IDFA Sets ’06 Competition Slate for Annual Amsterdam Doc Festival

Indiewire.com
by Eugene Hernandez
October 19, 2006

Considered the leading international documentary festival, Amsterdam’s 19th
annual IDFA will kick off on November 23rd with Dutch filmmaker Jiska
Rickels’ first feature-length film "4 Elements." The film is one of 18
documentaries set for IDFA’s Joris Ivens Competition, which includes just
two U.S. project this year, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s "Jesus Camp" and
Andrew Berends’ "When Adnan Comes Home." Also announced is the roster for
the First Appearance competition, which features films by emerging
directors. Three films from the United States are included in the First
Appearance linenup, including Andrew Jenks’ "Andrew Jenks, Room 335,"
Socheata Poeuv’s "New Year Baby," and Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s "Shame." (The
complete lineup for both competitions is included below.)

Opening the International Documetary Film Festival Amsterdam is the poetic
four-part film "4 Elements," described as a, "documentary about man’s
struggle with the primordial elements." In the film she looks at professions
in which the elements — earth, air, fire and water — play a crucial role.
In the words of a festival description, "In Fire, Russian firemen fight
forest fires in Siberia, while in Water, fishermen in Alaska hoist up king
crabs from the Bering Sea. Earth, a shortened version of ‘Untertage’
[Rickels’ student film], follows two German mineworkers as they go about
their business. In Air, which concludes the tetralogy, cosmonauts and
astronauts prepare their launch of the International Space Station."

Other IFDA plans include a showcase of work from China and doc director Alan
Berliner presenting ten favorites at this year’s festival, while the event
will also screen a number of his films. The festival will continue through
December 3rd in the Dutch city, while the IDFA Forum, the largest
international documentary co-financing market, will run from November 27 –
29 during the festival.

IDFA feature competition lineups follow:

Joris Ivens Competition
"4 Elements," directed by Jiska Rickels (The Netherlands)
"9 Star Hotel," directed by Ido Haar (Israel)
"Feet Unbound," directed by Khee-Jin Ng (Australia)
"The Grandmother of Revolution," directed by Petra Seliskar (Slovenia,
Macedonia, Cuba)
"Jesus Camp," directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (USA)
"Life as a Corporate Holiday," directed by Paolo Muran (Italy)
"The Monastery – Mr. Vig & The Nun," directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær
"My Father The Turk," directed by Ariane Riecker and Marcus Vetter (Germany)
"The Planet," directed byJohan Söderberg, Michael Stenberg, and Linus
Torell (Sweden, Norway, Denmark)
"Primo Levi’s Journey," directed by Davide Ferrario (Italy)
"The Red Card," directed by Carte Ghermez and Mahnaz Afzali (Iran)
"Satul Sosetelor (Village of Socks)," directed by Klaudia Begic and Ileana
Stanculescu (Germany, Romania)
"Souvenirs," directed by Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat (Israel)
"A Story of People in War and Peace," directed by Vardan Hovhannisyan
(Armenia)
"Tender’s Heat. Wild Wild Beach," directed by Alexander Rastorguev (Russia)
"Tomorrow Never Knows," directed by Kirsi Nevanti (Finland, Sweden)
"The Value of Utopia," directed by Yanara Guayasamin (Belgium, Ecuador)
"When Adnan Comes Home," directed by Andrew Berends (USA)

First Appearance
"Andrew Jenks, Room 335," directed by Andrew Jenks (USA)
"Can Tunis," directed by José González Morandi and Paco Toledo (Spain)
"Carnival," directed by Alen Drljevic (Bosnia Herzegovina)
"Children Of The Prophet," directed by Sudabeh Mortezai (Iran, Austria)
"The City Of Photographers," directed by Sebastián Moreno (Chile)
"Daguanying," directed by Liu Juexin and Tang Xiaoliang (China)
"Dead Man Walking," directed by Petar Oreskovic (Croatia, Bosnia
Herzegovina, Serbia)
"Demolition Men," directed by Eldar Gross (The Netherlands)
"The End Of The Neubacher Project," directed by Marcus John Carney (Austria,
The Netherlands)
"Every Good Marriage Begins With Tears," directed by Simon Chambers (United
Kingdom)
"Let The Street Be Heard," directed by Itzel Martínez Del Cañizo
"The Lost Village," directed by Manuel Jiménez (Spain)
"New Year Baby," directed by Socheata Poeuv (USA)
"Prirechnyy," directed by Tone Grøttjord (Norway)
"Shame," directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi (USA)
"Sugartown: The Bridegrooms," directed by Kimon Tsakiris (Greece, Germany)
"We Are Together," directed by Paul Taylor (United Kingdom)
"With Much Love And Kisses," directed by Anastasia Cherkassova (Russia)

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