IDFA Project Space reveals projects and tutors for 2024

The talent development program will foster a collaborative environment over an extending period—taking place from June to September in IDFA’s new home Het Documentaire Paviljoen in Amsterdam and online.

The 16 selected projects in progress represent a wide geographical spread and rich variety of themes and approaches to documentary film. They span deeply personal narratives to highly pressing political accounts and include film forms ranging from experimental to archival. Eight of the selected projects previously received support from the IDFA Bertha Fund.

Reflecting on the impact of the program, editor and recurrent tutor Ollie Huddleston observes: “Previously unimaginable stories and situations are turned into important films and big screen experiences.” Among the selection, five projects will participate partially or entirely anonymously due to security reasons—speaking to the urgency of their film projects.

Film still: Grounded by Simón Uribe Martínez

From June to September, the program will provide tailored support to the selected projects, each in a different stage of production, adapting the guidance to their creative development and specific needs.

June

The IDFA Project Space program will launch online from June 3 to 7, offering participants online meetings and Filmmaker Talks—taking inspiration as its starting point. The June program will include a session with psychotherapist and documentary producer Rebecca Day and presents two Filmmaker Talks; a Talk with Iranian filmmaker Farahnaz Sharifi whose IBF-supported film My Stolen Land premiered in Berlin and won the top prize in Thessaloniki, and another with Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi whose award-winning film The Eternal Memory took home the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year. Both Filmmaker Talks will reflect on personal experiences, lessons from the editing process, and the filmmakers’ approach to constructing narrative and layers in their documentary films. 

July

The in-person week in Amsterdam, from July 1 to 6, will revolve around developing their projects—with in-depth one-on-one meetings with their assigned tutors. We are thrilled to share the renowned tutors for IDFA Project Space 2024: Editors Ollie Huddleston, Gladys Joujou, Claudio Hughes; editor-director Qutaiba Barhamji; consultant Gitte Hansen; producer Bianca Oana, directors Aliona van der Horst and Marc Isaacs.

Editor and director Qutaiba Barhamji on being involved in multiple editions: “IDFA Project Space creates a supportive space where emerging filmmakers can experiment and refine their visions with guidance from experienced professionals. I always find it a wonderful opportunity to connect with passionate filmmakers and be immersed in their projects for an entire week.”

Returning to IDFA Project Space for the tenth year, editor Ollie Huddleston reflects on his experience as a tutor: “It's amazing how much progress can be made in an intense week of questioning and editing.” 

During this engaging week in IDFA’s new home Het Documentaire Paviljoen, participants and tutors are encouraged to exchange experiences and share feedback—and most importantly, to walk away with new creative inspiration and drive to complete their compelling and urgent projects.

“There are always so many exciting and fresh approaches to film storytelling and I learn so much each year myself,” Huddleston continues. “Later, it's thrilling to discover a beautiful, award-winning film has been completed and is being loved by audiences worldwide.”

The filmmakers selected for the Dutch speaking workshop IDFA Project Space NL will also kick-off their program this week. These filmmakers, as well as a variety of Dutch filmmakers, will be invited to attend the week’s screenings and talks.

September

The program will conclude during a week in September, with an online program to follow up on the projects process— made up of additional talks and meetings.

During IDFA

Participants of IDFA Project Space will be invited to attend IDFAcademy during IDFA in November with a free accreditation. This will help continue the development of the project and connect the participants to the documentary industry.

The Amateur Photographer's Family Portrait
Azerbaijan, Georgia – dir. Nurlan Hasanli 

While a filmmaker, whose script was shot without notice and ruined by the Ministry of Culture in Azerbaijan, seeks creative revenge by uniting his family to remake the film. 

Big Dreams 
Netherlands – dir. Louis Hothothot 

My friend Laurel Burns is a young beautiful American larger-size woman, 250 kg in weight. She moved to Beijing in order to pursue two of her dreams, which are being an actress and finding romantic love. When her actress’ dream becomes achievable, but the romantic dream fails again and again, she learns that the biggest obstacle is not her overweight body, but her low self-acceptance.

The Broken R
Ecuador, Italy – dir. Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren

My name is Ricardo. For 24 years I've struggled to pronounce the letter R, causing me to suppress my voice. This documentary essay is an intimate journey in search of my voice’s identity and the effort to liberate it, reflected by my personal journey going back to my parent's home.

Burning Daddy
Chile – dir. Tana Gilbert

In a journey into the past, a family reconstructs the history they lived with their father. Between memories fragmented by the violence he exercised, family photographs retained for a decade and judicial archives, they try to reconnect imaginary with him, unravelling the complexity of Chilean fatherhood in the post-dictatorship. Burning Daddy creates a new and deformed family album and challenges the fragmentation of wounded memory. 

Ghost Ship
Senegal, France, Tunisia – dir. Moise Togo

Ghost Ship follows the intertwined stories of Senegalese families left behind and Tunisian individuals collecting the remains of migrants lost at sea. Together, they navigate the complexities of guilt, grief, and hope, trying to find meaning amidst the challenges of emigration (those who go on adventures as we say in Senegal and Mali). 

The Gods Must Be Mistaken
Slovenia, Germany, Croatia - dir. Jakob Krese

A Yugoslav family reflects on over half a century of upheaval, hope, destruction and new beginnings. A dialogue about missing gods, an end that is not, and the price that must be borne for never giving up.

Grounded
Colombia – dir. Simón Uribe Martínez 

In San Felipe, a remote village in the Amazon, people wonder if this will be the last time they see a DC-3 landing, their lifeline to the outer world. A thousand kilometres away, a woman fights a tough battle to keep her beloved planes airborne.

How Love Moves
India – dir. Pallavi Paul

The logline for this project is not available for publication.

Nava Mamă
Romania – dir. Ana Vijdea

In Nava Mamă, Denis (15) wanders through his village and its surroundings, sensitive to its every nuance. Along his journey, he encounters three women, whose narratives resonate with his own quest for resilience, identity, and belonging, intertwining stories of coexistence, pain, and flickers of hope.

Regarding Memory and Neglect
Brazil – dir. Ricardo Martensen

What’s left of us after we die? How long do our traces of existence remain on Earth? Through human bones, and memories, this film chronicles personal stories of Brazilians who lived during different periods of history; and in all of them, one thing in common – the imposition of neglect.

The Road of Bones
Kyrgyzstan – dir. Ayaal Adamov

The logline for this project is not available for publication.

Road Trip
France, Morocco- dir. Linda Qibaa

A first-person film that questions the disappearance of a father incarcerated, of a village submerged underwater by a dam and of link to a country due to absence and immigration. But also, a way back to all of that disappeared, exploring family ties and personal healing.

Submerged Island
Cuba – dir. Lucía Malandro & Daniel D. Saucedo

The logline for this project is not available for publication.

Up in the Air
Ukraine – dir. Oksana Syhareva

Young Ukrainian circus acrobats developing their skills and performance up in the air. First, a century-old circus building, and local government officials challenge the path to their dreams. Now the war has taken away their home and they set off on a journey to tell the world about themselves.

Anonymous project

Anonymous project

The IDFA Project Space 2024 selection committee included external members such as Alex Szalat (Head of Docs Up Fund), Gitte Hansen (Independent Film Consultant), Gary Byung-Seok Kam (Producer at Mirror & Story), Kesmat Elsayed (Producer at See Media Productions), Lea Glob (Filmmaker), Gema Juarez Allen (Producer at Gema Films), Renko Douze (Producer at Een van de jongens), Rodolfo Castillo-Morales (Producer & Director of Documentary Programming of the Guadalajara Film Festival), and Walter Stokman (Filmmaker). It also included internal members such as IDFA programmers besides Meike Statema (Head of Talent Development at IDFA) and Isabel Arrate Fernandez (Deputy Director, IDFA & Managing Director, IDFA Bertha Fund).