IDFA 2025 Showcases Documentaries Confronting War and Injustice

The 38th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), taking place in 2025, is set to feature a diverse lineup of powerful documentaries addressing global conflicts and human rights issues. Under the leadership of new artistic director Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IDFA is bringing together some of the greatest documentary filmmakers of our time, including Laura Poitras, Vitaly Mansky, and Victor Kossakovsky.

Many of the films in the IDFA program focus on the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, with directors like Mohammed Sawwaf, Abdulrahman Sabbah, and Mstyslav Chernov offering intimate, human-centric perspectives on these crises. Fernandez emphasizes that these filmmakers "really go further than what we've seen in the news in the last two years" by highlighting the stories of individuals and families affected by the violence.

However, IDFA's decision to exclude state-backed organizations from Israel, Russia, and Iran has sparked some controversy. Fernandez defends this move, stating that the festival is committed to being "a committed institution with a socially critical perspective." She clarifies that the exclusion applies to specific institutions, not individual filmmakers, and that IDFA continues to welcome independent artists from these countries.

As Fernandez's first year as artistic director, IDFA 2025 promises to be a thought-provoking and impactful event, showcasing the power of documentary filmmaking to shed light on global issues and challenge the status quo.