The 37th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) handed out its main competition awards Thursday night during a ceremony at the International Theater Amsterdam.
Polish filmmaker Maciej J. Drygas’ “Trains” took the IDFA Award for Best Film in the International Competition, which includes a €15,000 prize. The film also earned Drygas the Best Editing honor. The Best Directing award (€5,000) in the same section went to Auberi Edler for “An American Pastoral,” while Best Cinematography went to Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz for “The Guest,” a Poland-Qatar co-production.
The Envision Competition’s top award went to Miguel Coyula’s “Chronicles of the Absurd” (Cuba), which also received a €15,000 prize. “Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries,” directed by Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti, was awarded Best Directing in the section. The jury split the Outstanding Artistic Contribution award between Omar Mismar for “A Frown Gone Mad” (Lebanon) and Yo-Hen So for “Park” (Taiwan).
In the immersive and digital storytelling categories, “Me, a Depiction” by Lisa Schamlé (Netherlands) won Best Immersive Non-Fiction, with “The Liminal” receiving a special mention. “Entropic Fields of Displacement” by Pegah Tabassinejad (Canada) won the DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling, while “Burn from Absence” earned a special mention.
The IDFA Short Documentary prize went to “The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing” (U.K.) by Theo Panagopoulos. “Mama Micra” (Germany) by Rebecca Blöcher received a special mention.
In the Youth Documentary section, IDFA awarded two age groups. “Everything Will Be Alright” (Netherlands) by Eefje Blankevoort and Lara Aerts was named Best Youth Documentary (13+), with “Simply Divine” (France/Romania) receiving a special mention. In the 9–12 category, “What’s the Film About?” (India) by Poorva Bhat won the top prize, while “The Invisible Ones” (Netherlands/Belgium) earned a special mention.
“CycleMahesh” by Suhel Banerjee (India) won the Best First Feature award, while the Best Dutch Film prize went to “The Propagandist” by Luuk Bouwman.
Other honors included the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for “My Stolen Planet” (Iran/Germany) by Farahnaz Sharifi, with “Eight Postcards from Utopia” receiving a special mention. The FIPRESCI Award was given to “Writing Hawa,” a France/Netherlands/Qatar/Afghanistan co-production directed by Najiba Noori.
The 2024 IDFA runs through Nov. 24. The festival had previously announced winners of its industry-focused IDFA Forum awards earlier in the week.