The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year with a themedprogramme entitled RE: Constructing History, presenting 25 years of history as seen by top international filmmakers.

Those films selected and the topics addressed are:

A Cry from the Grave (1999) by Leslie Woodhead (on the fall of Srebrenica)
Inside Job (2010) by Charles Ferguson (the financial crisis) [pictured]
Kisangani Diary (1998) by Hupert Sauper (civil wars in Africa)
The Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan (the rise of China)
The Leader, his Driver and the Driver’s Wife (1991) by Nick Broomfield (the abolition of Apartheid)
Lessons of Darkness (1992) by Werner Herzog (the Gulf Wars)
Losses to Be Expected (1992) by Ulrich Seidl (the fall of the Berlin wall)
Our Daily Bread (2005) by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (emerging consciousness of sustainability)
Dreams and Silence (1991) by Omar al-Qattan (the rise of Islamic fundamentalism)
Silverlake Life (1993) by Peter Friedman and Tom Joslin (the AIDS epidemic)
Sins of My Father (2009) by Nicolas Entell (the War on Drugs)
Standard Operating Procedure (2008) by Errol Morris (9/11 and its aftermath)
Videocracy (2009) by Erik Gandini (relations between media and politics)
We Live in Public (2009) by Ondi Timoner (the digital revolution)
Z32 (2008) by Avi Mograbi (the Israel/Palestine conflict)

The festival will also offer 25 Years of Highlights of the Lowlands, a survey of Dutch documentaries, plus a conference on Nov 22 about Dutch documentaries in an international context.

The Dutch selections are:

André Hazes - Zij gelooft in mij (1999) by John Appel
Boris Ryzhy (2008) by Aliona van der Horst
The Damned and the Sacred (2002) by Jos de Putter
Desi (2000) by Maria Ramos
Episode 3 - ’ Enjoy Poverty’ (2009) by Renzo Martens
Flying Anne (2010) by Catherine van Campen
Ford Transit (2002) by Hany Abu-Assad
De grote vakantie (2000) by Johan van der Keuken
The Hunt (1997) by Niek Koppen
In My Father’s House (1997) by Fatima Jebli Ouazzani
Metal and Melancholy (1993) by Heddy Honigmann
Position among the Stars (2010) by Leonard Retel Helmrich
Procedure 769 - The Witnesses to an Execution (1995) by Jaap van Hoewijk
The Sea that Thinks (2000) by Gert de Graaff

The IDFA Junior programme of youth docs (Nov 25) will also have a historical focus.

IDFA runs Nov 14-25 and the full programme will be announced in October. The anniversary sections have been supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

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