British director Eloise King discusses her documentary ‘The Shadow Scholars’, showing at the 2024 edition of IDFA, and what it says about the intellectual capacities of the Global South.
The unpredictable nature of conflict robs ‘Writing Hawa’ of much of its compelling titular character, but Najiba Noori’s pro-feminist and anti-Taliban project emerges unscathed in ideological terms.
Gerald Igor Hauzenberger and Gabriela Schild have made a quietly spectacular documentary on the migration-related troubles of the Nigerien city Agadez through a trio of knowledgeable and remarkably telegenic mediators.
How we consume images and what it means to be a distant onlooker lie at the heart of Miranda Pennell’s sobering, analytical short, Man Number 4.
Drawing on her own troubled family background, Irish visual artist and first-time feature director Myrid Carten paints a slightly muddled but emotionally powerful portrait of addiction and depression, shame and blame with ‘A Want in Her’.
Malena Szlam uses in-camera editing to craft Archipelago of Earthen Bones – To Bunya, an evocative 16mm exploration of Australia’s vast central eastern ranges and their deep geological time.
The Ukrainian director of accidental one-shot war documentary ‘Real’ talks to The Film Verdict about war and peace, boycotting Russian propaganda, and Donald Trump’s prospects for ending the conflict.
Bassam Mortada’s ‘Abo Zaabal 89’ is a personal odyssey about the scars of political activism in contemporary Egypt, and a big win for Arab documentary filmmaking.
‘Shadow Scholars’ introduces a serious issue plaguing academia, but the Eloise King documentary isn’t quite ready to point a finger at the African component of the problem.
Iranian director Ali Asgari delivers an elegant response to government censorship with ‘Higher Than Acidic Clouds’, an achingly beautiful essay-film about memory, imagination and Tehran’s toxic skies.
Delivered in his typically playful style, John Smith’s latest film, Being John Smith, is a wry reflection on the conventionality of his name dotted with radical flourishes.
Controversially dropped from the London Film Festival, director Havana Marking’s timely documentary thriller about the work of anti-racist campaign group Hope Not Hate ‘Undercover: Exposing the Far Right’ is making its international debut in IDFA.
Based on an AI screenplay drawn from the works of legendary director Werner Herzog, Polish film-maker Piotr Winiewicz’s docu-fiction debut feature ‘About a Hero’ is a compellingly weird trip into the digital deepfake Twilight Zone.
The outgoing head of IDFA, the world’s biggest documentary festival, Orwa Nyrabia insists non-fiction cinema must balance pragmatism and radicalism, mainstream and marginal voices.