’s short list of 30 feature films contains 10 films that were on Doc NYC’s recent 15-film list of the year’s likeliest nonfiction awards contenders: “American Factory,” “The Apollo,” “Apollo 11,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “The Cave,” “Diego Maradona,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “For Sama,” “Honeyland” and “One Child Nation.”
Additional films on the Ida’s list include “Amazing Grace,...
The announcement narrows the field to 30 feature films and 21 shorts that will move on to a second round of voting.
The IDA’s short list of 30 feature films contains 10 films that were on Doc NYC’s recent 15-film list of the year’s likeliest nonfiction awards contenders: “American Factory,” “The Apollo,” “Apollo 11,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “The Cave,” “Diego Maradona,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “For Sama,” “Honeyland” and “One Child Nation.”
Additional films on the Ida’s list include “Amazing Grace,...
- 10/10/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
‘Aladdin’ star Mena Massoud confirmed to attend.
The El Gouna Film Festival, taking place on the Egyptian Red Sea coast Sept 19-27, has unveiled the line-up for its third edition.
A dozen international features, mainly selected from recent A-list festivals, will compete for the El Gouna Golden Star, worth $50,000, as well as other prizes.
Nearly half the competition titles hail from the Arab world including Lebanese filmmaker Oualid Mouaness’s 1982, about a school boy determined to declare his love to a classmate as war breaks out changing both their lives forever.
Nadine Labaki has a supporting role in the film,...
The El Gouna Film Festival, taking place on the Egyptian Red Sea coast Sept 19-27, has unveiled the line-up for its third edition.
A dozen international features, mainly selected from recent A-list festivals, will compete for the El Gouna Golden Star, worth $50,000, as well as other prizes.
Nearly half the competition titles hail from the Arab world including Lebanese filmmaker Oualid Mouaness’s 1982, about a school boy determined to declare his love to a classmate as war breaks out changing both their lives forever.
Nadine Labaki has a supporting role in the film,...
- 8/27/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Afghan director Aboozar Amini’s first feature documentary “Kabul, City in the Wind” was selected to open the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) and, after a passage at the Sheffield Doc Fest, is now in London for its UK premiere, courtesy of Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival.
“Kabul, City in the Wind” is screening at Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival
Amini fled Afghanistan when he was a teenager, lived and studied film in the Netherlands only to return to Kabul in 2009 and start thinking about portraying his city through the perspective of the little people.
In a city that is defined and narrated solely by war, Amini choses to look for the life that fills the crevices between a bombing and an attack, and to do so he follows the ordinary people, those who are not in the spotlight and yet are left to pick up the pieces every day.
“Kabul, City in the Wind” is screening at Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival
Amini fled Afghanistan when he was a teenager, lived and studied film in the Netherlands only to return to Kabul in 2009 and start thinking about portraying his city through the perspective of the little people.
In a city that is defined and narrated solely by war, Amini choses to look for the life that fills the crevices between a bombing and an attack, and to do so he follows the ordinary people, those who are not in the spotlight and yet are left to pick up the pieces every day.
- 6/11/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Cannes— Chile’s Jirafa Films, producer of Christopher Murray’s “The Blind Christ” and Alicia Scherson’s “Il Futuro” has teamed with Zafiro Cinema in Mexico, Chile’s Calamar Cine and Bolivia’s Color Monster to produce Vinko Tomičić sophomore outing, “Dogs” (“Perros”).
“Dogs” won the Best Pitch Award at the spring session of Cannes’ Cinéfondation Résidence. It will follow 13-year-old Martín, an orphan shoeshine boy from La Paz, Bolivia, who has lived his entire life on the streets and still hopes to find his father. Driven by his imagination, Martín begins to suspect that one of his best clients – Mr. Novoa, a lonely tailor– might be his father. Martín devises a plan: to kidnap Mr. Novoa’s dog so as to be able to be closer to him.
“Through documentary techniques, the director immerses the spectator in the world of young shoe shines from La Paz.
Second, he has an ethical take,...
“Dogs” won the Best Pitch Award at the spring session of Cannes’ Cinéfondation Résidence. It will follow 13-year-old Martín, an orphan shoeshine boy from La Paz, Bolivia, who has lived his entire life on the streets and still hopes to find his father. Driven by his imagination, Martín begins to suspect that one of his best clients – Mr. Novoa, a lonely tailor– might be his father. Martín devises a plan: to kidnap Mr. Novoa’s dog so as to be able to be closer to him.
“Through documentary techniques, the director immerses the spectator in the world of young shoe shines from La Paz.
Second, he has an ethical take,...
- 5/18/2019
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Day for Night is delighted to announce the programme for the 2019 edition of its Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival. Aperture will run in London from 4-13 June with a line-up of 13 features, both new titles and classics, including 6 UK Premieres and 1 London Premiere, as well as 17 shorts. Highlights for the festival include the UK premiere of critically acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s “The Gentle Indifference of the World” (Opening Film), the London premiere of Aboozar Amini’s mesmeric debut feature-length documentary “Kabul, City in the Wind” and a screening of 2K restoration of Peter Weir’s classic drama “Picnic at Hanging Rock”.
Aperture seeks to bridge the gap within the UK festival landscape as the only UK film festival to cover the whole of the Asian region and also to explore Oceania and is presented by UK based independent film organisation Day for Night in partnership with the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media...
Aperture seeks to bridge the gap within the UK festival landscape as the only UK film festival to cover the whole of the Asian region and also to explore Oceania and is presented by UK based independent film organisation Day for Night in partnership with the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media...
- 5/16/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
A Moon For My Father, Dark Suns also among winners.
This year’s Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen has handed out its main prize, the Dox:Award, to John Skoog’s Ridge. The film is an artistic hybrid documentary portrait of the Swedish summer, featuring visual art, abstract fiction and documentary material from Skåne, the country’s southernmost county.
The jury, consisting of producer Katrin Pors, critic and curator Eric Hynes, filmmaker Soudade Kaadan, filmmaker Frederic Tcheng, and Berlinale Panorama programme director Paz Lazaro, also gave a special mention to Pia Hellenthal’s feminist doc Searching Eva about a young woman living in Berlin.
This year’s Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen has handed out its main prize, the Dox:Award, to John Skoog’s Ridge. The film is an artistic hybrid documentary portrait of the Swedish summer, featuring visual art, abstract fiction and documentary material from Skåne, the country’s southernmost county.
The jury, consisting of producer Katrin Pors, critic and curator Eric Hynes, filmmaker Soudade Kaadan, filmmaker Frederic Tcheng, and Berlinale Panorama programme director Paz Lazaro, also gave a special mention to Pia Hellenthal’s feminist doc Searching Eva about a young woman living in Berlin.
- 3/29/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Reason by Indian director Anand Patwardhan won the Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 31st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (14-25 November). The film, told in eight parts, charts the rise of religious and nationalist fundamentalism in Indian society.
At the prestigious European doc festival, Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff won the Idfa Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary. The First Motion Of The Immovable by Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva picked up the Idfa Award for Best First Appearance, and opening film Kabul, City In The Wind by Aboozar Amini won the Idfa Special Jury Award for First Appearance. The winners were revealed last night [Wednesday 21 November].
Select winners below:
Idfa Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
Best feature-length documentary
Reason
Special Jury Award for feature-length documentary
Los Reyes
Idfa Competition for First Appearance
Best first appearance
Giacinto Scelsi.
At the prestigious European doc festival, Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff won the Idfa Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary. The First Motion Of The Immovable by Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva picked up the Idfa Award for Best First Appearance, and opening film Kabul, City In The Wind by Aboozar Amini won the Idfa Special Jury Award for First Appearance. The winners were revealed last night [Wednesday 21 November].
Select winners below:
Idfa Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
Best feature-length documentary
Reason
Special Jury Award for feature-length documentary
Los Reyes
Idfa Competition for First Appearance
Best first appearance
Giacinto Scelsi.
- 11/22/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Reason by Indian director Anand Patwardhan won the main prize.
The main prizes have been announced at the 31st International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam.
Reason by Indian director Anand Patwardhan won the Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, The film, sold internationally by Cinephil, examines the rise of fascism in Indian society, as secular rationalists are hunted down when they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.
In their statement, the jury members praised “the epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet, the violence of...
The main prizes have been announced at the 31st International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam.
Reason by Indian director Anand Patwardhan won the Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, The film, sold internationally by Cinephil, examines the rise of fascism in Indian society, as secular rationalists are hunted down when they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.
In their statement, the jury members praised “the epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet, the violence of...
- 11/21/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Amsterdam — Delivering on new artistic director Orwa Nyrabia’s commitment to giving space to documentaries from the global south, this year’s Idfa festival handed its main prize to Anand Patwardhan’s “Reason”, described by the festival as “a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, in which secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.”
At a ceremony held at the International Theater Amsterdam, jury members Daniela Elstner, Jean-Michel Frodon, Tala Hadid, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, and Alina Marazzi voted “unanimously” for Patwardhan’s 261-minute film, praising its “epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet … in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but puts it in a very understandable shape.”
In second place, the Special Jury Award went to the crowd-pleasing dogs-in-a-skatepark doc “Los Reyes” by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff.
At a ceremony held at the International Theater Amsterdam, jury members Daniela Elstner, Jean-Michel Frodon, Tala Hadid, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, and Alina Marazzi voted “unanimously” for Patwardhan’s 261-minute film, praising its “epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet … in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but puts it in a very understandable shape.”
In second place, the Special Jury Award went to the crowd-pleasing dogs-in-a-skatepark doc “Los Reyes” by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff.
- 11/21/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
Taking the reins of Idfa is a daunting challenge, as Orwa Nyrabia well knows. “The main challenge in the beginning,” he says, “was simply to stand in front of a very successful organization that is achieving its objectives every year, and getting better and bigger every year, and tell them you think the job is to make it better. That’s a big challenge, because to change means to take risks, and when the machine is working, you don’t need to fix it. So how do you deal with it?” Luckily, after a series of brainstorming events, Nyrabia soon realized that the Idfa team were more than willing to join him. “Everybody’s eager to grow, to develop what we’re doing,” he says. “That proved my fears to be unnecessary.”
After joining in January of this year, the Syrian producer, filmmaker and activist has been quick to put his stamp on the festival,...
After joining in January of this year, the Syrian producer, filmmaker and activist has been quick to put his stamp on the festival,...
- 11/15/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
The shadow of death hangs heavy over Aboozar Amini’s feature debut “Kabul, City in the Wind”, and yet, paradoxically, it is a film that celebrates life and even marks the birth of a significant new talent. Freewheeling in tone and style, yet meticulously framed and bathed in melancholy hues, Amini’s film tells two stories about three of the Afghan capital’s denizens. One, Abas, is a bus driver, whose dilapidated bus miraculously still navigates the city’s rickety streets; the other two are the teenage Afshin and his little brother Benjamin, who are both prematurely thrown into the world of adulthood when their father suddenly leaves.
The film has a mesmeric quality that fascinated Orwa Nyrabia, the new artistic director at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa), who selected the film for his inaugural opening night. Nyrabia said, “What Aboozar is doing, in my view, is similar...
The film has a mesmeric quality that fascinated Orwa Nyrabia, the new artistic director at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa), who selected the film for his inaugural opening night. Nyrabia said, “What Aboozar is doing, in my view, is similar...
- 11/15/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
The social justice organisation has supported the Idfa fund since 2013.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, which supports documentaries made by filmmakers from developing countries, has secured €1.2m ($1.4m) in funding over the next three years (2019-2021) from the global social justice organisation the Bertha Foundation.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, previously, known as the Jan Vrijman Fund, was set up in 1998 and has long been an essential part of the activities of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa). This year’s festival takes place Nov 14-25 and the opening film - Aboozar Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind – was backed by the fund.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, which supports documentaries made by filmmakers from developing countries, has secured €1.2m ($1.4m) in funding over the next three years (2019-2021) from the global social justice organisation the Bertha Foundation.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, previously, known as the Jan Vrijman Fund, was set up in 1998 and has long been an essential part of the activities of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa). This year’s festival takes place Nov 14-25 and the opening film - Aboozar Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind – was backed by the fund.
- 11/8/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Titles are Kabul, City In The Wind and Jose.
Beijing-based sales outfit Rediance has picked up international rights to documentary Kabul, City In The Wind, directed by Afghan filmmaker Aboozar Amini.
The film, which marks Rediance’s first documentary acquisition, will receive its world premiere as the opening film of this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Produced by Jia Zhao, a Chinese, Netherlands-based producer, the film follows a bus driver and two brothers through the war-torn streets of Kabul.
Rediance will also handle festival sales on Chinese filmmaker Li Zheng’s Jose, a Us-Guatemalan production, which won the...
Beijing-based sales outfit Rediance has picked up international rights to documentary Kabul, City In The Wind, directed by Afghan filmmaker Aboozar Amini.
The film, which marks Rediance’s first documentary acquisition, will receive its world premiere as the opening film of this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Produced by Jia Zhao, a Chinese, Netherlands-based producer, the film follows a bus driver and two brothers through the war-torn streets of Kabul.
Rediance will also handle festival sales on Chinese filmmaker Li Zheng’s Jose, a Us-Guatemalan production, which won the...
- 11/3/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
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