IBF films around the world
Film still: Ozogoche, dir. Joe Houlberg Silva
IDFA Bertha Fund-supported documentary films are traveling the world: from hotly anticipated premieres at leading festivals to widespread circulation on television. Picking up countless awards and accolades, these films are going on to reach larger and larger audiences, whether through theatrical distribution or grassroots screenings.
IBF Distribution Grants
In 2023, the IDFA Bertha Fund began providing distribution support to strengthen the circulation of IBF-supported documentary films. Through distribution grants, filmmakers have gained the opportunity to share their work within their home country or secure funding for premieres at prominent film festivals.
Over the past year, the Fund offered grants to five films world premiering at major festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, and IDFA, along with two grants to films being distributed within their own country. Among the latter category are Blue ID in Turkey and Children of Las Brisas in Venezuela.
Read the interview with the filmmakers of Blue ID (IDFA Audience Award winner in 2022) on the following page, where they share the challenges and significance of distributing this film within their own country.
Film still: Children of las Brisas, dir. Marianela Maldonado
Film still: Milisuthando, dir. Milisuthando Bongela
Festivals and Awards
The year 2023 had a successful start, with several IBF-supported films world premiering and winning awards at prestigious film festivals such as Sundance, the Berlinale, Visions du Réel, CPH:DOX, and the Venice Film Festival. A Picture to Remember by Olga Chernykh was selected as opening film for IDFA 2023. Against the Tide by Sarvnik Kaur won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Vérité Filmmaking at Sundance. The Echo by Tatiana Huezo won the Documentary Award and the Best Director – Encounters Award at the Berlinale. The Mother of All Lies by Asmae El Moudir won the Directing Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, in addition to the Étoile D'Or documentary prize. Milisuthando by Milisuthando Bongela won the Best South African Doc Award at Durban. And two films won awards at CPH:DOX—Motherland by Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka won the DOX:Award, and Queendom by Agniia Galdanova won the Next Wave Jury Award.
In 2023, a total of 40 films that previously received IBF support circulated at festivals worldwide—together amounting to 769 festival screenings.
Top 10 worldwide festival screenings in 2023
All That Breathes – 83 festivals
Anhell69 – 74
We Will Not Fade Away – 69
Queendom – 46
The Echo – 43
Pornomelancolía - 40
Writing with Fire – 33
Against the Tide – 32
Eat Bitter – 30
The Golden Thread – 29
Film still: All that Breathes, dir. Shaunak Sen.
Distribution stories
Multiple films had major success with distribution, outreach, or impact—both internationally and at home. Two such examples are Alis and All that Breathes. Read the stories behind them below.
Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas van Hemelryck
After several years of leading documentary film workshops in a shelter for teenage girls who lived on the streets of Bogotá, filmmakers Clare and Nicolas invited them to close their eyes and dream up Alis, a fictional classmate. The resulting soulful narrative reveals an amazing strength to break the cycle of violence and embrace a brighter future. Since the world premiere of Alis in 2022 at the Berlinale, where it won the Crystal Bear and the Teddy Award, the film went on to screen at festivals all over the world, winning 30 awards and counting. The film was theatrically released in Colombia, Chile, Romania, France, and Spain with impressive impact campaigns. In Colombia, the team presented the film in several cities alongside the main characters, who became ambassadors of both Alis and the fight to end prejudice towards young people who have been forced to live on the streets. The theatrical campaign ran simultaneously to the impact campaign called #AlisExists, in which the filmmakers, in partnership with Colombian non-profit Tiempo de Juego, developed a program to provide support, psychosocial care, and training opportunities to young people who have been institutionalized (both in protection services and juvenile justice centers). This program continues to operate following the film’s release. It has also proven an effective way to keep the protagonists involved in the distribution of the film while receiving support to follow their dreams.
Trailer: Alis, dir. Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas van Hemelryck.
Trailer: All that Breathes, dir. Shaunak Sen.
All that Breathes by Shaunak Sen
Two Muslim brothers living in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, try their best to run a sanctuary for birds of prey. In a film that swings between hope and despair, the two central figures remain determined to never give up.
Since the world premiere of All That Breathes in 2022 at Sundance, where it picked up the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, the film went on to screen at over 158 festivals (including a special screening in Cannes) and win 22 awards. In 2023, it became the second documentary film from India ever to receive an Academy Award nomination, after which it was purchased by HBO.
Following all the international success, All That Breathes had its Indian premiere in July 2022 at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. The film went on to screen at seven other Indian festivals throughout 2022 and 2023, in addition to several screenings hosted by film clubs and universities. Since August 2023, the film has also been streaming in India on the Jio Cinema platform, as part of the worldwide distribution deal with HBO.
Highlights of All That Breathes’ local festival run include the Dharamshala Film Festival screening, where a large audience queued up for the film for several hours beforehand. After representing the film on stage with a lengthy Q&A, the main characters had to be carefully escorted out of the venue because of the rockstar-like attention they received—an overwhelmingly positive response rarely seen for a documentary film in India.
To this day, the protagonists continue to be greatly appreciated across India. With invitations that now outnumber the film’s own director and producer, the characters have attended dozens of screenings across the country at film festivals, film clubs, universities, and environmental organizations.
Film still: 5 Seasons of Revolution, dir. Lina