Meet the six participants of IDFA Project Space NL 2026

An international outlook remains a key part of the program. Alongside developing their own projects, participants have the opportunity to connect with IDFA's international industry network and build lasting relationships with filmmakers from around the world. This week, the international edition of IDFA Project Space is taking place at Het Documentaire Paviljoen, where the Dutch participants join their international peers for a series of talks, screenings, and exchange sessions.

The program concludes with a final presentation, where participants from both the Dutch and international editions pitch their projects to industry professionals, including representatives of the Dutch public broadcasters. Over the coming year, the selected filmmakers will receive a financial contribution from BNG Cultuurfonds to support the development of a teaser and the research phase of their projects.

Meet the six participants.

Selle Inti Sellink

"Personal growth is the common thread running through all of my films. In Diafonie, music becomes a way of finding yourself; in Between Worlds, language, family, friendship, and community are the forces that shape personal growth. With Mi Luna, I'm exploring spiritual growth through a search for culture, heritage, and fatherhood. I hope my films encourage people to embark on their own journeys of growth. If they do, that would be my greatest achievement.

My sources of inspiration change with each project. For Diafonie, it was my relationship with my guitar teacher, alongside animated documentaries like The Midnight Gospel. For Between Worlds, it was the stories shared by students in an international newcomer class in Zaandam. Their experiences resonated with my own relationship to belonging, Peru, and the Netherlands, without ever suggesting that our stories were the same. With Mi Luna, I'm giving shape to a search I've been carrying with me, almost unconsciously, my entire life—one informed by reflections on generational dynamics, as well as music, literature, mythology, and psychology.

What I'm most looking forward to at IDFA Project Space is the intensity of the program. Even after the first few days, I can already feel how energizing it is—and how much focus it demands. It's exactly the kind of space this project needed. I'm also excited to exchange ideas with the other filmmakers: to hear how they see my film, and to imagine together what our projects might become. That shared process of discovery is one of my favorite parts of filmmaking."

Selle Inti Sellink is a Dutch-Peruvian filmmaker, sound designer, and re-recording mixer based in Amsterdam. After graduating in Sound Design from the Netherlands Film Academy in 2018, he founded Still Sound Design. His directorial debut, the short animated documentary Diafonie (2022), premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival and screened internationally. As a sound designer, he has worked on films including Tato Kotetishvili's Holy Electricity, winner of the Golden Leopard at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival. He is currently developing his first feature documentary, Mi Luna, a cinematic letter to his unborn son, woven around the search for the dog his family left behind when they emigrated from Peru.

"I'm fascinated by the unwritten rules, expectations, and beliefs that shape the way we behave. Perhaps that stems from my background in anthropology. I'm drawn to exploring feelings and experiences we tend not to talk about openly because they clash with our ideas of how a person, a parent, a friend, or a citizen is supposed to be. My films often begin with a personal story before expanding into broader questions about the social norms that shape our lives.

I find inspiration both within and beyond the world of film. I'm drawn to stories where personal experiences intersect with urgent social issues, as well as documentaries that explore themes such as mental health and family relationships.

At IDFA Project Space, I'm looking forward to broadening my perspective through the working methods and viewpoints of other filmmakers. Filmmaking can be a solitary process, which is exactly why I value the opportunity to share ideas, doubts, and ambitions with others. The most interesting conversations often begin with a question you would never have thought to ask yourself. I hope we'll help each other see more clearly, think more critically, and discover new possibilities for our work."

Milou Gevers is a documentary filmmaker, cultural anthropologist, and author. She graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy in 2020 with Waarom bleef je niet voor mij?, which received, among other awards, a Student Academy Award (Gold Medal), the VPRO Documentary Award, and the KNF Film Critics Award. She went on to direct Zomer zonder jou, Spijtmoeders, and De smartphone-loze mens. Her latest short documentary, Tikkie Gevoelig, premieres on July 26 and explores how growing income inequality puts a long-standing friendship under pressure. Her work is characterized by a bold, often light-footed approach to subjects that are typically considered difficult or taboo. She recently published her first book, Aai een badeend in de trein – en 51 andere eigenzinnige manieren om je smartphone te negeren, in which she uses humor and anthropological curiosity to explore what happens when we loosen the grip of our digital habits.

"As a self-taught filmmaker, creating has always come naturally to me. Photography has been part of my life since I was a child, but it wasn't until I took a gap year during my studies that it truly found its way back. My grandfather gave me four analog cameras, including a Minolta from 1966, and I immediately fell in love with the entire process. It taught me to slow down and look more closely at the world around me.

When I returned to Senegal as an adult, I realized how little people in the Netherlands actually knew about the country. Photography became a way for me to show Senegal through my own eyes. After several exhibitions, I began to realize that a photograph was often only the beginning of the conversation. Behind every image was a larger story. That's how I found my way to film. I don't invent stories—I go looking for them.

I'm inspired by films such as Hoop Dreams by Steve James and Stop Filming Us by Joris Postema. What draws me to these works is the way they invest in long-term relationships and tell stories from within. As a Dutch-Senegalese filmmaker, I recognize myself in that search for perspective and feel called to build bridges between Africa and the West.

At IDFA Project Space, I'm especially looking forward to becoming part of a community. I didn't go to film school—my education was mostly 'YouTube University,' which can be a lonely path. I'm eager to learn from the other participants, mentors, and tutors. My way of working is highly intuitive, without rigid structures or plans, so I'm approaching the program like a sponge, ready to absorb everything it has to offer."

Sethi Djegane Gueye is a self-taught Dutch-Senegalese photographer and filmmaker. Working primarily with analog photography, he captures contemporary African stories from perspectives that are often overlooked. Drawing on his personal connection to Senegal, he explores how images shape perception while creating space for stories told from within. What began as photography gradually evolved into filmmaking, allowing him to follow stories over time and explore them in greater depth. He is currently developing his first feature documentary, L'Étoile de la Rue, with Docmakers, following a young basketball talent from Dakar as he pursues his dream of reaching the NBA in the United States.

"Making documentaries means diving deeper into life. It takes the courage to confront the many layers of reality and use cinema to explore how I relate to them. For me, researching, making documentaries, and sharing them with an audience is a process of both personal and collective healing. It allows me to see the world from different perspectives and, in doing so, reshape the way I understand it.

I'm drawn to contrasts. On the one hand, I'm inspired by filmmakers who refuse to conform to the conventions of the film industry and create out of an inner necessity. I'm especially inspired by DIY filmmakers and artists whose work is often overlooked because they don't speak the industry's language or follow its academic pathways. On the other hand, I deeply admire films that are crafted with exceptional precision while carrying a powerful message. Ultimately, I hope to bring those two worlds together in my own work.

At IDFA Project Space, I'm most looking forward to inspiring—and being inspired by—my fellow filmmakers. I'm excited to see how we can sharpen each other's creative visions by experimenting, exploring, and learning from one another's journeys."

Razan Hassan is a Syrian-Dutch filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. Her films have been screened and awarded at festivals and museums around the world, including Movies that Matter, the St. Louis International Film Festival, and the Van Gogh Museum. After graduating from the Netherlands Film Academy in 2023, she immersed herself in mindfulness, Jungian psychology, Sufism, and Buddhism. This exploration led her to develop the method, which combines film and mindfulness in workshops and interactive film performances that invite participants into a shared emotional experience. Through her films, art, and workshops, Razan creates spaces for connection, cultural exchange, and personal reflection.

"I make films to process the world around me. They're a place where my fascinations, fears, and anger can exist. I've never found it easy to express myself in words, but through a scene I can show what I see, feel, and think. For me, filmmaking is a way of making sense of both the world and my own experiences.

My greatest source of inspiration is the world around me. That may sound like a cliché, but what moves me changes with each stage of my life. If I had to name filmmakers who inspire me, Abbas Kiarostami and Sakir Khader would be at the top of the list. What fascinates me about Kiarostami is the way he gives reality space to unfold, revealing the many layers of life. His films breathe. In Khader's work, I admire its authenticity, its rawness, and its refusal to compromise.

At IDFA Project Space, I'm especially looking forward to being immersed in the creative process alongside other filmmakers—to hearing different perspectives, exchanging feedback, and thinking together about each other's work. That's also what I hope to learn most: how others see, work, and tell stories. At the same time, I hope to contribute my own perspective and experiences. And, to be honest, I'm also looking forward to the structure that a shared program like this provides, because it's something I sometimes miss when working on my own."

Nour Alkheder is a filmmaker whose work is rooted in intimacy and emotion. Working at the intersection of documentary and fiction, she explores how feelings such as nostalgia, displacement, and belonging can be translated into cinematic form. She graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy in 2024 with Teken mij een thuisland (ارسملي بلاد), a documentary exploring the boundaries of integration and self-discovery in a new country. Her earlier film, Ik Meer van Jou (2023), centers on the experience of nostalgia. Across all of her work, Nour seeks to make emotions tangible and connect audiences with the inner worlds of her protagonists.

"My fascination often begins with a place and the unique world it can evoke. These places take on a life of their own in my mind; they feel like harbingers of new insights. Through my films, I try to follow where those insights lead.

I'm inspired by filmmakers such as Verena Paravel, Cao Guimarães, Andrea Arnold, Victor Kossakovsky, and Agnès Varda, as well as writers like Claire-Louise Bennett and Nathalie Sarraute. Their work isn't driven by major events, but by subtle shifts in perception. That's what resonates with me most.

At IDFA Project Space, I'm looking forward to getting excited about each other's projects, finding inspiration, and learning more about documentary filmmaking while discovering my own path within it. I'm especially excited about the conversations with filmmakers and meeting the international group. I feel the other participants can teach me how to make a story even more personal—not by getting lost in poetry or my own dream world, but by looking beyond that and truly feeling. Everyone is bringing such strong, personal projects, and I hope we'll be able to share the questions and doubts we encounter along the way."

Sammy-Lena Stasse is an emerging documentary filmmaker based in Amsterdam. After hitchhiking around the world during her bachelor's degree in Anthropology, she spent three months beside a road in Northumbria while pursuing a master's in Visual Anthropology, researching daydreaming and boredom as an academic method. Her graduation film, The Lindisfarne Causeway, screened at several festivals and was selected for the RAI Best Student Film Award. She is currently completing her second short documentary, The Restroom (Teledoc Campus), while working at Eye Filmmuseum.