The 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will open on Nov 16 with Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger Cortzen’s The Ambassador.

The film is about the trade in diplomatic passports in Africa, in which Westerners play a major role. Cortzen, who is also a journalist, shot the project mostly using a hidden camera. He posed as a man with ambitions in the diamond trade who goes to the Central African Republic to become an ambassador for Liberia. Once there, he sets up a match factory, run by Pygmies, as a cover for his ambitions in the diamond trade. What he is actually trying to do, however, is reveal the relations of power – and commerce – in that country.

The film is competiting in the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary.

His past films include The Red Chapel, which won a jury prize at Sundance 2010.

The festival runs Nov 16-27 and the full programme will be announced on Oct 17.

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