… at a press conference this afternoon, online, with IDFA veteran Isabel Arrate Fernandez, appointed artistic director after Orwa Nyrabia, doing the presentation together with Head of Program Joost Dammen and Head of New Media Caspar Sonnen.

“As filmmakers and artists from all over the world share their work, they remind us that there is a space for reflection and connection. They bring other perspectives. They open conversations about cinema—about what touches us, what feels urgent, what truly matters right now. Through them, we get to be part of the courage of filmmakers and artists who refuse to give up—who keep pursuing their creative vision, and their commitment to stories that they feel matter,” IDFA’s Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez said of the IDFA 2025 program during our press conference. Click and you can see the presentation.

I list the lucky filmmakers, who have been selected for the two main competitions, the International and the Envision:

The International Competition (click and you get more info on the films):

Selected films: International Competition   

• All My Sisters, dir. Massoud Bakhshi (Austria/France/Germany/Iran), 78’ – World Premiere 
• December, dir. Lucas Gallo (Argentina/Uruguay), 105’ – World Premiere 
• Flana, dir. Zahraa Ghandour (Iraq/France/Qatar), 85’ – European Premiere 
• Flood, dir. Katy Scoggin (United States), 75’ – International Premiere 
• A Fox Under a Pink Moon, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France/United Kingdom/United States/Denmark), 76’ – World Premiere 
• The Kartli Kingdom, dir. Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (Georgia/France), 105’ – World Premiere 
• Mailin, dir. María Silvia Esteve (Argentina/France/Romania), 89’ – World Premiere 
• Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, dir. Mary Stephen (France/Hong Kong/Taiwan), 109’ – European Premiere 
• The Shipwrecked, dir. Diego Gutiérrez (Netherlands), 115’ – World Premiere 
• Silent Flood, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/Germany), 90’ – World Premiere 
• Synthetic Sincerity, dir. Marc Isaacs (United Kingdom), 72’ – World Premiere 
• Those Who Watch Over, dir. Karima Saïdi (Belgium/France/Qatar), 88’ – European Premiere

The Envision Competition (click and you will get more info on the films)

Selected films: Envision Competition   Amílcar, dir. Miguel Eek (Spain/Portugal/France/Sweden/Cape Verde), 87’ – World Premiere  Blood Red, dir. Martin Imrich (Czech Republic), 75’ – World Premiere  Confessions of a Mole, dir. Mo Tan (China/Poland), 92’ – World Premiere Fordlândia Panacea, dir. Susana de Sousa Dias (Portugal/Brazil), 62’ – World Premiere   Holy Destructors, dir. Aiste Žegulytė (Lithuania/France/Latvia), 85’ – World Premiere  I Want Her Dead, dir. Gianluca Matarrese (Italy), 86’ – International Premiere  Love-22-Love, dir. Jeroen Kooijmans (Netherlands), 84’ – World Premiere  Our Body Is an Expanding Star, dir. Semillites Hernández Velasco, Tania Hernández Velasco (Mexico), 84’ – World Premiere  Past Future Continuous, dir. Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani (Iran/Norway/Italy), 76’ – International Premiere  Powwow People, dir. Sky Hopinka (United States), 88’ – European Premiere  Treat Me Like Your Mother, dir. Mohamad Abdouni (Lebanon), 76’ – World Premiere  Trillion, dir. Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/United States), 80’ – World Premiere

Still from “Holy Destructors” by Aiste Žegulytė, Lithuania.

Here is a repeat of a review I wrote recently in connection with the screening of the film in Malmö at Nordisk Panorama:

Sorry, dear reader, I have to go to the box with superlatives. Again. You might argue that I always do so, and indeed this was what Allan Berg and I agreed upon, when we started this film blog: We don’t take time to write about bad films, well sometimes we have been a bit critical, but as a general rule – we have been writing about films we like. And I intend to keep this line after Allan is no longer here…

In this case I am happy to express my full enthusiasm. The film by Swedish Ragnhild Ekner is unique. Not only does it give a completely different picture of the ultras – around the world, what an achievement! – but the way it does it as a Film is so convincing!

Let me start with Ekner’s commentary through the whole film. It is not a wall-to-wall speak, it comes when needed, it is so well written, sometimes almost as a poem, sometimes informative, sometimes very personal, she is a supporter herself and she has been there, on the stadium with friends, yes friendship is a word that comes back again and again, in the images where the ultras meet, where they make their banners, where they sing, where they are involved in confrontations with the police. Ekner speaks and lets ultras from the countries, she has filmed in, express diverse opinions and impressions around the phenomenon.

The Polish talks about the reaction from the PiS government and the police. An Indonesian young woman (you don’t see any of those speaking, they are anonymous) talks about the women going together having established their own group, maybe the part from Indonesia is the one that stands out, but also the Egyptian is strong, a man talks about how the ultras joined the revolution confronting the military… And the Italian, and the English where the director has visited a non-league club, not the Premier League, and Sweden of course.

I could go on praising the film that has a, yes, let me say fantastic composed music score that fits the sequences perfectly. No complaints about camera work and editing.

To conclude, thanks for giving me and a huge audience I guess and hope, a superb cinematic experience!

Sweden, Finland and Denmark, 2025, 89 mins.

… took place October 3-4 at the Filmclub Capitol Bolzano, the city where the unique Zelig-School for Documentary is to be found. I have been teaching at the school since 2007, where I had the privilege to follow students for the 3 years, the education runs – before that I had been to the school twice. So as a veteran, who has scaled down, I went down to see the graduation films of students I had met 3 years before. I had no idea of the films but as before I had high expectations and I was not disappointed. Thematically there is a wonderful diversity, the same with the duration – contrary to more formal schools there is a difference, “films should have the duration that the material invites you to have”, a sentence for film school films. When you get out in the professional life, the students will for sure meet time slot demands from television but also from festivals nowadays.

Look at the photo (@Matteo Groppo): Students with diplomas in hand, students behind films on the children’s film genre, on bunkers and nature from WW2 (including some footage from the West Coast of Denmark), a family film – three generations and love, an activist’s reflections, a social film on bread making by voluntaries, a clown family and its creative skills, father and daughter, a city & region “punished” by earthquake consequences. Some informational and playful, some more in the experimental direction, still playful, some emotional, some charming, some surprising. Storytelling by talents! A pleasure to watch in the cinema. Big screen, big applause, flowers, short q&a’s, Atmosphere and films ready to have their premiere out there in the festival circuit. Cross my fingers.

And it was the emotional goodbye homage to Heidi Gronauer, the director of ZeLIG since 1990, responsible for the development of the various documentary related projects and productions the school realizes. And on top of that: Since 2004 she is Head of the Project ESoDoc – European Social Documentary.

Heidi Gronauer’s jobs will be taken over two documentary experts/ addicts, who have been at the school for years: Thomas Righetti (Esodoc) and Emanuele Vernillo. The latter introduces himself like this for the article of October 5 BELOW posted on Linkedin:

Project manager for the three years filmmaking education at Zelig -School for documentary / Film Programmer / Filmmaker / Alina’s father / winelover.

“These last two days at the ZeLIG Film Fest have been intense and beautiful. They reminded us why this school matters so deeply.

We can’t imagine an educational approach or a commitment that isn’t rooted in a wild, unconditional love for cinema — for its power to move, to inspire, to unite, to speak to hearts and minds.

ZeLIG films stand out for the diversity of their languages and forms, and for the depth and urgency of the stories they tell. Every student who passes through the school emerges transformed: their gaze becomes sharper, their heart more attuned, their love for culture, for art, for others grows stronger.

Making documentaries is a way of being in the world. It means turning on the antennae of the heart and sharpening our gaze to dig into reality, into its cracks, to weave connections and create peace. We nurture the dream of opening our doors to more and more people, because we believe that a better world can also be built by learning to look beyond the surface — by allowing ourselves to feel, and to recognize different ways of telling stories.

Over the years, an entire local ecosystem devoted to cinema — public institutions, film commissions, festivals, networks of producers and film professionals — has recognized the school’s value and stressed its importance.

And in this historical moment, when we once again find ourselves surrounded by the smoke and noise of weapons, we can still breathe thanks to the return of human tides filling our squares and streets. It is then that the work we have been doing for over thirty years takes on a new light and allows us to hope that, perhaps, another world is not only possible — it is still imaginable, and it can still be told.

This is why ZeLIG – School for documentary matters. This is why Cinema matters.”

Thank you Emanuele for your enthusiasm that reflects the importance of the film school.

24 documentary projects were pitched at this year’s Nordisk Panorama, edition number 32, with the participation of “Documentary Stakeholders” from 18 countries – broadcasters, sales agents, film institute consultants, and with a lot of potential co-producers, some observers with their own projects, present in the room, Moriska Paviljongen in Malmö. Two days of pitching, 15 minutes per project, half of the time for those who present the projects, half of the time for comments from those stakeholders, who sit at the table.

I attended – from a room in the Scandic Hotel, that streamed the Forum on a television screen. The reason why… there was a camera focus on moderators, on pitching teams, on trailers, on the stakeholders talking. Made it easy for me to get an idea of the projects to convey – some of them, those I liked – my impressions to you, who were there or are curious to know what happens in the Nordic documentary scene.

The second day (22-23 September) was the best. There was a flow in the presentation, the moderators seemed to be more free in the their comments to those around the table, always supporting the pitching teams and – first of all – many projects were interesting and well presented. Like the first one, “Mystery Package”, production A5 Film, Norway, director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen: from where does the xmas package come and has come from every year for 22 years? Sent to the grandparents. Two young kids, the grandchildren, become the detectives to find out. The filmmakers present – in the catalogue – the film to be “heartfelt, humorous, and thrilling…”. I believe in them. Release January 2026.

Veterans Gréta Ólafsdóttir and Susan Muska, production la Chana Iceland, are always very powerful on stage, also this time with Elisabeth Thoroddsen as director of “Ukulellur”, (PHOTO Jakob Johannson) with thirteen lesbians, who form a ukulele band to play and sing about queer life, stereotypes, discrimination and resistance, as the catalogue says. Humor and seriousness will be in the film as it was on the stage – the team left playing a tune on a ukulele. Release June 2027.

Finnish Kajo Productions presented with Sanna Liinamaa as director a very strong and important story called “The Runaway Brain”, an animation documentary with Nikke Liinamaa, who has Down syndrome with “a brain that walks, comments, reacts and escapes”; the trailer or rather the sketches shown in the clip made me think that here is something very important and new – to be invited into an inner world of a young man, who expresses himself as an artist. The team said that in the documentary part of the film and accompanying the animation from him, they will try to make Nikke speak. Necessary? I am not sure. Release July 2027.

Ida Kat Balslev was there with Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (her production company) as producer presenting, in pre-producton, “My Rebel Heart”, having on screen an excellent trailer that introduces the young actress Yara, who lives in Ramallah, The director has followed her for 6 years, an actress and an activist, ahh I hope so much for a good life for the young woman and her family, and I have no doubt about the film, that will finish the shooting, when Yara and her friends have finished their play about “their lives, challenges and dreams for the future”. It will be an important film. Release January 2027.

Swedish/French Morgane Dziuria-Petit came on stage just after, another talent with a project in development, production GõtaFilm, “The Days I Will Forget”, a father-daughter film, again an artistic trailer, a budget of almost 1million Euros, 38% covered, the father an alcoholic since he was 15 (!), who stops, or does he, moved from France to Sweden wanting to become a film director. Like his daughter who writes in the catalogue: “Every day my dad wakes up and fights the same battle. He is not done with alcoholism; he is always trying to stop. So I recreated the day of his failed shoot. Again and again. Until we felt trapped in an eternal loop, giving him a new chance at his dream everyday… Patrick (the father) confronts alcoholism anew, while Morgane grapples with her own hopes for their future”. Morgane said at the pitching that she has cancer. What does that mean for the film? For me, who had an alcoholic father, who had to leave his actor career, also because of that, this is a film I am looking forward to, indeed. Release May 2026.

And then, with so much pleasure for me, Virpi Suutari went to the stage, I am an admirer of her work, and her, due to her presence at the Magnificent7 film festival in Belgrade, where we saw “Garden Lovers” and “Once Upon a Time in the Forest”. Virpi has made her own production company, Euphoria Film, good name, why not… as in the latter she chooses, with “Crossing the River” that describes, according to Virpi, an environmental crime committed by a logger, who crossed the river with logs, causing, Virpi says, “massive damage to a river pearl mussel population”. The logger did his job for a forest company. A court case is coming up. Virpi will portray the loggers and present what is at stake: nature and man. Virpi tells stories in images, I am expecting another visual gem. Release March 2027.

And a flashback to Day One, this monday, mentioning a couple of projects that stood out. And let me also comment on the panelists around the table. Good to see so many from German ARD channels, connected to arte, to discover some – new for me – active ladies from SVT and NRK, well all the Nordic countries were represented and I hope for the pitching teams that they had good meetings in the afternoons. That contacts were made that can turn into some funding that they were all asking for.

“The Greatest Illusion” from Norway with Benjamin Ree, production company Medieoperatørene, Ingvil Giske and Danish coproducer Monica Hellström (Ström Pictures) could be called the highlight of the Forum 2025. The director stood behind “The remarkable Life of Ibelin” and “The Painter and the Thief”. About the latter, reviewed on this site, I wrote “…it’s a thriller about stolen art, a psychological drama, a love story, shot over years, with characters that develop, to say the least, a dramaturgy that breaks rules, with several twists, it’s lovely off mainstream documentary storytelling. I was hooked from start till end.” This is what I hope and expect from “The Greatest Illusion” that Ree presented in Malmõ, precise presentation, a lot of positive remarks from the so-called stakeholders, but as the representative from DR said, “I would like to take part but if Netflix comes in…” referring to the Ibelin-film that can be seen on Netflix. Let me quote what the new one is about, from the catalogue: … a magical and emotional journey about the illusionist Alexx Alexxander, known for his incredible skill and charisma, but behind the facade lies traumas and fading memories of his childhood. It all started when his mother disappeared… Lot of archive, family videos, including his siblings. The father is convicted for the murder. It’s tabloid stuff but Ree has shown his talent for making a creative and honest treatment of visual material. Release May 2027.

And finally the Finnish-Estonian co-production “Creaturama – Epic of the Animals” by Juha Suonpää, director and Liis Nimik, producer. Juha was at Baltic Sea Docs at the beginning of this month, won two awards for his pitch, one from Sheffield DocFest and the other from TV3 Group award so the film will be broadcast. The project is convincing and unique with animals “filming”, it can be magic as we saw with his “Lynx Man”, where cameras were placed on different stops in the forest, I think Juha said he has 20.000 or was it 200.000 clips that is to be put together into… that´s where, so to say, doctors disagree. Juha aims at a feature duration but less could do, I think, and/or, I was totally hooked with “Lynx Man” when it was shown in Belgrade at the Magnificent7. Sooo theatrical release of feature duration and shorter versions for television? Anyway, it’s a gem. Release November 2027.

That’s all. It was a good year with many films-to-be of high quality. Themes from the crazy world we live in and many projects that dig into family issues. All in a very polite and correct tone, perfect catalogue, perfect technique, have no idea of the individual meetings. We will hear from the pitchers I am sure.

Look at the photo… A douce painting by Edgar Degas, for me the first true documentarian? No, an edited still from a Danish documentary – coproduced with a Spanish company – directed by Robin Petré and with Ecuadorian cameraperson María Goya Barquet behind the camera. I became curious to know more about the latter, went to her website that with photos immediately proved a special talent for giving images an extraordinary poetic stamp that appeals to someone like me, who again and again stresses that documentaries are Films.

Uhh, the film crew has gone very very close into the wild forest fires in Southern Galicia but there are also – understandable! – well composed distant images from the fires, where – it is being said by one of the few but important humans in the film – animals run back into the fire, when they discover human beings. Only on earth, what are we doing to it, the earth?

Impressive camerawork… that we viewers are invited to experience, and get the chance to, through the editing of Charlotte Munch Bengsten, who brings pauses, time to refelect, where they should be and is not afraid to give us some contrasting shocks. Like in a sequence with an experienced fire fighter, who answers the question whether the fires have become different during the years: The sound of the fires have changed, they roar today like beasts – cut to the veterinarian for horses in a swimming pool, then her on a horse, then her at home with a glass of wine, and we stay with humans to meet (again) the boy from the farm, who knows how to groom horses and who gives the film Life, and Hope; he must be one of those in new generations, who with his love to the horses can do better than we can today? Or am I dreaming?

Huge respect to Robin Petré for not wanting to give answers… she raises questions, lets us think and invites us to an area we know very little about. To discover. But also give us information – for instance that the windmills in the landscape have changed the life of the wild horses, it is now more difficult for them to graze. The windmills also bring in my praise of the sound score, performed by Thomas Perez-Pape, it keeps you hooked the whole way through, at a place on earth, where survival of man and nature is at stake. Where there is a lack of balance. I will not forget the image and the sound of the white horse roaring in desperation in the barn. A cry for help. A warning. Indeed!

Denmark, Spain, 2025, premiered in Berlin, awarded at festivals, 93 mins.

… and the winner is, no objections from my side, from this year’s strong selection… Over to the jury:

Motivation
“We are living in a world on fire that keeps burning in front of our eyes.

We use cinema for reflection of our reality and we would like to highlight the film that captures not only the ongoing environmental grief and also finds the resistant and compelling characters that keep fighting in this deeply immersive, cinematic journey. A film that took us beyond the fire. 

The Award goes to Only on Earth by Robin Petré”

Synopsis
An immersive, visually striking journey deep into southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most vulnerable forest fire zones, where wild horses have curbed flammable undergrowth for centuries under the watch of local cowboys. During the hottest summer ever measured, humans and animals alike struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer.

About the Director
Robin Petré (1985, Denmark) is a Danish film director and artist. In her work she explores human-animal relations and our co-existence with nature. Her feature-length debut From the Wild Sea (2021) premiered at the Berlinale and received the Grand Prix at Global Science Film Festival among other awards. The film was nominated for the Danish Film Critics Award and has screened at festivals such as Zürich Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, CPH:DOX, and True/False. Her short film Pulse (2016) was awarded the Silver Dove for An Outstanding Artistic Contribution at DOK Leipzig. She holds an MA in Documentary Film Directing from Doc Nomads. She’s an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Sundance Institute, Nordic Film Lab, and IDFAcademy. Only on Earth (2025) celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale. The film previously received the Cannes Marché du Film Docs-in-Progress Award 2024.

About the Award
The Best Nordic Documentary Award is presented to one of the 12 films selected for the competition. The award goes to the director(-s) of the winning film.

Prize
The cash award of 11.000€  is sponsored by the Nordic public broadcasters DR, NRK, RUV, SVT and YLE. 

Sorry, dear reader, I have to go to the box with superlatives. Again. You might argue that I always do so, and indeed this was what Allan Berg and I agreed upon, when we started this film blog: We don’t take time to write about bad films, well sometimes we have been a bit critical, but as a general rule – we have been writing about films we like. And I intend to keep this line after Allan is no longer here…

In this case I am happy to express my full enthusiasm. The film by Swedish Ragnhild Ekner is unique. Not only does it give a completely different picture of the ultras – around the world, what an achievement! – but the way it does it as a Film is so convincing!

Let me start with Ekner’s commentary through the whole film. It is not a wall-to-wall speak, it comes when needed, it is so well written, sometimes almost as a poem, sometimes informative, sometimes very personal, she is a supporter herself and she has been there, on the stadium with friends, yes friendship is a word that comes back again and again, in the images where the ultras meet, where they make their banners, where they sing, where they are involved in confrontations with the police. Ekner speaks and lets ultras from the countries, she has filmed in, express diverse opinions and impressions around the phenomenon.

The Polish talks about the reaction from the PiS government and the police. An Indonesian young woman (you don’t see any of those speaking, they are anonymous) talks about the women going together having established their own group, maybe the part from Indonesia is the one that stands out, but also the Egyptian is strong, a man talks about how the ultras joined the revolution confronting the military… And the Italian, and the English where the director has visited a non-league club, not the Premier League, and Sweden of course.

I could go on praising the film that has a, yes, let me say fantastic composed music score that fits the sequences perfectly. No complaints about camera work and editing.

To conclude, thanks for giving me and a huge audience I guess and hope, a superb cinematic experience!

Sweden, Finland and Denmark, 2025, 89 mins.

“I love hands, and I can’t wait for my hands to get old and have the veins out. I keep saying that hands are fascinating. It is something so tactile, so easy to hold someone’s hand to stroke their hand. It’s something you constantly do. In residence, people often need less medicine and more human contact. There is also something about the skin, which has lived a lot. It’s very photographical as it’s like a landscape. It’s like a creek coming down the mountain. The whole skin becomes like a mountain that has been there forever. The skin is like a landscape…”

Beautiful sentences from the director of the masterpiece I saw yesterday in the cinema Spegeln in Malmø, part of the competition programme of Nordisk Panorama. Yrsa Roca Fannberg hired Wojciech Staron to do the camera, the Polish director and cameraperson behind many many documentaries; to mention just one, “Brothers”, which is also a close up of old age as the film of Fannberg is. Staron interprets perfectly the intentions of the director making a warm-hearted visual poem from the homes of the old people in what Fannberg shows are within an institution. The film is a poem AND the protagonists recite poems in the film all related to the beauty of life. And love. There are some unique sequences with couples, one of them more fragile than the other, caressing, caring. It is a very intense film thanks to great editing that give you space to breathe after, yes, breathtaking sequences.

I met the director after the screening and she told me that she is working at Grund, the name of the place, as a nurse. It explains – based on the cinematic skills of the director – why everything in the film looks so natural and that you sense the presence of the filmmaker and her cameraperson. Why there is a flow from one protagonist to the next. Why there are so many fine storytelling solutions like the one towards the end where – shown as “archive” – protagonists are there a bit earlier in their life.

I wonder what young people think of the film. For someone close to 80 the film of course content-wise thoughts: A BIG THANK YOU!

Iceland, Poland, 2025, 82 mins.

They filmed at Malmberget before, more than 10 years ago, “The Home and the Cavity” was the title, and I know them from the Magnificent7 festival in Belgrade from 2018, where they showed “Giants and The Morning After”, with Malla Grapengiesser as co-director. I loved that film, where they “turned this seductive portrait of the seemingly Swedish countryside into a funny, lively and playful picture…” as was written in the festival catalogue.

Funny and lively are words you can use again about this film that takes the title from Pär Lagerkvist. But it is a film that takes place at one of the largest iron mines in the world way up North in Sweden, a mine to be evacuated of course with tough consequences for those in the film. Primarily old people have been casted and they are simply great protagonists.

They express emotionally what it means for them to have their homes torn down, but they also accept the situation, as the directors gently, in a slow rhythm, ask us viewers to live with these wonderful people, who have little time left on this earth… there are conversations about death, and afterlife, there is one of course, are both serious and full of fun. Two, younger in this context, talk about whether they want to be buried in a coffin or cremated. The one for cremation, however, fears the oven as it is sooo warm!

Håkan plays the accordeon in the beginning of the film with miners as listeners, a scene full of sorrow and dignity and chapeau for a disappearing profession. Håkan – the film is shot over a period of 3 years – passes away, his friend plays a Finnish song for him at the cemetery, where a son sits next to his mother’s grave, cut to his home or rather the home of his mother, where he still lives. Beautiful – as many small stories are.

The couple we follow from start till end contributes to a hilarious scene towards the end: The municipality, my guess, has had monumental pillars set up on a square, many of them, a monument for what, a piece of art? The couple shake their heads and says to each other – Maybe inspired from Roman times? The couple also – in a scene earlier in the film – visits their apartment empty and waiting to be demolished. The man wants to take a nail from the wall and something to hang towels on for the kitchen, his wife stops him. No nostalgia please.

Nostalgia, however, and Melancholy are feelings that carry the film – and beautiful it is to watch. Happy ending, of course not but as one of the old people say it: Look, we have got nature back, look at the colourful poppies.

Sweden, 93 mins., 2025