The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) on Tuesday unveiled the lineups for its international competition and Envision sections.
It also completed its IDFA DocLab program and unveiled the final Luminous and Frontlight programs, while also announcing the nominations for all cross-section awards for its 38th edition. With that, the IDFA 2025 official selection is complete with close to 250 titles from 76 countries. IDFA runs Nov. 13-23.
“As filmmakers and artists from all over the world share their work, they remind us that there is a space for reflection and connection. They bring other perspectives,” said IDFA artistic director Isabel Arrate Fernandez. “They open conversations about cinema — about what touches us, what feels urgent, what truly matters right now. Through them, we get to be part of the courage of filmmakers and artists who refuse to give up — who keep pursuing their creative vision, and their commitment to stories that they feel matter.”
IDFA’s International Competition presents 12 films that “transform deeply personal histories into reflections on today’s most pressing issues,” organizers said. “The selection brings together established names next to first-time filmmakers, with a diverse selection of films that champion the craft and innovation of filmmaking.” Nine of the selected titles are world or international premieres.
“Several works explore women’s lived experiences, tracing stories of oppression and violence met with resilience and solidarity,” they added. “Other films turn to existential questions, probing our timeless search for meaning and belonging. Across the selection, stories of migration, war, and personal struggle emerge in singular, formally daring works that confront the realities shaping our world today.”
In the Envision Competition, 11 of the 12 selected titles are world or international premieres.
IDFA’s opening night will be “showcasing the creativity and artistic range of short documentary film,” organizers also unveiled on Tuesday, lining up “open with a selection of ”boundary-pushing short films” As I Lay Dying by Mohammadreza Farzad and Pegah Ahangarani, Intersecting Memory by Shayma’ Awawdeh, and happiness by Firat Yücel.
Said Fernandez: “We believe the selection of films set the tone for a festival that explores major issues of the present, that makes room for new voices, fresh forms, and unexpected perspectives.”
Check out the newly unveiled IDFA lineups for the international and Envision competitions below.
International Competition:
All My Sisters, dir. Massoud Bakhshi (Austria/France/Germany/Iran), 78’ – World
Premiere
December, dir. Lucas Gallo (Argentina/Uruguay), 105’ – World Premiere
Flana, dir. Zahraa Ghandour (Iraq/France/Qatar), 85’ – European Premiere
Flood, dir. Katy Scoggin (United States), 75’ – International Premiere
A Fox Under a Pink Moon, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France/United
Kingdom/United States/Denmark), 76’ – World Premiere
The Kartli Kingdom, dir. Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (Georgia/France), 105’ –
World Premiere
Mailin, dir. María Silvia Esteve (Argentina/France/Romania), 89’ – World Premiere
Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, dir. Mary Stephen (France/Hong Kong/Taiwan),
109’ – European Premiere
The Shipwrecked, dir. Diego Gutiérrez (Netherlands), 115’ – World Premiere
Silent Flood, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/Germany), 90’ – World
Premiere
Synthetic Sincerity, dir. Marc Isaacs (United Kingdom), 72’ – World Premiere
Those Who Watch Over, dir. Karima Saïdi (Belgium/France/Qatar), 88’ –
European Premiere
Envision Competition:
Amílcar, dir. Miguel Eek (Spain/Portugal/France/Sweden/Cape Verde), 87’ –
World Premiere
Blood Red, dir. Martin Imrich (Czech Republic), 75’ – World Premiere
Confessions of a Mole, dir. Mo Tan (China/Poland), 92’ – World Premiere
Fordlândia Panacea, dir. Susana de Sousa Dias (Portugal/Brazil), 62’ – World Premiere
Holy Destructors, dir. Aiste Žegulytė (Lithuania/France/Latvia), 85’ – World Premiere
I Want Her Dead, dir. Gianluca Matarrese (Italy), 86’ – International Premiere
Love-22-Love, dir. Jeroen Kooijmans (Netherlands), 84’ – World Premiere
Our Body Is an Expanding Star, dir. Semillites Hernández Velasco, Tania Hernández Velasco (Mexico), 84’ – World Premiere
Past Future Continuous, dir. Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani
(Iran/Norway/Italy), 76’ – International Premiere
Powwow People, dir. Sky Hopinka (United States), 88’ – European Premiere
Treat Me Like Your Mother, dir. Mohamad Abdouni (Lebanon), 76’ – World
Premiere
Trillion, dir. Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/United States), 80’ – World Premiere
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