The world premiere of Polish artist and filmmaker Piotr Winiewicz’s AI-driven hybrid film About A Hero will open International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) on November 14 and will screen in the main competition.
Winiewicz made the film in response to a remark by German director Werner Herzog that “a computer will not create a film as good as mine in 4,500 years”. Rising to the challenge, Winiewicz and his team created a computer programme called ‘Kaspar’ based on the mind of Herzog to write a film script.
The film’s fictional narrative features Vicky Krieps and is combined with interviews with artists, philosophers and scientists about art, originality and creativity in the age of AI.
Herzog gave permission to Winiewicz to go ahead with the project.
“He knows the film and he approves of it,” said the film’s producer Rilke Tambo Andersen, CEO of Danish outfit Tambo Film. “He doesn’t believe that AI will succeed but he wishes us good luck!”
The film was supported in its early stages through the IDFA DocLab R&D Programme. DR Sales is handling international rights.
There are 12 other titles in the competition, all world premieres.
Among the Dutch titles in competition is Luuk Bouwman’s The Propagandist, which tells the story of the filmmaker Jan Teunissen, head of the department of film of the Dutch Nazi Party and SS, who became the most powerful man in the Dutch film industry during the war years. It is produced by Docmakers and will be release in the Netherlands by Cinema Delicatessen.
Also from the Netherlands is Home Game, directed by the Bosnian Dutch-based filmmaker Lidija Zelović. It is described as an “essayistic film” about the filmmaker’s attempts to overcome her prejudices about the Dutch - and to get them to overcome their prejudices about her.
Irish filmmaker Myrid Cartem’s A Want In Her, is also in competition. The film is a personal story touching on a feuding family and a contested house in the west of Ireland.
The competition includes one “anonymous film” with no indication yet as to what it is or why it is being kept under wraps.
“The IDFA 2024 programme is exceptional in quality and in range,’ said artistic director Orwa Nyrabia of this year’s selection. “Regrettably with less African films than we hoped for, but overall with a wide representation of our planet and the many different humans on it. The diversity of artistic tendencies is staggering.”
Envision
IDFA has also unveiled the titles in its other strands including the Envision competition which showcases work from filmmakers ”venturing out of the box,” as the festival puts it. They are often established names in the art world turning to documentary. The dozen titles here include award -winning Dutch artist Erik van Lieshout’s The Fen-fire and Brazilian director Ana Rieper’s new feature doc, Paradise.
There are 23 films in IDFA’s Luminous section including Ilrhan Kim’s Edhi Alice following two women in transition in South Korea, and The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska, an archive-based doc telling the story of celebrated Polish mountaineer and computer engineer, Wanda Rutkiewicz. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the first European woman to ascend Everest.
The Frontlight section has 13 films dealing with contemporary issues. The titles include Toroboro: The Name of the Plants by Manolo Sarmiento, looking at the disastrous environmental impact of the genocidal colonisation of the Waorani community in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, and Zainab Entezar’s Shot the Voice of Freedom, exploring the plight of women in Afghanistan fighting against Taliban oppression.
International Competition 2024
About A Hero (Den-Ger-US)
Dir: Piotr Winiewicz
An American Pastoral (Fr)
Dir: Auberi Edler
The Golden Age (Italy)*
Dir: Camilla Iannetti
Green Is The New Red (Fr-It-Para-Swe)
Dir: Anna Recalde Miranda
The Guest (Pol-Qatar)
Dirs Zvika Gregory Portnoy, Zuzanna Solakiewicz
Home Game (Neth)
Dir: Lidija Zelović
Light Memories (Ecu)
Dir: Misha Vallejo
The Propagandist (Neth)
Dir: Luuk Bouwman,
Rule Of Stone (Can)
Dir: Danae Elon
Trains (Poland)
Dir. Maciej J. Drygas
A Want in Her ((Ire-UK-Neth)
Dir: Myrid Carten
Writing Hawa (Fr-Neth-Qatar-Afg),
Dir: Najiba Noori
*International premiere
Envision Competition
Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries (It-Switz)
Dirs: Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti
Chronicles Of The Absurd (Cuba)
Dir. Miguel Coyula
CycleMahesh (India)
Dir: Suhel Banerjee
The Fen-fire (Neth)
Dir: Erik van Lieshout
A Frown Gone Mad (Leb)
Dir: Omar Mismar
Garanti 100% Kréol (Réunion)
Dir: Laurent Pantaleon
Higher Than Acidic Clouds (Iran)
Dir: Ali Asgari
Huaquero (Ecu-Peru-Rom)
Dir: Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez
Loss Adjustment (Mex-Urug)
Dir: Miguel Calderón
Paradise (Braz)
Dir: Ana Rieper (Brazil)
Park (Taiwan)
Dir: Yo-Hen So
Pictures In Mind
Dir: Eleonora Camizzi (Switz)
No comments yet