The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has announced the competition winners for its 37th edition. The awards were unveiled at a ceremony on Thursday in Amsterdam at the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, just a few blocks from the iconic Rijksmuseum. This year’s IDFA selection includes more than 250 documentary titles, many hinging on the current wars and ideological fissures plaguing the world.
In a unanimous decision from jurors Juliana Fanjul, Sophie Fiennes, Grace Lee, Asmae El Moudir, and Kazuhiro Soda, Maciej J. Drygas’ Polish archival documentary “Trains” took the IDFA Award for Best Film in the international competition. The film is a rail journey through 20th-century Europe taking place entirely within steam locomotives and railroad cars.
“The jury was unanimous. This is a bold and inventive use of archive. The film shows us routes to the positive and negative consequences of modern industrial innovation.
It harnesses the magic of cinema and as an audience we are haunted by our present historical time, even while we bear witness to the past,” the jury said in a statement. The win includes a 15,000 euro cash prize. The IDFA Award for Best Directing (worth 5,000 euros) in the international competition went to Auberi Edler for “An American Pastoral,” centered on ideological battles in a small, conservative Pennsylvania town.
“By simply looking and listening, this director reveals the current complexity at the heart of the United S.