Once again Danish documentaries are strongly represented at the world's most important doc fest in Amsterdam with eight films in the line-up, including Mads Brügger's "The Ambassador" which will open the festival on 16 November.
Three films in competition
"The Ambassador" is, together with Lise Birk Pedersen's "Putin's Kiss", in the feature-length competition. Brügger's venture into the Central African Republic on a purchased diplomatic passport is in line with the director's game-playing approach in his Sundance winner "The Red Chapel". Read interview
In "Putin's Kiss", Lise Birk Pedersen follows Marsha, a spokesperson for the Russian political youth movement Nashi, who comes to doubt the true ideals of the movement which has close ties with the Kremlin. The director, deeply fascinated with modern Russia, finished "Nastya's Heart" earlier this year, a short film about a transit home for children in Saint Petersburg.
Selected for the First Appearance competition is Christian Bonke and Andreas Koefoed's "Ballroom Dancer" which records the dramatic countdown for Slavik, a former World Champion of Latin American Dance, to win back past glory. Koefoed has screened a number of short films at IDFA. "Ballroom Dancer" is his and Christian Bonke's first feature-length production.
Reflecting images
Pernille Rose Grønkjær's "Love Addict" is selected for Reflecting Images – Masters, a section showcasing new works from renowned documentary auteurs. The director who took home the Joris Ivens Award in 2006 for "The Monastery" is back with a story about a form of abuse rarely in focus: the addiction to other people's attention and affection.
Finally, in the Panorama section for "thought-provoking films", the IDFA audience will get the chance to see four Danish films.
Christian Sønderby Jepsen's "The Will" is fuelled by a darkly shaded family story, and Ida Grøn's "The Kid and the Clown" is a touching account of the friendship between Tobias, a boy ill with cancer, and the hospital clown Angus.
The two young talents are joined by two veteran filmmakers. Morten Henriksen is on show with a personal story about his father's enigmatic relationship with the great Danish novelist Karen Blixen, "Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask". Michael Madsen, who will sit on the jury in the Green Screen competition, brings his philisophical pondering on nuclear waste "Into Eternity" to Panorama. The film won him last year's Green Screen Award.
Follow the latest news on our IDFA site: dfi.dk/IDFA
24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 16-27 November 2011