SWISS FILMS in Amsterdam
Swiss films are celebrating a highlight of the documentary season
15.11.2021
With the start of IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (November 17-28, 2021) Swiss films are celebrating a highlight of the documentary season. Selected for the International Competition is the Swiss coproduction A THOUSAND FIRES by Saeed Taji Farouky (Akka Films). Swiss filmmaking is further represented with TAMING THE GARDEN by Salomé Jashi (Mira Films) in the Best of Fest section. Two projects in the VR section IDFA DocLab are rethinking documentary storytelling.
International Competition and Best of Fest
Selected for the International Competition of the festival is the Swiss coproduction A THOUSAND FIRES by Saeed Taji Farouky. Farouky recounts a family story set in Myanmar's hand-drilled oil fields. The documentary received the Marco Zucchi Award of the Semaine de la critique during the Locarno Film Festival. The film was coproduced by Palmyre Badinier of Swiss production company Akka Films.
TAMING THE GARDEN by Salomé Jashi (Mira Films) will screen in the Best of Fest section. The film looks back on a successful festival circuit and is nominated for European Documentary at the European Film Awards. The director will be present at the IDFAcademy talks and sessions.
New documentary storytelling and VR experience
Two coproductions from Switzerland are part of the IDFA DocLab: KUSUNDA by Felix Gaedtke and Gayatri Parmeswaran has been produced at the Immersive Arts Space of the Zurich University of the Arts – ZHdK and is selected for the DocLab Spotlight section. The virtual reality experience explores new possibilities for documentary storytelling.
POSTHUMAN WOMBS by Anna Fries and Malu Peeters is an interactive installation that takes you into a colorful virtual womb, a trip that will expand horizons and aims to de-feminize pregnancy. The project is running in the IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction.
Swiss talents in Amsterdam and Networking Luncheon
Furthermore, these Swiss talents will be present in Amsterdam: director Ben Donateo (BURNT. LAND OF FIRE) is participating in the IDFAcademy. Director and producer Susanne Guggenberger from Mira Film is part of the Dutch Jury and Swiss director Jacqueline Zünd is a member of the Jury for Best First Feature.
In collaboration with Visions du Réel, SWISS FILMS is hosting a networking luncheon in Amsterdam. This exclusive event offers sales agents, international distributors, festival programmers and documentary film professionals the opportunity to meet and connect with Swiss producers and talents participating at the IDFA 2021.
Our e-booklet Docs Fall 2021 features the latest Swiss documentaries and promising new projects.