International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
LocationAmsterdam, Netherlands
Founded1988
Hosted byIDFA
LanguageInternational
Websiteidfa.nl

History

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IDFA was founded by Ally Derks, who remained at the helm from 1988 until 2017, when she stepped down. Barbara Visser oversaw the 2017 edition as interim director. In January 2018, Syrian film producer Orwa Nyrabia was appointed[1] as the new artistic director of IDFA.

Every year in November, the festival takes place over the period of 11 days, in more than 40 venues around the city, welcoming an audience of 295.000 (2019), and a record number of documentary film professionals, as over 3500 gather for the festival, from more than 100 countries every year.[2]

Description

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The festival is an independent, international meeting place for audiences and professionals to see a diverse (in form, content, and cultural background) program of high-quality documentaries. IDFA selects creative and accessible documentaries, which offer new insights into society.[3]

The festival was initially held at the Leidseplein area in the centre of Amsterdam. It has since spread to a number of other locations, including Tuschinski Cinema and EYE Filmmuseum. Apart from its international film program, the variety of genres, and the many European and world premieres featured each year, the festival also hosts debates, forums, and workshops. Since 2007, the festival's New Media program IDFA DocLab showcases the best interactive non-fiction storytelling and explores how the digital revolution is reshaping documentary art.[citation needed]

In addition to the festival, IDFA has developed several professional activities, contributing to the development of filmmakers and their films at all stages. At the co-financing and co-production market IDFA Forum filmmakers and producers pitch their plans to financiers; at Docs for Sale new documentaries are on offer to programmers and distributors; the IDFA Bertha Fund supports filmmakers and documentary projects in developing countries, and the IDFAcademy offers international training programs for up-and-coming doc talents.[4]

2023 incident

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At the opening ceremony of the festival in 2023 held on 8 November in the shadow of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, three activists burst onto the stage and waved a sign bearing the inscription "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". This was to show solidarity with the people of Gaza,[5] who have been exposed to bombardment by the Israeli army in retaliation to the attack on Israeli citizens by Hamas.[6][7] The activists received applause from the audience, which included the festival director Orwa Nyrabia. On 10 November members of Israel's film community condemned the activists' use of the slogan and the fact that it was applauded by Nyrabia.[8] Following the IDFA's official apology,[9] the Palestinian Film Institute withdrew its three documentaries from the festival and started a petition protesting what it perceives as "institutional vilification and censorship in the filmmaking industry".[10]

Prizes

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The best new documentaries of the year compete in IDFA's main competition programs:

  • The IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary for best documentary longer than 70 minutes.

Prize: €15,000 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

  • The IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary for best documentary between 40 and 70 minutes.

Prize: €10,000 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

  • The IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary for best documentary under 40 minutes.

Prize: €5,000 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

  • The IDFA Award for Best First Appearance for best debut film.

Prize: €10,000 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

  • The IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary for best student documentary from film academies around the world.

Prize: €5,000 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

  • The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary for best Dutch documentary.

Prize: €7,500 (The jury also presents a Special Jury Award)

Alongside the competition programs, five awards are awarded during IDFA:

  • VPRO IDFA Audience Award for best film as voted by the audience.

Prize: €5,000

  • Amsterdam Human Rights Award for the documentary that best depicts the theme of human rights.

Prize: €25,000

  • Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds Documentary Scholarship, a €50,000 grant for a documentary talent, allowing the recipient to make a documentary about a subject of their choice.
  • Filmfonds DocLab Interactive Grant, a cash prize for the development of interactive projects within the Netherlands.
  • Karen de Bok Talent Award for the winner of the IDFAcademy & NPO-fonds workshop. It is the successor of the Media Fund Award Documentary. The NPO Fund awards the winner €25,000 to further develop the project in collaboration with a producer and a broadcast.

Program sections

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In addition to the competitions, IDFA presents several non-competitive film programs:

Regular programs

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  • Masters

In this program section, the festival presents the latest documentaries by renowned documentary auteurs.

  • Best of Fests

In Best of Fests, the festival presents films that have made an impact on the international festival circuit this year.

  • Panorama

In this section, the festival presents films from all over the world, which are thought-provoking in their form and choice of theme.

  • Paradocs

The films in this section showcase what is going on beyond the frame of traditional documentary filmmaking, on the borders between film and art, truth and fiction, and narrative and design.

  • Music Documentary

Screenings of many films from this program are accompanied by live performances connected to the films.

Specials

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In addition to the regular programs, each year the festival presents programs like Queer Day, featuring new documentaries about LGBTQ-related topics; Focus programs which zoom in on aspects like sound design, editing, and cinematography or a topical theme; a themed program by DocLab, featuring live events and an interactive exhibition; and a retrospective of a filmmaker who also chooses a personal documentary Top 10.

Award winners

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IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (formerly: Joris Ivens Award)

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1988 Birthplace Unknown Karin Junger [fr]   Netherlands
1988 Ksjsiner Ruben Gevorksjanz   Soviet Union
1989 Šķērsiela Ivars Seleckis [et; fr; lv; ru]   Soviet Union
1990 Christo in Paris D. Maysles   United States
1991 Dreams and Silence Omar Al-Quattan   Belgium
1992 La Memoria del agua Hector Faver   Spain
1993 Belovy Viktor Kossakovsky   Russia
1994 Solo, de wet van de Favela Jos de Putter   Netherlands
1995 Délits Flagrants [fr] Raymond Depardon   France
1996 Atman Pirjo Honkasalo   Finland /   Germany
1997 Auf der Kippe Andrei Schwartz   Germany
1998 Fotoamator / Photographer Dariusz Jablonski   Poland
1999 André Hazes – Zij gelooft in mij John Appel   Netherlands
2000 The Sea That Thinks Gert de Graaff [nl]   Netherlands
2001 Family Phie Ambo [da; fr] & Sami Saif   Denmark
2002 Stevie Steve James   United States
2003 Checkpoint Yoav Shamir   Israel
2004 Stand van de maan Leonard Retel Helmrich   Netherlands
2005 My Grandmother's House [ca] Adán Aliaga [ca; es]   Spain
2006 The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun Pernille Rose Grønkjær[11][12]   Denmark
2007 Stranded Gonzalo Arijon [pt]   France
2008 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country Anders Østergaard [ar; arz; da; de; fi; fr; pt]   Denmark
2009 Last Train Home Lixin Fan   Canada
2010 Position Among the Stars Leonard Retel Helmrich   Netherlands
2011 Planet of Snail Seung-jun Yi [ko]   South Korea
2012 First Cousin Once Removed Alan Berliner   United States
2013 Song from the Forest Michael Obert   Germany
2014 Of Men and War Laurent Bécue-Renard   France /   Switzerland
2015 Don Juan Jerzy Sladkowski   Sweden /   Finland
2016 Nowhere to Hide Zaradasht Ahmed   Norway /   Sweden
2017 The Other Side of Everything[13] Mila Turajlić   Serbia
2018 Reason[14] Anand Patwardhan   India
2019 In a Whisper Heidi Hassan & Patricia Pérez Fernández   Cuba /   Cuba
2020 Radiograph of a Family Firouzeh Khosrovani   Iran
2021 Mr. Landsbergis [de] Sergei Loznitsa   Ukraine
2022 Apolonia, Apolonia[15] Lea Glob[16]   Denmark
2023 1489[17] Shoghakat Vardanyan   Armenia

VPRO IDFA Audience Award

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1988 The Last Judgement Herz Frank [arz; de; fr; he; it; lt; lv; ru; uk]   Soviet Union
1989 Skierskala Ivars Seleckis [et; fr; lv; ru]   Soviet Union
1990 In Memory of the Day Passed By Šarūnas Bartas   Lithuania
1991 Djembéfola Laurent Chevallier [fr]   France
1992 Black Harvest Robin Anderson & Bob Connolly   Australia
1993 Belovy V. Kossakovsky   Russia
1994 Choice and Destiny Tsipi Reibenbach   Israel
1995 Anne Frank Remembered Jon Blair   United Kingdom
1996 Blue Eyed B. Verhaag   Germany
1997 Vision Man W. Long   Sweden
1998 Twee Vaders Ko van Reenen   Netherlands
1999 Crazy Heddy Honigmann   Netherlands
2000 Desi Maria Ramos   Netherlands
2001 Offspring, B B. Stevens   Canada
2002 Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore   United States
2003 My Flesh and Blood Jonathan Karsh   United States
2004 The Yes Men Dan Ollman & Sarah Price & Chris Smith   United States
2005 Sisters in Law Kim Longinotto & Florence Ayisi   United Kingdom
2006 We Are Together / Thina simunye Paul Taylor   United Kingdom
2007 To See If I'm Smiling Tamar Yarom   Israel
2008 RiP: A Remix Manifesto Brett Gaylor   Canada
2009 The Cove Louie Psihoyos   United States

Special Jury Prize

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1988 Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie Marcel Ophüls   France /   United States
1988 The Power of Solovki Marina Goldovskaya   Soviet Union
1989 Skierskala Ivars Seleckis [et; fr; lv; ru]   Soviet Union
1990 The Collector E. Strömdahl   Sweden
1991 Djembéfola Laurent Chevallier [fr]   France
1992 Black Harvest Robin Anderson & Bob Connolly   Australia
1993 Mit Verlust ist zu Rechnen Ulrich Seidl   Austria
1994 Choice and Destiny Tsipi Reibenbach   Israel
1995 Picasso Would Have Made a Glorious Waiter Jonathan Schell   United States
1996 The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera Adam Simon   England
1997 Little Dieter Needs to Fly Werner Herzog   Germany
1998 Pavel and Lyalya / a Jerusalem Romance Viktor Kossakovsky   Russia
1999 A Cry from the Grave Leslie Woodhead   England
2000 Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale Laurie Gwen & David Shapiro   United States
2001 Elsewhere Nikolaus Geyrhalter   Austria
2002 On Hitler's Highway Lech Kowalski   France
2003 The Corporation Mark Achbar   Canada
2004 Liberia: An Uncivil War Jonathan Stack & James Brabazon   United States
2005 Our Daily Bread Nikolaus Geyrhalter   Austria
2006 Tender's Heat. Wild Wild beach Alexander Rastorguev   Russia
2007 Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go Kim Longinotto   United Kingdom
2008 Forgetting Dad Rick Minnich & Matthew Sweetwood   Germany /   United States
2009 The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith [de; pt]   United States
2012 Teached Kelly Amis   United States
2013 A Letter to Nelson Mandela Khalo Matabane   South Africa /   Germany
2014 Something Better to Come Hanna Polak   Denmark /   Poland
2015 Ukrainian Sheriffs Roman Bondarchuk   Ukraine /   Latvia /   Germany
2016 Still Tomorrow Jian Fan   People's Republic of China
2017 The Deminer Hogir Hirori   Sweden /   Iraq
2018 Los Reyes Bettina Perut & Iván Osnovikoff   Chile /   Chile

IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (formerly: Silver Wolf Award)

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1995 6 Open, 21 Closed Amit Goren   Israel
1996 Mr. Behrmann – Leben Traum Tod Andreas Voigt (director) [de]   Germany
1997 Gigi, Monica...& Bianca Yasmina Abdellaoui & Benoït Dervaux   Belgium
1998 Hephzibah Curtis Levy   Australia
1999 Les Enfants du Borinage – Lettre à Henri Storck Patric Jean [fr]   Belgium
2000 Jung (War) in the Land of the Mujaheddin Fabrizio Lazzaretti [it], Alberto Vendemmiati [it], Giuseppe Petitto   Italy
2001 Haj-Abba's Wives Mohsen Abdolvahab [fa]   Iran
2002 Interesting Times: The Secret of My Success Jinchuan Duan   Chile
2003 Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers Erik Gandini   Sweden
2004 Georgi and the butterflies Andrey Paounov   Bulgaria
2005 Before Flying Back to the Earth Arūnas Matelis   Lithuania
2006 Enemies of Happiness Eva Mulvad   Denmark
2007 To See If I'm Smiling Tamar Yarom   Israel
2008 Boris Ryzhy Aliona van der Horst [nl]   Netherlands
2009 Iron Crows Bong-Nam Park   South Korea
2010 People I Could Have Been And Maybe Am Boris Gerrets   Netherlands
2011 Montenegro Jorge Gaggero   Argentina
2012 Red Wedding Lida Chan & Guillaume Suon   Cambodia /   France
2013 Pussy Versus Putin Gogol's Wives   Russia
2014 Kamchatka — The Cure for Hatred Julia Mironova   Russia
2015 At Home in the World Andreas Koefoed [da]   Denmark
2016 Death in the Terminal Tali Shemesh & Asaf Sudra   Israel
2017 The Dread Martin Benchimol & Pablo Aparo   Argentina /   Argentina
2018 Summa Andrei Kutsila [be]   Belarus
2019 Articlockwise Jalal Vafaei   Iran
2020 The Wheel Nomin Lkhagvasuren   Mongolia

IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary (formerly: Silver Cub Award)

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
2005 Butterfly Man Samantha Rebillet   Australia
2006 My Eyes Erlend E. Mo   Denmark
2007 The Tailor Oscar Pérez   Spain
2008 Slaves – An animated documentary Hanna Heilborn & David Aronowitsch   Sweden /   Denmark
2009 Six Weeks Marcin Janos Krawczyk [pl]   Poland
2017 Vi bara lyder (we merely obey)[18] Erik Holmström och Fredrik Wenzel[19][20]   Sweden
2018 I Signed the Petition Mahdi Fleifel   Denmark
2019 Up at Night Nelson Makengo   Republic of the Congo
2020 Unforgivable Marlén Viñayo   El Salvador
2021 Handbook Pavel Mozhar   Germany /   Belarus
2022 Away Ruslan Fedotow   Russia

IDFA Award for Best First Appearance

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1997 Anthem, an American Road Story Shainee Gabel & Kristin Hahn   United States
1998 Les Amoureux de Dieu / Howling for God Dan Alexe   Belgium
1999 Zwischen 2 Welten Bettina Haasen   Germany
2000 Hybrid Monteith McCollum   United States
2001 Suka Igor Voloshin [it; ru]   Russia
2002 Barbeiros M. Junkkonen   Finland
2003 My Flesh and Blood Jonathan Karsh   United States
2003 The Very Best Day Pavel Medvedev   Russia
2004 Podul Peste Tisa Ileana Stanculescu   Romania
2005 The Angelmakers Astrid Bussink   Netherlands /   Scotland
2006 We Are Together / Thina simunye Paul Taylor   United Kingdom
2007 End of the Rainbow Robert Nugent   France /   Australia
2008 Constantin and Elena Andrei Dascalescu   Romania
2009 Colony Ross McDonnell & Carter Gunn   Ireland /   United States
2010 Kano: An American and His Harem Monster Jimenez   Philippines
2011 The Vanishing Spring Light Xun Yu   China /   Canada
2012 Soldier on the Roof Esther Hertog   Netherlands
2013 My Name Is Salt Farida Pacha   Switzerland /   India
2014 Drifter Gábor Hörcher   Hungary /   Germany
2015 When the Earth Seems to Be Light Salome Machaidze & Tamuna Karumidze & David Meskhi   Georgia
2016 Who We Were Sine Skibsholt   Denmark
2017 The Distant Barking of Dogs Simon Lereng Wilmont   Denmark
2018 Giacinto Scelsi. The First Motion of the Immovable Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva   France
2019 Solidarity Lucy Parker   United Kingdom
2020 This Rain Will Never Stop Alina Gorlova   Ukraine

Movies that Matter Human Rights Award

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
2002 The Day I Will Never Forget Kim Longinotto   United Kingdom
2002 The Trials of Henry Kissinger Eugene Jarecki   United States /   United Kingdom /   Chile
2003 Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer Nick Broomsfield & Joan Churchill   United Kingdom
2004 The 3 Rooms of Melancholia Pirjo Honkasalo   Finland
2005 China Blue Micha X Peled   United States
2006 New Year Baby Socheata Poeuv   United States
2007 Jerusalem Is Proud to Present Nitzan Gilady   Israel
2008 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country Anders Østergaard [ar; arz; da; de; fi; fr; pt]   Denmark

IDFA DOC U! Award for the youth jury's favorite film (formerly: Moviesquad DOC U! Award)

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
2005 Shadya, Roy Roy Westler   Israel
2006 A Lesson of Belarusian Miroslaw Dembinski   Poland
2007 Planet B-Boy Benson Lee   United States
2008 Kassim the Dream Kief Davidson   United States
2009 The Yes Men Fix the World Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno   France /   United States
2010 Autumn Gold Jan Tenhaven [de]   Germany
2011 The Last Days of Winter Mehrdad Oskouei   Iran
2012 Little World Marcel Barrena   Spain
2013 #chicagoGirl – The Social Network Takes on a Dictator Joe Piscatella   United States /   Syria

IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
2007 Paradise – Three Journeys in This World Elina Hirvonen   Finland
2008 Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies Yulene Olaizola   Mexico
2009 Redemption Sabrina Wulff   Germany
2015 My Aleppo Melissa Langer   United States

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

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The IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction rewards the best immersive non-fiction of the festival.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

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The IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling rewards the best Digital Storytelling.

Award-winning works

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Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film or website's release)
2010 Out My Window Katerina Cizek   Canada
2011 In Situ Antoine Viviani   France
2018 1 the Road[21] Ross Goodwin   United States
2019 The Waiting Room VR[22] Victoria Mapplebeck   United Kingdom
2021 Un(re)solved[23] Tamara Shogaolu   United States
2022 He Fucked the Girl Out of Me[24] Taylor McCue   United States
2023 Anouschka Tamara Shogaolu The Netherlands, United-States, Switzerland

Zapper Award (1994–1996)

Year Film Director Nationality of director
(at time of film's release)
1994 Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy David Munro   England
1995 My Vote is My Secret Chroniques Sud Africaines 1994 Julie Henderson & Thulani Mokoena & Donne Rundle   France
1996 Grenzeloze Liefde – Made in Japan Puck de Leeuw   Netherlands

References

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  1. ^ "Orwa Nyrabia appointed new artistic director of IDFA (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  2. ^ www.oberon.nl, Oberon Amsterdam. "IDFA Institute | Annual report 2023". IDFA. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  3. ^ idfa.nl, IDFA. "Mission statement | IDFA". Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  4. ^ Vallejo, Aida (2020). "IDFA's Industry Model: Fostering Global Documentary Production and Distribution". In Vallejo, Aida; Ezra Winton (eds.). Documentary Film Festivals. Vol. 2: Changes, Challenges, Professional Perspectives. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 23–53. ISBN 9783030173234.
  5. ^ "HRW Gaza: Israel's 'Open-Air Prison' at 15" Banner". Screen. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Israel confirms two more hostages released from Gaza". 22 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Hamas hostages: Stories of the people taken from Israel". BBC News. 9 October 2023.
  8. ^ "IDFA Documentary Festival Opening Night Interrupted By Pro-Palestinian Protesters With "From The River To The Sea" Banner". Screen. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  9. ^ "IDFA's Artistic Director Apologizes After Protesters Crash Opening Night With Banner Calling for Destruction of Israel". Screen. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  10. ^ "In response to IDFA's damaging statement on 11 November 2023". Screen. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  11. ^ "En studie i kærlighed og ensomhed". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). 9 December 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  12. ^ Sundholm, J.; Thorsen, I.; Andersson, L.G.; Hedling, O.; Iversen, G.; Møller, B.T. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema. G – Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-8108-5524-3. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Mila Turajlić: Nismo ispričali sopstvenu istoriju". Večernje novosti (in Serbian). 24 November 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  14. ^ "IDFA 2018 winners revealed". Screen Daily. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  15. ^ "IDFA 2022: Drei ARTE-Koproduktionen ausgezeichnet". arte.tv. arte. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Lea Glob". docsbarcelona.com. Docs Barcelona. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  17. ^ "1489 wins Best Film in the International Competition and Canuto's Transformation wins Best..." IDFA. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  18. ^ "Vi bara lyder", Sveriges Television AB (in Swedish), retrieved 1 May 2022
  19. ^ "NYHETER". malmodockteater (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  20. ^ "VI BARA LYDER". malmodockteater (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  21. ^ "Jury report: IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling 2018 | IDFA".
  22. ^ "Jury report: IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling 2019 | IDFA".
  23. ^ "Jury report: 2021 IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling | IDFA".
  24. ^ "Jury report: 2022 IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling | IDFA".
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