Selecting films and new media projects for the 2025 festival

Film entries are considered for IDFA’s competitions, Luminous, Frontlight, Youth Program, Signed, Best of Fests, and Paradocs. Films can also be actively scouted for these sections, which is handled by the program team in collaboration with regionally based associate programmers. In all cases, the films undergo an extensive selection process that starts with all filmmakers sending in an entry form.

The entire selection process is overseen by IDFA’s Artistic Director.

Programmers María Campaña Ramia, Joost Daamen, Sarah Dawson, and Laura van Halsema collaboratively work on the selections for the International Competition, Envision Competition, Luminous, and Frontlight. For these sections, the four programmers each work with their own team of program advisors to put forward a shortlist of films. Once the films are shortlisted, the programmers collectively curate the selection for the two main competitions, Luminous, and Frontlight.

For short films, programmer Jasper Hokken and associate programmer Makiko Wakai work together to make a selection for the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary. Jasper and Makiko also select the short films for Best of Fests, Signed, Luminous, and Frontlight.

Programmer Joost Daamen is responsible for selecting films for the Paradocs section, taking input from the programmers and program advisors of the other sections.

All programmers are involved in selecting the films for the program sections Best of Fests and Signed, which together make up the bulk of the festival selection.

Filmmaker Niki Padidar, the director of IDFA's opening film All You See in 2022, will continue to lead the selection for the Youth Program this year. In 2023, Niki published a statement on youth documentary film programming on how we should take younger audiences more seriously in IDFA’s publication: Notes on a Festival 2023.

Finally, entered films are sometimes also considered for IDFA’s thematic Focus Programs. These sections are curated by IDFA’s programmers and include both new and historical films.

María Campaña Ramia is an Ecuadorian film curator based in Rio de Janeiro. She holds an MA degree in Documentary Filmmaking from the University of Strasbourg. As a programmer, she has worked for MajorDocs (Spain), Ambulante (Mexico) and Encuentros del Otro Cine - EDOC (Ecuador), where she served as Artistic Director for ten years. María has organized festivals and showcases in Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States. She writes for international journals and film publications and collaborates with funds and institutions evaluating projects.

Joost Daamen is a senior programmer at IDFA. He holds an MA degree in Film Studies from the University of Amsterdam. Since 2005, he has been working for IDFA’s program department. Over the years, he has contributed to and programmed the main (non-)competition programs and Paradocs program, and he has (co-)curated focus programs.

Sarah Dawson is a programmer and festival organizer from South Africa, where she began her career lecturing and writing about film and presenting grassroots film exhibition programs to nurture a local culture of film appreciation. She has gone on to contribute to festival programs, including Durban International Film Festival, where she served as festival manager, as well as Africa in Motion, Sheffield Doc/Fest, London Short Film Festival, and IDFA. She has an MA in Film Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Laura van Halsema has an MA degree in American Studies from the University of Amsterdam. She has been working for IDFA since 2002, where for many years she developed and curated focus programs on several elements of documentary film art. The focuses ranged from the purely artistic aspects of filmmaking to investigations of complex questions relating to individualism, global politics, the role of media, and democracy. As senior programmer, she is part of the selection committee of the main competitions and responsible for the focus programs and talks program.

Jasper Hokken is a programmer at IDFA, where he is responsible for IDFA’s Short Documentary Competition and the short film selections for Best of Fests, Signed, Frontlight, and Luminous. Between 2019-2024 he curated the IDFA on Stage program, which presented unique live events that explored the space between documentary cinema, new media, and performing arts. Before that he worked on IDFA’s Music Documentary program and concert series in collaboration with the Melkweg music venue. He holds an MA degree in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image from the University of Amsterdam.

Wakai Makiko is New Asian Currents program coordinator of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF), that aims to showcase and bring together emerging filmmakers from across the region. She is programmer, feminist, activist, filmmaker and beer-enthusiast based in Tokyo.

Filmmaker Niki Padidar is leading the selection for the Youth Program again this year. Niki studied photography at the New School University in New York, did an orientation year at the Gerrit Rietveld art academy and got her master's at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in youth & media and representation. Ever since she has written and directed many stories for children, teens, and twenty-somethings on everything from the pressure to comply in groups, to sexual education, to an egg escaping his egg carton in search of a better life. Niki's youth film Ninnoc won 7 international prizes, including at IDFA and Berlinale. She prefers working with children and teens because they are funny, brutally honest and won't let you get away with bells and whistles.

Camilla Baier is a German/Brazilian film programmer, curator, and researcher based in Edinburgh. She holds an MSc in Film, Exhibition and Curation, and has worked across film and contemporary art in the UK and Mexico since 2012. She is the co-founder of feminist film collective Invisible Women, which champions the work of women and marginalised filmmakers through exhibition, research, and editorial projects. With Invisible Women, she has staged events for organisations including BFI Southbank, Sheffield DocFest and CineTonalá, worked as an archive producer for documentaries, and contributed a chapter to Stretching the Archives: Toward a Global Women’s Film Heritage. As an independent programmer, she has curated programmes for the Goethe-Institut and the inaugural edition of SXSW London, among others. She also advises on festival strategy for new releases and writes about film and moving image culture for a variety of outlets.

Ela Bittencourt writes regularly about art and the moving image for publications such as Artforum, Frieze, Film Comment, Hyperallergic, and Sight & Sound. She's served on numerous festivals and work-in-progress juries, contributed to festival catalogues, and mentored in critics academies, most recently at Porto/Post/Doc, in 2023. In the past, she also presented documentary, experimental film and video art, at the True / False Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, CineSesc, Instituto Moreira Salles, and the Museum of the Moving Image. In addition to IDFA, she advises for Venice Days. She holds an MFA in writing and an MA in arts management, both from Columbia University, New York.

Kees Brienen is a film programmer, curator, and teacher. Digital moving images and their consequences for our visual language have been the subject of his experimental film programming, exploring various disciplines of art and their relationship with cinema. Over the years he has curated many (special) programs for cinemas, television, museums, and festivals such as IDFA, IFFR, Movies that Matter, Pluk de Nacht, Los Cabos IFF and Cinema Planeta in Mexico. Since 2000, he has been a member of IDFA’s selection committee.

Inadelso Cossa is a film director, producer and DOP, member of the (AMPAS) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. His first feature-length documentary A Memory in Three Acts made a world premiere at the festival IDFA - International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Inadelso was invited as a jury at IDFA 2018 and Doc Sheffield 2018. His second feature film The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder made a world premiere at Berlinale Forum 2024 and international premiere at CPH: DOX 2024. The film won the Special Jury Prize at Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Film Festival 2024, Special Mention at Lima Alterna International Film Festival and Porto Post Doc, Jury Prize at Doc Lisboa International Film Festival 2024.

Hawa Essuman is a film director based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her 2017 feature-length documentary Silas, co-directed with Anjali Neyar, tells the story of Liberian environmental activist Silas Siakor's fight to preserve the country's rainforests from commercial logging. The film won multiple awards, including the Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award (2018) and the Audience Award for best documentary at the RiverRun International Film Festival (2018). Hawa's first feature film, Soul Boy (2010), also received a series of awards. In addition, Hawa has produced a range of TV programs, commercial films, music videos, and adverts.

Film curator and critic Katarina Hedrén has worked as a curator, co-programmer, and moderator for film festivals and events worldwide, including the European Film Festival in South Africa, Berlinale, Addis Ababa African Film Week, Film Africa UK, Göteborg Film Festival, and FESPACO. She regularly serves as a consultant, advisor, mentor, speaker, and moderator for film festivals, markets, funds, and other industry events across the globe.

Luna Hupperetz is a film curator and PhD researcher at the University of Amsterdam, specialising in critical audiovisual heritage. Her research explores activist documentary cinema, audiovisual re-use practices, and collaborative film archival methodologies. As a curator, she researches and distributes the recently restored anti-colonial film Oema foe Sranan (Women of Suriname, 1978). Following this restoration, she co-produced and co-directed the short film A Battle Restored (2022). Currently, her work focuses on the digitized 16mm materials from the unfinished Unknown Suriname trilogy (Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms, 1973-1978) and the cinematic works of post-independence Surinamese filmmakers. In 2024, she curated a retrospective on militant Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez for IDFA’s Spotlight on Cuba.

Since 2013, Wood Lin has served as the program director of the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF), and since 2020, as the program advisor of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Additionally, he supervises the research and program division at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, overseeing responsibilities such as research, publication, film programs, and TIDF. He is also the editor-in-chief of "FILM APPRECIATION," the magazine and he has been honored with the prestigious Golden Tripod Award. The program he curated, "Imaging the Avant-Garde: Taiwan's Film Experiments of the 1960s," has been featured at various international film festivals and institutions. Wood Lin has also served as a juror for esteemed film festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Ji.hlava IDFF, Sheffield IDFF, ONE WORLD, RIDM, and more.

Myriam Mouflih is a curator and writer based in Glasgow, working across film and contemporary visual art. Myriam currently is a programmer at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival and has programmed for festivals like London Film Festival and Africa in Motion Film Festival and organisations such as South London Gallery, Pavilion (Leeds) and The Mosaic Rooms.

Paramita Nath is an independent nonfiction filmmaker. She works in both traditional and emerging platforms, experimenting with new approaches to storytelling. Her works have been described as “visually remarkable” (Huffington Post) “like a poem… a cinematic gem” and travelled to festivals around the world. In 2019, Paramita made her debut as stage director for a multimedia opera double-bill production featuring two works by acclaimed Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa at the University of Toronto New Music Festival. Born and raised in India, Paramita has lived in Canada (1996-2016), New York (2016-2023) and recently moved to the Netherlands. She brings into her art practice a diverse lived experience and understanding of the socio-political complexities of our times, and intricate questions of belonging and unbelonging.

Belgrade-born and Zagreb-based Vladan Petkovic is a film journalist, critic and festival programmer. His programming experience includes ZagrebDox, Rab Film Festival, Eastern Neighbours Film Festival, Cinema City Novi Sad, FeKK Ljubljana, Kratkofil Banjaluka, and Belgrade Short & Documentary Film Festival. He is also the industry talks editor at IDFA, a correspondent for Screen International, senior writer for Cineuropa, film critic for Documentary Magazine, and head of studies of the GoCritic! training program for emerging film critics.

A graduate of Anthropology (1997) and Urban Arts studies (2020), Lulu Ratna is an Indonesian short film activist based in Jakarta who programs, promotes, and distributes Indonesian short films. She has been working as a film festival organizer since 1999 and now is a lecturer on film festival management with an annual student film festival UCIFEST - UMN Animation & Film Festival as her students' practice.

Céline Roustan is a film curator, with almost a decade of experience. Senior programmer at the website Short of the Week, she also programs short films at the Palm Springs ShortFest and SXSW where she also programs features. She has previously programmed for the Dublin International Film Festival, SFFILM, and currently contributes to the programs of the Cannes Official Short Film Competition, TIFF ShortCuts, Aspen ShortsFest.

Berry Schneider is an Amsterdam-based film and film festival freelancer, working primarily in production, research and writing. He co-founded and was editor of a now-defunct cultural newsletter, and has worked at IDFA in different capacities since 2019.

Ana Siqueira is a Brazilian film curator, translator and researcher. Head of program at FestCurtasBH - Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival (2013-14 and since 2017), she was previously a programmer at Cine Humberto Mauro film theater and other Brazilian film festivals, such as forumdoc.bh and Mostra Tiradentes. As a PhD researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG - Brazil), she explores linguistic differences within films, discussing notions such as colonialism, equivocation, opacity and hospitality. She has been a program advisor for IDFA since 2022.

Jelte Zonneveld graduated with a specialization in documentary research and development from the MA in Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Since then, he has worked as a (freelance) editor/researcher, programmer, and (impact) producer for various documentary projects. At IDFA he worked as a producer of the Industry program and as an editor for the Doc Talks program; since 2017 he has been a program advisor. He currently works as an independent producer and creative producer at mint film office in Rotterdam.

All new media festival entries and proposals for the DocLab open call are assessed by various international program advisors, followed by production checks and a final selection round by IDFA’s own DocLab curatorial team.

Caspar Sonnen is Head of New Media at IDFA, where he created IDFA DocLab in 2007 to provide a platform for curating, showcasing, and developing interactive and immersive documentary art. Previously, he co-founded the Open Air Film Festival Amsterdam and served as an advisory board member for SXSW Film and MIT Open DocLab. In 2015, he received the EDN Award for Outstanding Contribution to European Documentary Culture.

Nina van Doren is a programmer at IDFA DocLab with a background in art history and sound design. A former researcher at LIMA (Living Media Art), specializing in digital art exhibition and archiving, Nina holds an MA in comparative arts and media studies from VU. She focuses on analyzing experimental forms of storytelling, indie games and digital culture to contribute to IDFA DocLab’s program of exhibitions and live events.

Through the call for festival entries, a diverse range of new media and performance projects will be considered for IDFA's new media competitions: Immersive Non-Fiction and Digital Storytelling. All entries are evaluated by an international group of dedicated new media program advisors with an outstanding track record in interactive and immersive art and storytelling. With their extensive expertise, they provide crucial input to ensure the DocLab program pushes artistic exploration, signals new trends and talents and showcases the best and most cutting-edge projects in the field.

Dutch projects eligible for the Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant will be selected together with the Netherlands Film Fund.

In addition to our program advisors, we are supported in the IDFA DocLab program selection by R&D partners including: Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Milo Grootjen (ARTIS-Planetarium), Lisa Wiegel (Flemish Cultural Center De Brakke Grond) POPKRAFT and Diversion.

This is the current list of confirmed program advisors; further updates may follow.

Nienke Huitenga Broeren is an award-winning immersive director and producer. Her designs stem from a curiosity for how technology sharpens our understanding of being human. Her latest VR documentary LACUNA about memory and identity premiered in the immersive competition at Cannes 2025. In the past years she has worked on a generative audio experience titled DRIFT (2024) that speculates about post-climate crisis Netherlands, a performative hybrid lecture OFF THE RECORD (2023) and debuted with the non-fiction VR story ROZSYPNE (2019) at IDFA DocLab. In Utrecht she runs Studio ZZZAP where she blends an XR practice with digital art and experiential storytelling.

Avinash Changa is a VR-maker, director, creative technologist, and international speaker on immersive creation. He founded the award-winning WeMakeVR studio, known for Meeting Rembrandt, Angels of Amsterdam, and The Saga of Sage. Avinash coaches talent, consults on immersive productions, and is developing technologies to improve immersive experiences, from social VR performances to hybrid theatre/music/VR works and educational content. He also pioneers new workflows for better production and long-term preservation of immersive works.

CHOU Tung-Yen is an award-winning Taiwanese artist and director working across theatre, cinema, and immersive technology. His work explores human presence in digital space, weaving poetic visuals with themes of queer intimacy, memory, and cross-cultural connection. Founder of Very Theatre, he creates XR works including In the Mist, Traversing the Mist, and Free UR Head, a live collective XR dance piece. His projects have been showcased at Venice Immersive, IDFA DocLab, and the Cannes Immersive Competition, inviting audiences into intimate, sensorial experiences.

With a focus on the cultural and museum sector, Callum Cooper works at the intersection of storytelling, design, and technology. He has led a range of large-scale innovative digital projects for institutions including the National Air and Space Museum (Washington), Empire State Building (New York) and is currently the Head of Digital and Content at the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney).

Sasha Dees is a world citizen and connector who lives for the arts. She founded her production company SDPM in 1998 and has worked as an independent producer, curator, writer, and consultant in Amsterdam and New York. Notable projects include "Chinese Whisper" (New Museum, 2001), "Bloody Mondays and Strawberry Pies" (Gouden Kalf, 2008), "Traversing the Mist" (IDFA DocLab, 2023) and "Free UR Head" (Venice Immersive 2024). Her book, Entangled Species, was published in 2021. She curated "NEXUS" at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Taipei (2023) and serves on various funding committees. 

Julián Cordero is a game developer from Quito, Ecuador, now based in New York City. His latest project, despelote, is a slice-of-life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of Quito in 2001. He's passionate about finding new ways to capture the world, and sees video games as the perfect vessel for that exploration.

Samantha Gorman is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist, and educator specializing in digital media, immersive media, and narrative design. She is co-founder of Tender Claws and faculty at UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering. Her acclaimed projects include PRY, Virtual Virtual Reality (VVR), and The Under Presents. Samantha's work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and Wired, and she is an artist-in-residence with the San Francisco Opera. She holds an MFA from Brown University and a PhD from USC.

Faye Kabali-Kagwa is an arts coordinator, cultural curator, and writer. Faye has an uncanny ability to read the pulse of the cultural zeitgeist. Her work connects people and audiences across platforms and disciplines which include theater, literature, film, and emerging technology.

Mac Liu is a young programmer and event producer based in Amsterdam with a sociology background. Since 2021, she has worked with IDFA, CinemAsia, and Eye, focusing on VR and FilmLab. As an independent programmer, she has curated Chinese art-house films at STUDIO/K and KINO Rotterdam, and served on the Debut Competition jury at Sprouts Film Festival in 2023.

Siza Mukwedini is a Pan-African film and new media content producer based in Harare, Zimbabwe. As Creative Director of Matamba Film Labs for Women, she empowers new voices in African storytelling. A Mandela Washington Fellow and Echoing Green Fellow, she received the US Alumni Impact Award for Innovation in ICT (2024). Siza produced the award-winning documentary Transactions which premiered at IDFA in 2022. She directs the Matamba Immersive Festival, one of the region’s few digital and immersive media festivals. Siza has also served as a juror and mentor for Adiaha Awards, Encounters, AIXR, and Digital Labs Africa.

Margarita Osipian is an independent curator, researcher, and cultural organiser based in Amsterdam. Engaging with the intersections and socio-political frictions within art, design, and technology, she organises workshops, exhibitions, and collaborative projects both in formal institutions and in more precarious and ephemeral spaces. Margarita is part of The Hmm, a platform for internet and digital cultures and is part of the artistic team of W139, an artist-led exhibition space in Amsterdam.

Amy Rose is a highly acclaimed director and maker working with stories and interaction. Co-founder of multi-award-winning immersive studio Anagram, she is now Lead Curator of Undershed – the new immersive gallery at Watershed in Bristol, UK. Originally a documentary filmmaker with an MFA in directing from Edinburgh College of Art, she also runs wild camps for children and a music festival in Wales since 2010.

Annabel Troost is a curator, adviser, and emerging teacher-researcher in social sciences, citizenship, and media education. With 15 years’ hands-on experience in art technology, digital media, narrative, and cultural innovation, she has worked with institutions such as IDFA DocLab, The British Museum, Science Museum London, V2_ and Holland Festival. She advises higher education on human-centred technology and AI — emphasising the role artists play. Her work centres on equity, sustainability, and representation, exploring citizenship, art, technology, power, and nature.

Harm van de Ven is an Amsterdam-based interactive art director and creative coder who crafts intuitive, immersive digital experiences. With a strong focus on collaboration, he works closely with directors and artists to develop interactive concepts from idea to execution. His work has received international recognition and been shown at leading festivals like IDFA, IFFR and Cannes. Harm co-founded the media collective Zesbaans and also plays an active role in the creative community through curation, mentorship, and public engagement.

Rafaella Wang is an illustrator and graphic designer who has worked with various cultural institutions. She has collaborated with IDFA DocLab on exhibition design and festival publications since 2012. Rafaella has been a program advisor since 2020.