The IDFA festival director talks projects, backers and the tyranny of the 90-minute film-making trope.
Orwa Nyrabia is in his fourth edition of artistic director of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The festival opens tonight (November 17), amid a partial Covid-enforced lockdown, with the world premiere of Louis Hothothot’s Four Journeys.
The event already bears his strong imprint. This year, Nyrabia has made significant changes to the programme structure. He has launched a new competition strand, Envision, for documentaries using bold and innovative cinematic language which sits alongside an International Competition showcasing “the best of the art. Singular films that are artistically confident,...
Orwa Nyrabia is in his fourth edition of artistic director of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The festival opens tonight (November 17), amid a partial Covid-enforced lockdown, with the world premiere of Louis Hothothot’s Four Journeys.
The event already bears his strong imprint. This year, Nyrabia has made significant changes to the programme structure. He has launched a new competition strand, Envision, for documentaries using bold and innovative cinematic language which sits alongside an International Competition showcasing “the best of the art. Singular films that are artistically confident,...
- 11/17/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) added 65 titles to its lineup Tuesday, unveiling the non-competitive program sections Best of Fests, Masters and Paradocs. The 34th edition of IDFA takes place from Nov. 17-28 in Amsterdam.
Best of Fests honors award winners, critics’ picks and audience favorites from the year’s festivals. The 46 strong selection includes India-set story about estranged lovers “A Night of Knowing Nothing” by Payal Kapadia, documentary award winner at Cannes, wildlife film “The Velvet Queen,” by debut director Marie Amiguet, “Users,” an exploration of humanity’s future by Natalia Almada, and “Taming the Garden,” the slow-cinema feature by Salomé Jashi.
These are joined by buzzy audience films such as Alison Klayman’s Alanis Morissette biopic “Jagged,” and Bing Liu and Joshua Altman’s “All These Sons,” from the filmmaking team behind “Minding the Gap.” The section also pays tribute to the surprise gems from the festival circuit,...
Best of Fests honors award winners, critics’ picks and audience favorites from the year’s festivals. The 46 strong selection includes India-set story about estranged lovers “A Night of Knowing Nothing” by Payal Kapadia, documentary award winner at Cannes, wildlife film “The Velvet Queen,” by debut director Marie Amiguet, “Users,” an exploration of humanity’s future by Natalia Almada, and “Taming the Garden,” the slow-cinema feature by Salomé Jashi.
These are joined by buzzy audience films such as Alison Klayman’s Alanis Morissette biopic “Jagged,” and Bing Liu and Joshua Altman’s “All These Sons,” from the filmmaking team behind “Minding the Gap.” The section also pays tribute to the surprise gems from the festival circuit,...
- 10/5/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
IDFA will present its lifetime achievement award to revered Armenian director Artavazd Peleshyan.
International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will present its lifetime achievement award to revered Armenian director Artavazd Peleshyan whose essay films have had a strong influence on the work on filmmakers including Jean-Luc Godard and Atom Egoyan. IDFA is set to take place from November 17-28 in Amsterdam.
Now in his 80s, Peleshyan is expected to make it to Amsterdam for this year’s festival. His latest film La Nature, 15 years in the making, will also be part of the official programme.
“He is coming back with...
International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will present its lifetime achievement award to revered Armenian director Artavazd Peleshyan whose essay films have had a strong influence on the work on filmmakers including Jean-Luc Godard and Atom Egoyan. IDFA is set to take place from November 17-28 in Amsterdam.
Now in his 80s, Peleshyan is expected to make it to Amsterdam for this year’s festival. His latest film La Nature, 15 years in the making, will also be part of the official programme.
“He is coming back with...
- 8/17/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Any list of the greatest foreign directors currently working today has to include Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The directors first rose to prominence in the mid 1990s with efforts like “The Promise” and “Rosetta,” and they’ve continued to excel in the 21st century with titles such as “The Kid With A Bike” and “Two Days One Night,” which earned Marion Cotillard a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Read MoreThe Dardenne Brothers’ Next Film Will Be a Terrorism Drama
The directors will be back in U.S. theaters with the release of “The Unknown Girl” on September 8, which is a long time coming considering the film first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. While you continue to wait for their new movie, the brothers have provided their definitive list of 79 movies from the 20th century that you must see. La Cinetek published the list in full and is hosting many...
Read MoreThe Dardenne Brothers’ Next Film Will Be a Terrorism Drama
The directors will be back in U.S. theaters with the release of “The Unknown Girl” on September 8, which is a long time coming considering the film first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. While you continue to wait for their new movie, the brothers have provided their definitive list of 79 movies from the 20th century that you must see. La Cinetek published the list in full and is hosting many...
- 8/7/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Head of Dutch film promotion outfit to step down after 20 years.
After 20 years as head of Eye International (formerly Holland Film), Claudia Landsberger will leave Eye in early 2015 to establish herself as an international film consultant for her new company, BaseWorx For Film.
She will focus on international festival and marketing strategies, festival programming and script development.
Landsberger professionalised the international marketing and promotion agency Holland Film that merged into Eye International and was instrumental in the Academy Award campaigns for Dutch Foreign Language Oscar winners Antonia’s Line and Character as well as nominees Twin Sisters and Zus en Zo.
Landsberger was the co-founder of European Film Promotion and served as its president for many years. For the past 12 years she has sat on the Berlinale Competition Programme Selection Committee, and continues to serve on the selection committee of the Hamburg Schleswig Holstein Film Fund.
In addition, she has sat on numerous festival advisory boards...
After 20 years as head of Eye International (formerly Holland Film), Claudia Landsberger will leave Eye in early 2015 to establish herself as an international film consultant for her new company, BaseWorx For Film.
She will focus on international festival and marketing strategies, festival programming and script development.
Landsberger professionalised the international marketing and promotion agency Holland Film that merged into Eye International and was instrumental in the Academy Award campaigns for Dutch Foreign Language Oscar winners Antonia’s Line and Character as well as nominees Twin Sisters and Zus en Zo.
Landsberger was the co-founder of European Film Promotion and served as its president for many years. For the past 12 years she has sat on the Berlinale Competition Programme Selection Committee, and continues to serve on the selection committee of the Hamburg Schleswig Holstein Film Fund.
In addition, she has sat on numerous festival advisory boards...
- 11/3/2014
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Bit of a panic yesterday as word spread fast and furiously that Studio Ghibli was shutting down production. But as Mark Schilling reports in Variety, the "death of Japan’s most famous animation house, to paraphrase Mark Twain, has been greatly exaggerated." Also in today's news roundup: Ann Hui and Johan Van Der Keuken are to be honored at festivals this fall. New trailer for Hong Sang-soo's Hill of Freedom. We point to reviews of a new biography of Joss Whedon and remember the late director Alex Sichel. » - David Hudson...
- 8/4/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Bit of a panic yesterday as word spread fast and furiously that Studio Ghibli was shutting down production. But as Mark Schilling reports in Variety, the "death of Japan’s most famous animation house, to paraphrase Mark Twain, has been greatly exaggerated." Also in today's news roundup: Ann Hui and Johan Van Der Keuken are to be honored at festivals this fall. New trailer for Hong Sang-soo's Hill of Freedom. We point to reviews of a new biography of Joss Whedon and remember the late director Alex Sichel. » - David Hudson...
- 8/4/2014
- Keyframe
On June 1, 2014, Matthijs Wouter Knol from the Netherlands became the new head of the Berlinale’s European Film Market (Efm). Since 2008, Knol has been the program manager of Berlinale Talents (formerly known as the Berlinale Talent Campus), and is well acquainted with both the Festival and the Efm.
Long-standing Efm head Beki Probst will become president of the Efm. In her new function, she will draw on her extensive experience and use her international network to establish Knol as new Efm head. She will also provide him with support and advice.
“Matthijs Wouter Knol will inspire new areas of business and the development of the European Film Market. With Knol, a professional is joining us who knows the festival well. He will strategically strengthen the synergies that have developed between the festival and the Efm,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.
Knol was born in the Netherlands in 1977 and studied contemporary history at Leiden University and at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. He worked as a freelance journalist until 2001 before joining Pieter van Huystee Film, a renowned and internationally award-winning production company in Amsterdam. After becoming head of development in 2004, he focused on developing, financing and internationally co-producing documentary film projects. As the associate producer of various documentary films, he worked with acclaimed filmmakers, such as Heddy Honigmann and Mani Kaul. With Arte he also co-produced the DVD edition of Johan van der Keuken's digitally re-mastered works, which was awarded the Prix “Cahiers du Cinéma” in 2006.
In 2007, Knol started working for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa), spreading his activity between the co-production and sales markets, and the IDFAcademy training programme. As head of the latter, he initiated the IDFAcademy Summer School. In 2008, he became head of Berlinale Talents (formerly known as the Berlinale Talents Campus)
Matthijs has worked with the festival since 2008 when he began the Berlinale Talents and highlighted the importance of training filmmakers about the international film business. He took the Berlinale to the Sarajevo Talents and the Guadalajara Talents. As the new head of the Efm, under the mentorship of Beki Probst, he will surely bring new ideas and new technologies to Berlin. Working with this past year's newly installed Co-Director of Efm, Andrea Kaul, whose expertise will reinforce the Efm in its coverage of new business fields on the ever-changing audiovisual landscape, including new television formats, with her experience with television and media companies including IP Deutschland (Rtl Group) and Be Viacom (Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe), and the convention Telemesse; the international film world will see a new form of business taking a shape that extends beyond the confines of the traditional markets of Cannes and Ifta’s Afm.
Long-standing Efm head Beki Probst will become president of the Efm. In her new function, she will draw on her extensive experience and use her international network to establish Knol as new Efm head. She will also provide him with support and advice.
“Matthijs Wouter Knol will inspire new areas of business and the development of the European Film Market. With Knol, a professional is joining us who knows the festival well. He will strategically strengthen the synergies that have developed between the festival and the Efm,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.
Knol was born in the Netherlands in 1977 and studied contemporary history at Leiden University and at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. He worked as a freelance journalist until 2001 before joining Pieter van Huystee Film, a renowned and internationally award-winning production company in Amsterdam. After becoming head of development in 2004, he focused on developing, financing and internationally co-producing documentary film projects. As the associate producer of various documentary films, he worked with acclaimed filmmakers, such as Heddy Honigmann and Mani Kaul. With Arte he also co-produced the DVD edition of Johan van der Keuken's digitally re-mastered works, which was awarded the Prix “Cahiers du Cinéma” in 2006.
In 2007, Knol started working for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa), spreading his activity between the co-production and sales markets, and the IDFAcademy training programme. As head of the latter, he initiated the IDFAcademy Summer School. In 2008, he became head of Berlinale Talents (formerly known as the Berlinale Talents Campus)
Matthijs has worked with the festival since 2008 when he began the Berlinale Talents and highlighted the importance of training filmmakers about the international film business. He took the Berlinale to the Sarajevo Talents and the Guadalajara Talents. As the new head of the Efm, under the mentorship of Beki Probst, he will surely bring new ideas and new technologies to Berlin. Working with this past year's newly installed Co-Director of Efm, Andrea Kaul, whose expertise will reinforce the Efm in its coverage of new business fields on the ever-changing audiovisual landscape, including new television formats, with her experience with television and media companies including IP Deutschland (Rtl Group) and Be Viacom (Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe), and the convention Telemesse; the international film world will see a new form of business taking a shape that extends beyond the confines of the traditional markets of Cannes and Ifta’s Afm.
- 6/3/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Beki Probst to become president of the Berlinale’s European Film Market after more than 25 years as head of the Efm.
Matthijs Wouter Knol is to take the reins as head of Berlin’s European Film Market, replacing Beki Probst who has been named president of the Efm. The move is effective from June 1.
Knol has been programme manager of Berlinale Talents (formerly known as the Berlinale Talent Campus), since 2008.
Probst, who has headed the Efm since 1988, will provide Knol with support and advice in her new role as president.
“Matthijs Wouter Knol will inspire new areas of business and the development of the European Film Market,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick. “With Knol, a professional is joining us who knows the festival well. He will strategically strengthen the synergies that have developed between the festival and the Efm.”
Knol was born in the Netherlands in 1977 and studied contemporary history at Leiden University and at the Royal...
Matthijs Wouter Knol is to take the reins as head of Berlin’s European Film Market, replacing Beki Probst who has been named president of the Efm. The move is effective from June 1.
Knol has been programme manager of Berlinale Talents (formerly known as the Berlinale Talent Campus), since 2008.
Probst, who has headed the Efm since 1988, will provide Knol with support and advice in her new role as president.
“Matthijs Wouter Knol will inspire new areas of business and the development of the European Film Market,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick. “With Knol, a professional is joining us who knows the festival well. He will strategically strengthen the synergies that have developed between the festival and the Efm.”
Knol was born in the Netherlands in 1977 and studied contemporary history at Leiden University and at the Royal...
- 5/28/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Italian film critic Carlo Chatrian will replace Frenchman Olivier Père as artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival.
The Turinese journalist and film critic, aged 41, has published several books on film directors such as Errol Morris, Wong Kar Wai, Johan Van Der Keuken, Frederick Wiseman, Maurizio Nichetti, and Nicolas Philibert. As editor-in-chief of the Panoramiques magazine, he has often collaborated with the festival.
He was notably the curator for the Locarno retrospectives dedicated to Nanni Moretti, Manga Impact, Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, and Otto Preminger. And he has also been a member of the event’s selection committee.
Chatrian’s nomination, made public only a few days after Olivier Père announced that he would take up the post as head of Arte France Cinéma, has caught most observers by surprise. It seems to predict a profound change in style, if not the radical transformation of the Swiss film festival.
Chatrian’s very cinephile,...
The Turinese journalist and film critic, aged 41, has published several books on film directors such as Errol Morris, Wong Kar Wai, Johan Van Der Keuken, Frederick Wiseman, Maurizio Nichetti, and Nicolas Philibert. As editor-in-chief of the Panoramiques magazine, he has often collaborated with the festival.
He was notably the curator for the Locarno retrospectives dedicated to Nanni Moretti, Manga Impact, Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, and Otto Preminger. And he has also been a member of the event’s selection committee.
Chatrian’s nomination, made public only a few days after Olivier Père announced that he would take up the post as head of Arte France Cinéma, has caught most observers by surprise. It seems to predict a profound change in style, if not the radical transformation of the Swiss film festival.
Chatrian’s very cinephile,...
- 9/8/2012
- by Cineuropa
- DearCinema.com
Documentarist-Istanbul Documentary Days celebrated its fifth year with yet again a superb selection of films as well as stimulating side events. As organizer Necati Sönmez put it, this festival created its own audience, and since its launch as the biggest festival dedicated to documentary film in Istanbul, there has been a visible increase of interest in the genre, both in terms of film-making and the audience.
The fifth year of the festival, which was held on 1-6 June 2012, marked a change in the presentation of the New Talent Award as well. This award, which has been granted at the festival since 2010 in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul to Turkish directors for their first or second films, will henceforth bear the name of Dutch documentary director Johan van der Keuken. The film which took the award this year was “Waiting” by Bülent Öztürk, a poetic insight...
The fifth year of the festival, which was held on 1-6 June 2012, marked a change in the presentation of the New Talent Award as well. This award, which has been granted at the festival since 2010 in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul to Turkish directors for their first or second films, will henceforth bear the name of Dutch documentary director Johan van der Keuken. The film which took the award this year was “Waiting” by Bülent Öztürk, a poetic insight...
- 8/18/2012
- by N. Buket Cengiz
- The Moving Arts Journal
At least since the 1990s, Austria has commanded a central place within global cinema culture, certainly within that portion of it governed in a semi-official manner by film festivals and arthouses. Like many such European film scenes, many of its members have moved quite easily between fiction and documentary modes (Ulrich Seidl and Michael Glawogger, to cite the most obvious and prolific). Still, the documentary element remains too seldom remarked upon as a spiritual source for the unique, penetrating gaze that characterizes so many of key Austrian films. Generally speaking, fictional features by the likes of Michael Haneke, Jessica Hausner and Michael Schleinzer have drawn more attention from programmers and distributors than the documentaries of Nikolaus Geyrhalter. This is par for the course with nonfiction cinema. But it nevertheless seems worth mentioning here because, in terms of the tone, construction, and global attitude of Geyrhalter’s cinema, his work seems...
- 7/24/2012
- MUBI
Qaushik Mukherjee’s Gandu (Asshole) will compete at the 17th Athens International Film Festival that opens on Thursday.
The opening film of the festival is Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist.
Around 175 titles will be presented at the festival under 15 sections. The festival will pay tribute to Japanese filmmaker Yasuzo Masumura and Dutch filmmaker Johan van der Keuken. The country in focus will be Norway.
The festival will close on September 25 with Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation.
International competition lineup:
Bellflower, dir Evan Glodell (USA)
Silver Tongues, dir Simon Arthur (USA)
Volcano (Eldfjall), dir Runar Runarsson (Iceland)
Asshole (Gandu), dir Qaushik Mukherjee (India)
Familiar Grounds (En terrains connus), dir Stephane Lafleur (Canada)
Natural Selection, dir Robbie Pickering (USA)
Sensation, dir Tom Hall (Ireland)
Submarine, dir Richard Ayoade (UK, Us)
Sidewalls (Medianeras), dir Gustavo Tarreto (Argentina)
Bullhead (Rundscop), dir Michael Roskam (Belgium)
Love, dir William Eubank (USA)
Silver Forest (Silberwald), dir Christine Repond (Switzerland)
On the Ice,...
The opening film of the festival is Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist.
Around 175 titles will be presented at the festival under 15 sections. The festival will pay tribute to Japanese filmmaker Yasuzo Masumura and Dutch filmmaker Johan van der Keuken. The country in focus will be Norway.
The festival will close on September 25 with Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation.
International competition lineup:
Bellflower, dir Evan Glodell (USA)
Silver Tongues, dir Simon Arthur (USA)
Volcano (Eldfjall), dir Runar Runarsson (Iceland)
Asshole (Gandu), dir Qaushik Mukherjee (India)
Familiar Grounds (En terrains connus), dir Stephane Lafleur (Canada)
Natural Selection, dir Robbie Pickering (USA)
Sensation, dir Tom Hall (Ireland)
Submarine, dir Richard Ayoade (UK, Us)
Sidewalls (Medianeras), dir Gustavo Tarreto (Argentina)
Bullhead (Rundscop), dir Michael Roskam (Belgium)
Love, dir William Eubank (USA)
Silver Forest (Silberwald), dir Christine Repond (Switzerland)
On the Ice,...
- 9/15/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan are transformed into an united experimental film mecca when the 16th annual Media City blows into those towns on May 25-29.
The fun kicks off with a (now) familiar face: It’s Kevin Jerome Everson’s 4th feature film, Erie, which has already screened at Migrating Forms and Images Festival this year. The movie is drawing rave reviews for its unique look at the communities in and around the Lake Erie region.
The rest of the festival contains lots of experimental short films and videos from Canada, the U.S. and around the world — there are lots of international programming blocks. There will be films by Robert Todd, Jem Cohen, Ben Rivers, the legendary Michael Snow and many more.
Plus, there are two retrospectives. One is of the late Dutch documentarian Johan van der Keuken, featuring many of his films from 1960 to 2000. The other is...
The fun kicks off with a (now) familiar face: It’s Kevin Jerome Everson’s 4th feature film, Erie, which has already screened at Migrating Forms and Images Festival this year. The movie is drawing rave reviews for its unique look at the communities in and around the Lake Erie region.
The rest of the festival contains lots of experimental short films and videos from Canada, the U.S. and around the world — there are lots of international programming blocks. There will be films by Robert Todd, Jem Cohen, Ben Rivers, the legendary Michael Snow and many more.
Plus, there are two retrospectives. One is of the late Dutch documentarian Johan van der Keuken, featuring many of his films from 1960 to 2000. The other is...
- 5/25/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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