“DANGER ZONE” TO COMPETE AT IDFA. FULL PROGRAM ANNOUNCED
It's going to be an extremely eventful festival for Polish productions. In addition to films appearing in non-competitive segments, the latest film by Vita Maria Drygas will be competing for top prizes.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is the largest and one of the most important documentary festivals in the world. It attracts over 280,000 attendees every year, including 3000 guests from the documentary industry while the films shown at IDFA often become festival favourites later. This year, IDFA will be held from 8 to 19 November.
We got to know a considerable part of the festival's program at the end of September. Three Polish productions were invited to the IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary. Two titles went to Best of Fests, while Postcards from the Verge by Natalia Koniarz has a chance to win the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary. We wrote about all three titles here.
Now, the rest of the films have been announced, including those featured in the most important competition. The latest film by Vita Maria Drygas is among the 100 feature-length documentaries from around the world. Danger Zone delves into the world of war tourism, which caters to a growing market for increasingly rare and extreme experiences. Tourists are promised frontline action, with real ammunition, real battles, and real danger. War has become a luxury product, a commodity that can be bought and sold, and tour operators are desperate to get in on the growing business. This morally ambiguous branch of the tourism industry leads to a clash of two worlds: the eager tourists and the people caught in the crossfire who do not have the luxury and privilege of choice.
We've also learned which productions will be featured in DocLab: Phenomenal Fiction. Two Polish productions received the invitation – The School, a World by Iga Łapińska and Close by Hana Umeda.
The full festival program can be found here.