Home /Festivals /IDFA COMPETITION
20 October 2010

For documentaries longer than 60 minutes / Formerly Joris Ivens Competition
Fifteen films compete this year in the competition program for feature-length documentary, including two Dutch productions. The winner of the VPRO IDFA Award for Best feature-Length Documentary, consisting of a sculpture and a cash prize of € 12,500 will be announced on Friday, 26 November. The jury may also grant a Special Jury Award.

Jury 2010
Orlando Bagwell (Canada), Frédéric Boyer (France), Vibeke Bryld (Denmark), Lixin Fan (Canada) and Monique van de Ven (Netherlands).

Selection 2010
Arab Attraction by Andreas Horvath (Oostenrijk)
Blood in the Mobile by Frank Poulsen (Denemarken / Duitsland)
Holy Wars by Stephen Marshall (VS/Canada)
Katka by Helena Trestikova (Tsjechië)
Longing for Beauty by Julian Benedikt (Duitsland)
Marathon Boy by Gemma Atwal (Engeland)
My Barefoot Friend by Seong-Gyou Lee (Zuid-Korea)
My Heart of Darkness by Marius van Niekerk (Zweden/Duitsland)
Position Among the Stars by Leonard Retel Helmrich (Nederland)
The Foxhounds by Jeff Prosserman (VS/Canada)
The Good Life by Eva Mulvad (Denemarken)
The Green Wave by Ali Samadi (Duitsland)
The Team by Patrick Reed (Canada)
This is My Picture When I Was Dead by Mahmoud Al Massad (Nederland/Duitsland)
You Don't Like the Truth - 4 Days Inside Guantánamo by Luc Coté en Patricio Henriquez (Canada)

Arab Attraction by Andreas Horvath (Austria)
Barbara Wally, the former director of the International Summer Academy of Fina Arts in Salzburg, has been a public figure known for her pronounced feminist views for decades. A few years before retirement she fell in love with a driver form Yemen. She has since become his second wife and a devoted Muslima, which entails praying to Allah five times a day, and wearing a headscarve on many occassions. The film explores this unusual paradigm shift.
Previous work by Andreas Horvath shown at IDFA: Views of a Retires Night Porter (2006).

Blood in the Mobile by Frank Poulsen (Denmark/ Germany)
A trip to the Bisie mine in Congo, where minerals are extracted for mobile phones.
Previous work by Frank Poulsen shown at IDFA: Guerilla Girl (2005).

Holy Wars by Stephen Marshall (US/Canada) 
Stephen Marshall follows a fanatical Christian and a radical Muslim from the start of the war on terror. Their worldview becomes increasingly extreme. 

Katka by Helena Trestikova (Czech Republic) 
For 13 years, a Chechnyan girl named Katka has been fighting an uphill battle to get off heroin. 

Longing for Beauty by Julian Benedikt (Germany) 
In his documentary Julian Benedikt examines the significance outward appearance has gained in our society today. In the process the film introduces the possibilities of modern plastic surgery beyond the well-known aesthetic surgery. It does so by telling the life stories of three people who consider themselves confronted with severe facial disfigurement or the wish for further beautification. 

Marathon Boy by Gemma Atwal (England) 
An Indian boy from the slums with an unbelievable talent for running becomes the cause of a political battle between his coach and child welfare.

My Barefoot Friend by Seong-Gyou Lee (South Korea) 
A portrait of Shalim, one of the 10,000 rickshaw drivers in Calcutta, who works his feet to the bone in order to realize his greatest dream: a home of his own. 

My Heart of Darkness by Marius van Niekerk (Sweden/Germany)
Four veterans of the Angolan War journey together along the river Cuito, in search of forgiveness and reconciliation. Once they fought on opposing sides, now they are returning together to the small village where their battle took place. The central figure in the group is Marius van Niekerk, who initiated the trip and provides the introspective voice-over.

Position Among the Stars by Leonard Retel Helmrich (Netherlands)
The concluding part of a lively trilogy on Indonesia, viewed through the microcosm of the funny and touching daily lives of the Sjamsuddin family.
Previous work by Leonard Retel Helmrich shown at IDFA: Eye of the Day (2001), Shape of the Moon (openingfilm IDFA 2004, winner of the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary), Promised Paradise (2006).

The Foxhounds byJeff Prosserman (US/Canada)
A juicy chronicle of the hunt for stock market swindler Bernie Madoff, recounted by the guy who found him out: Harry Markopolos, now hero of the American people.

The Good Life by Eva Mulvad (Denmark)
Two ladies - mother and daughter - live on the sunny Portuguese coast. All their life they have had enough money to live the good life: no work and lots of pleasure. But they have a problem. Their wealth has run out. Through this simple story line unfolds a complex tale about a family's unavoidable destiny, about status and money and about a little girl who was raised to believe that money grows on trees...
Previous work by Eva Mulvad shown at IDFA: Enemies of Happiness (IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary 2006).

The Green Wave by Ali Samadi (Germany)
Millions of Iranians have been bereaved of their human right and freedom. Young people and other irenic protesters have been killed. And no one can see anything, because the world public is simply locked out.
In the beginning of June 2009 most Iranians were hoping for a change of government. All surveys predicted Hossein Mussawi, Ahmadinejad's contender to win the elections. But in fact Ahmadinejad was declared outstanding victor and all hope was dashed. What is the reason for so many Iranian people to support the protest continuing to march on the street despite the menace?

The Team by Patrick Reed (Canada)
A reality soap opera about a mixed football team succeeds in its aim of sparking discussions among young Kenyans about the dangers of tribalism.
Previous work by Patrick Reed shown at IDFA: Triage: The Dilemma of Dr. James Orbinski (2007).

This is My Picture When I Was Dead by Mahmoud Al Massad (Netherlands/Germany)
Athens, 1983. The world press reports 4-year-old Bashir is killed in the assassination of his father, a top PLO-lieutenant. When they arrive at the hospital Bashir turns out to be still alive. Now, 26 years later, Bashir is a citizen of the world and one of the most important political cartoonists of Jordan. Mixing documentary style filmmaking with fiction, animation and archive material, Bashir embarks on a journey to his past. Images, memories of his father and an open-minded attitude make This is my picture when I was dead a creative inevitable search for the roots of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

You Don't Like the Truth - 4 Days Inside Guantánamo by Luc Coté en Patricio Henriquez (Canada) 
At 16 years old, Omar Khadr ended up in the prison at Guantánamo Bay. The recordings of his interrogation form the basis of this disconcerting film about his case.