The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced “A Picture to Remember “by Olga Chernykh as the opening film to IDFA 2023, alongside the main competition lineups for the fast-approaching edition.
“A Picture to Remember” presents a deeply personal and essay-style account of the ongoing war in Ukraine and its violent history, seen through the prism of three generations of women: Chernykh herself, her mother, and her grandmother. In a bid for connection and intimacy, the filmmaker uses old family films, recordings of conversations, and news reports to bridge the distance between her and her grandmother.
A Picture to Remember has been selected for the Envision Competition and received IDFA Bertha Fund support in 2023.
International Competition
The International Competition presents 11 films that explore contemporary conflict and turmoil through deeply personal experiences. Nine of the selected titles are world or international premieres.
• 1489, dir. Shoghakat Vardanyan (Armenia), 76’ – World Premiere
• As the Tide Comes In, dir. Juan Palacios (Denmark), 89’ –?International Premiere
• The Burden, dir. Elvis Ngaibino Sabin (Central African Republic/France/Democratic Republic of the Congo/Italy), 80’ – World Premiere
• The Clinic, dir. Midi Z (Taiwan/Myanmar), 87’ – World Premiere
• Danger Zone, dir. Vita Maria Drygas (Poland/United Kingdom), 93’ – International Premiere
• Flickering Lights, dir. Anirban Dutta, Anupama Srinivasan (India), 90’ – European Premiere
• The Last, dir. Sebastian Peña-Escobar (Paraguay/Uruguay/France), 87’ – World Premiere
• Life Is Beautiful, dir. Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine), 90’ – World Premiere
• Limitation, dir. Elene Asatiani, Soso Dumbadze (Georgia), 125’ – World Premiere
• Selling a Colonial War, dir. In-Soo Radstake (Netherlands), 133’ –?World Premiere
• The World Is Family, dir. Anand Patwardhan (India), 96’ – European Premiere
Selected films: Envision Competition
• La cancha, dir. Mustafa Uzuner (Canada), 54’ – World Premiere
• Canuto’s Transformation, dir. Ariel Kuaray Ortega, Ernesto de Carvalho (Brazil), 130’ – World Premiere
• Chasing the Dazzling Light, dir. Yaser Kassab (Syria/Qatar/Sweden), 63’ – World Premiere
• Damnatio Memoriae, dir. Thunska Pansittivorakul (Thailand/Germany), 108’ – European Premiere
• GAMA, dir. Kaori Oda (Japan), 53’ – International Premiere
• Mud, dir. Ilya Povolotsky (Russia), 50’ – World Premiere
• Paragate, dir. Jialai Wang (Belgium), 72’ – World Premiere
• A Picture to Remember, dir. Olga Chernykh (Ukraine/France/Germany), 72’ – World Premiere
• Silence of Reason, dir. Kumjana Novakova (North Macedonia/Bosnia-Herzegovina), 63’ – International Premiere
• Tales of Oblivion, dir. Dulce Fernandes (Portugal), 63’ –?World Premiere
• Thermodielectric, dir. Ana Costa Ribeiro (Brazil), 72’ – International Premiere
• The Wasp and the Orchid, dir. Saber Zammouri (Tunisia), 66’ – World Premiere
Other Competitions and spotlights include:
IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction
The 13-title Immersive Competition boldly expand the genre’s horizons, featuring a selection of multisensory experiences, live performances, artistic VR creations, and immersive installations.
The selection features multisensory explorations into the frontiers and limitations of artificial intelligence—ranging from how we ascribe emotional value to an AI void of meaning and interactive experiments reimaging cinematic classic and film scores. XR remains a medium of choice for groundbreaking immersive works, with interactive projects that explore everything from worlds unknown to speculative digital utopias.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling
With 10 selected titles, the Digital Storytelling Competition builds on the rich history of interactive storytelling with captivating works by both new talent and established names.
Taking a playful approach to familiar technologies, several projects in this selection use gaming elements and augmented reality to create engaging and thought-provoking experiences. Broaching anti-capitalist activism, football realms, and insightful scenic drives, these projects are designed to engage audiences with creativity and unique narratives. Multiple projects critically explore AI beyond our collective marvel, to examine the implications of this new technology—including governmental risk-based profiling and scripted social realities.
IDFA DocLab Spotlight
With 10 selected titles, the non-competitive DocLab section brings award-winning VR projects, immersive theater, and an expanded offering of fulldome projects, affirming the latter as a flourishing stage for new media.
Several works take the age-old medium of literature as the starting point for new media explorations—crafting augmented experiences to demonstrate cyberfeminism’s legacy and immersive non-linear storytelling that explores the self, life’s catastrophes, and our psycho-geographies.
Cross-section awards
IDFA has also announced the nominations for the IDFA Award for Best First Feature, IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film, and the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award. The winners will be announced during the IDFA 2023 awards ceremony on Thursday, November 16.
