The Best of IDFA on Tour 2019 (ENG. SUBS.)

Four highlights of the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) 2019 on one day! With English subtitles.

This years programme:

In a Whisper

Winner of the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary
Heidi Hassan, Patricia Pérez Fernández, Spain, Cuba, 2019, 80′
Language: Spanish, French. Subtitles: English.

Childhood friends Patricia and Heidi grew up in Cuba, where they both went to the film academy. As children of the 1970s, they were brought up with the communist ideals of Che Guevara, but the promised bright future failed to materialize. Independently of each other, they fled the malaise and censorship of their homeland. Heidi ended up in Switzerland, Patricia in Spain. Now both 40, they seek a way to approach each other again, choosing the medium that suits them best: video letters.

Sunless Shadows

Winner of the IDFA Award for Best Directing and openingfilm of IDFA 2019
Mehrdad Oskouei, Iran, Norway, 2019, 74′
Language: Perzian. Subtitles: English.

In an Iranian juvenile detention center, a group of adolescent girls serve their sentence for the grave crime of murdering their father, their husband or another male family member. Filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei built a remarkable relationship with these inmates, whose frank conversations and playful interactions he observes, and who privately open up about the consequences of, and sometimes the reasons for, their action.

Voorspel (Foreplay)

Special mention of the jury IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs
Anne van Campenhout, The Netherlnads, 2019, 15′
Language: Dutch. Subtitles: English.

The most uncomfortable but also the most exciting subject for school kids has to be sex education. Foreplay shows what these classes are like at five Dutch junior high schools. The filmmakers focus on the reactions of the young teenagers, who snigger and make wisecracks, but also listen with curiosity, while the teachers generally take a cheerful, no-nonsense approach. They talk about genital anatomy, and the kids unroll condoms onto fake penises and pass on liquids in plastic cups to simulate STDs.

Push

Audience favourite
Fredrik Gertten, Sweden, 2019, 92′
Language: English, Spanish, Italian, German, Korean. Subtitles: English

Gentrification is a fatal phenomenon affecting many cities, transforming low-class neighborhoods into highly desirable districts, gradually driving house prices up and the original inhabitants out. Are the new wealthy occupants to blame for the price hikes, or is something else going on? Filmmaker Fredrik Gertten follows the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing as she investigates the shrouded world of venture capitalists, property speculators and slumlords.