IDFA 2001 / Amsterdam

[Claudia Westermann]

IDFA 2001
Nov. 22 - Dez. 02
Amsterdam

http://www.idfa.nl/iprog_home_en.asp


Over the past thirteen years IDFA has become one of the world's leading 
documentary film festivals with more than 200 documentaries and an audience 
of over 65,000. IDFA offers a diverse platform for screening and debating 
films, as well as discovering new documentary trends.


In total, IDFA programmes some 200 documentaries divided among more than 
ten festival programmes. The festival has three competition programmes. One 
significant change in relation to previous years is that the distinction 
between the film and video competitions has been abolished. IDFA will 
instead feature a competition for long documentaries (longer than 60 
minutes) and short documentaries (up to and including 60 minutes). The VPRO 
Joris Ivens Award (12,500 euro) will be awarded to the best long 
documentary, the Silver Wolf (10,000 euro) to the best short documentary. 
Both video and film documentaries are eligible for both categories. The 
Fipresci jury will still award 2,500 euro for the best debut and the 
audiences' favourite will still receive 4,500 euro.


Made in China

The Chinese cinema plays an important role at IDFA 2001. In a special 
programme, labelled Made in China, some ten recent films from the People's 
Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong will be shown. This section 
presents a heterogeneous insight in the culture and history of China and in 
the current state of affairs in the Chinese documentary.

Maysles Retrospective

In the past century, Albert and David Maysles sparked a consequential 
development in the documentary field. They were partly responsible for the 
introduction of direct cinema, by shooting portraits of legendary stars 
like Marlon Brando (MEET MARLON BRANDO), The Beatles (WHAT'S HAPPENING! THE 
BEATLES IN THE USA) and the Rolling Stones (GIMME SHELTER). Other 
well-known examples are SALESMAN and GREY GARDENS . Recently, a new digital 
directors' cut of GIMME SHELTER was released, which prompted IDFA to devote 
an extensive retrospective to the pioneering work of the two brothers, of 
who David passed away in 1987. Albert Maysles will attend the festival.

Top-10 Kim Longinotto

In recent years, Kim Longinotto has been a prominent guest at IDFA. 
Repeatedly, this British filmmaker produces documentaries that are greatly 
appreciated by the public and press. It started in 1995 with SHINJUKU BOYS, 
in which Longinotto follows three transvestites in a Tokyo nightclub. In 
DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE , she shows the striking story of Iranian women 
trying hard to get a divorce before the court in Teheran. Last year, she 
presented GAEA GIRLS, in which Japanese girls are being drilled as prize 
fighters. In 2001, Longinotto returned to Iran to shoot RUNAWAY a film 
about a runaway shelter for girls. With RUNAWAY, Longinotto again proves 
her ability to get through to institutions in the non-Western world, 
thereby providing a poignant image of separate (sub) cultures. For IDFA, 
this was the reason to invite Kim Longinotto to present her personal 
documentary Top 10 at the festival.