The 37th edition of International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is set to run from 14-24 November and has just announced its guest of honour for this year. Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez is due to present his work – focusing on reinterpreting historical events through a critical, contemporary lens – in a retrospective, which includes his latest, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Johan Grimonprez
fiche film]. Grimonprez will also deliver the centrepiece talk and present his top-ten films. As a new addition, the festival offers a curated programme called Dead Angle, plus a dedicated Spotlight on Cuba. The first few titles of IDFA DocLab, exploring the evolving landscape of interactive documentary art, have also been unveiled.

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This year, IDFA inaugurates a multi-year, curated programme called Dead Angle, which will explore past and present through documentary cinema “as a torch to illuminate the dark corners of our awareness”. Its first iteration is thematically linked to “Borders”, probing their complex symbolism as well as their physical and metaphorical presence in our lives. Among the confirmed titles is The Great Wall by Tadhg O'Sullivan, Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel by Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, and Respite, directed by Harun Farocki.

With this year’s Spotlight on Cuba, IDFA will invite audiences to explore the complex political history of Cuba through 19 films and a retrospective of pioneering filmmaker Sara Gómez, alongside a special curated batch of films made by students of the EICTV (the International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba). The full selection of 19 titles has just been announced.

The 18th edition of IDFA’s new-media programme, IDFA DocLab, presents an immersive documentary-art exhibition taking place in three locations. Among the first titles set to premiere there are the four winners of the Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant, ranging from augmented-reality apps to immersive installations: the surreal animation Töngö Sondi by Ruben Cabenda, the wall-based installation The Liminal by Alaa Minawi, an augmented-reality app called Future Botanica by Marcel van Brakel and Hazal Ertürkan from Polymorf, and Lisa Schamlé’s return to IDFA with Me, a Depiction.