Looking back at IDFA 2025
Film still: All Fixed Up, dir. Hao Zhao
The IDFA festival brings together IBF-supported filmmakers, international industry professionals, and audiences each year. It also provides opportunities for filmmakers to connect with one another. Additionally, in collaboration with the Africa Real Collective, the Fund invited an African delegation of directors, producers, and industry professionals to participate in IDFA's programs and markets.
Get a glimpse of the selected filmmakers and activities at IDFA 2025.
Photo: Director Hao Zhao of All Fixed Up receiving the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch Project at IDFA Forum 2025
Awards
Past Future Continuous by Morteza Ahmadvand & Firouzeh Khosrovani, won the IDFA Award for Best Film – the Envision Competition
Cutting Through Rocks by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni was recognized with the NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award
All Fixed Up by Hao Zhao received the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch Project
Special Screenings at IDFA
In addition to the regular screenings, several IBF-supported films were featured in special screenings and events.
Highlights included WePresent Night featuring Memory, followed by a talk with the filmmaker; a sensory-friendly screening of Past Future Continuous; and screenings of Cutting Through Rocks at both IDFA Meets Meervaart and the VPRO Preview Day.
Three IBF-supported films were also offered as Surprise Screenings: Welded Together, Past Future Continuous, and Cutting Through Rocks.
Award-winning films Past Future Continuous and Cutting Through Rocks were additionally screened in the Best of IDFA Award Winners program and Best of IDFA: Audience Favourites.
Film still: Welded Together, dir. Anastasiya Mirashnichenka
Photo: Director Zahraa Ghandour (left) speaking at the Talk after the screening of Flana
Screenings with Talks
Two IBF-supported directors participated in extended Talks following screenings of their films.
A conversation with Iraqi director Zahraa Ghandour (Flana) was moderated by IDFA's senior programmer Laura van Halsema.
Director Vladlena Sandu (Memory) discussed the making of her film and its creative process.
IDFAcademy and Industry Talks
The 2025 IDFAcademy and Industry Program included four IDFAcademy Talks and one Industry Talk, in which experienced IBF-supported filmmakers shared their experience with emerging filmmakers, including several IBF grantees.
In the IDFAcademy Opening Talk, IDFA's Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez talked with Firouzeh Khosrovani (Past Future Continuous) about her oeuvre, her instinct to push the form, and her cinematic language.
In Characters close up, director María Silvia Esteve (Mailin) discussed the relationship between a filmmaker and their characters, and the enrichment found through collaborative working methods.
Producer Eugene Rachkovsky (Militantropos) and director Nyasha Kadandara (Matabeleland) spoke of the challenges and experiences of co-producing during the making of their films in How to collaborate in a (co-)production.
In conversation with editor Qutaiba Barhamji, director Lana Daher (Do You Love Me) explored the creative process of filmmaking through which images, sound and music generate diverse reflections on the past in Cutting memories - intimacy, history, and the archive.
In the Industry Talk Fair Co-productions - obstacles and opportunities for equity, producer Sam Soko (Matabeleland) and producer Marcela Lizcano (Grounded) discussed their experiences and creative solutions in co-producing with partners in the Global North and about South-South collaborations as an emerging model for just and balanced productions.
Photo: Lana Daher (left) in conversation with editor Qutaiba Barhamji (right) in the talk 'Cutting Memories - intimacy, history, and the archive'
Photo: South African director Hlumela Matika taking part in the participants meet-up of the IDFAcademy
Africa Real Collective x IBF Delegation
For the third consecutive year, the Fund partnered with the African Real Collective (ARC) to invite an African delegation to IDFA, aiming to strengthen the presence of African film professionals in the global documentary film industry.
Ten directors and producers and three industry professionals from Tunisia, Kenya, Ghana, DRC, South Africa, Morocco, and Burkina Faso participated in IDFA’s Markets or IDFAcademy, connecting with the festival's wider network.
In collaboration with DAE (the Documentary Association of Europe), ARC also organized a get-together with the whole delegation and several IDFA industry guests to introduce participants and explore collaboration opportunities.
Drinks with IDFA's Filmmaker Support department
Each year, to promote informal networking, IDFA's Filmmaker Support department hosts drinks to bring together current and former IBF grantees, IDFA Project Space alumni, and other guests and friends from the Fund and IDFA's network.
Photo: Filmmaker Support department drinks
Film still: Mailin, dir. María Silvia Esteve