IDFA Adds 100+ Films to 39th Edition, Unveils DocLab's 20th Anniversary Slate

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) added more than 100 films to its 39th edition, running Nov. 12 to 22 in Amsterdam, with the new selections spanning its Short Documentary Competition, Signed, Best of Fests and Paradocs sections.

What does the Short Documentary Competition include?

IDFA's Short Documentary Competition fields 15 films that "use creativity and imagination to push the boundaries of short documentary," the festival says. Eight of the 15 will world-premiere in Amsterdam, including Maricé Castañeda's "Eye Sun" (Peru, 19 minutes), Perihan Incegöz's "Our Village From the Moon" (Switzerland/Turkey, 14 minutes) and Nicolás Palacio's "One Early Morning, the Alligator Swallowed Me" (Colombia, 16 minutes).

The tragicomic "The Bus of Broken Hearts," by Björn Carlberg and Johan Palmgren, follows the world's biggest cross-country ski race, where thousands of disheartened participants fail to reach the finish line. Incegöz's "Our Village From the Moon" captures Kurdish children turning earthquake ruins in southern Turkey into a playground and "dream of the moon." Jan Ijäs's "Picnic – In Light Invisible to the Human Eye" follows Israelis traveling to the Gaza border to see the region's devastation first-hand.

What does DocLab's 20th anniversary program offer?

For two decades, IDFA's new media program DocLab has explored how emerging technologies can expand documentary form. Its 20th anniversary slate includes two Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant winners and new works from the two-year research program Shared Realities.

The Netherlands Film Fund and IDFA DocLab selected two participatory works for the 2026 grant, each receiving €10,000 to finalize and present at IDFA DocLab. Sanne De Wilde and Samir Veen's "The Love Files" invites audiences "to step inside and critically review a 'love file' application for a residence permit." Ant Hampton's "All the Downtime" immerses audiences in an algorithm-led distribution center, "just as a power outage disrupts the order and gives way for creative disorder."

The anniversary slate also features Tamara Shogaolu's "The Invisible Woman," a VR opera recovering the story of Francisca de Angola, a 17th-century Black woman in Amsterdam, and Polymorf's "Microbiome Restaurant," with two sensory experiences treating the human body as ecosystem. Dries Verhoeven's "Orgasmagoria" screens at Amsterdam sex theater Casa Rosso. "Archive Arcade" restores landmark immersive works, including "Thanatorama" by Ana Maria de Jésus, the first project ever selected for IDFA DocLab. The complete DocLab program will be announced on Oct. 13.

What is the Signed section?

Signed showcases the "latest cinematic adventures of some of the most original filmmakers of our time," IDFA says, choosing films that celebrate a "unique artistic signature, beyond the canon." The lineup "reflects on lives lost, those left behind, and what remains after upheaval."

Ava DuVernay's "14th" traces the legacy of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment from Reconstruction to the present. Laura Poitras, IDFA's 2022 Guest of Honor, returns with Rachel Lauren Mueller for "They're Here," a direct account of the show of force by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis. Avi Mograbi revisits his archives of a visit to Palestinian village Saffuriya with Ali Al-Azhari in "Wild Asparagus," reworking decades-old footage.

Guillaume Massart's "Detention" enters a French prison officers' training school, following recruits as they grapple with the gap between classroom ethics and life behind bars. Michal Marczak's "Closure" follows a father searching for his missing son along the Vistula River near Warsaw, "a meditation on grief suspended between hope and fear."

What does Best of Fests contribute?

The Best of Fests section presents 59 titles that "span diverse styles and genres, engaging with some of the world's most pressing topics." Several films "engage directly with the state of crisis in the world, tracing how the histories of countries continue to shape the present," IDFA says.

Pegah Ahangarani's "Rehearsals for a Revolution" documents decades of resistance to the regime in Iran. Ahmed Hassouna's "Citizen Osama" follows journalist and father Osama in Gaza, balancing reporting with the responsibilities and fears of caring for his newborn son. Lukas Marxt's ">1.5°C: Pyropolitics and the New World" observes the devastating wildfires that swept through Los Angeles County in January 2025.

Alessandra Sanguinetti's "The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer" follows cousins Belinda and Guillermina in rural Argentina over 25 years. IDFA Bertha Fund-supported titles in the section include "Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava" by Nong Nhat Quang, "Concrete Land" by Asmahan Bkerat and "Truck Driver" by Francisco Marise.

What does Paradocs include?

Paradocs showcases 16 titles that "explore the world through bold formal experimentation, genre-bending, and unexpected perspectives." Susanne Regina Meures's "Eternity" adapts Florentina Holzinger's performance art to the screen. Graeme Arnfield's "The Case Against Space" reconstructs the first "strike" in space, "reframing the astronaut hero through a critical lens on capitalism and surveillance." Johann Lurf's "Forever…Forever" presents an ever-accelerating timelapse of the sun's path filmed over 22 months and will screen on 70mm in Eye Filmmuseum.

Collectives also feature: Filmsaaz's "Ãsheghetam" blends computer animation, fiction and documentary in a "kaleidoscopic portrait of queer love in Tehran." Ecofeminist art collective Neozoon uses archival and social media footage in "Together" to explore communal life against the desire for private property.

The expanded lineup positions IDFA's 39th edition as one of its most wide-reaching slates, with DocLab's anniversary program injecting an explicit inquiry into how new tools and formats continue to reshape what counts as documentary — and who gets to make it.