Presenting the IDFA 2025 winners
With the final weekend of IDFA fast approaching, we are proud to announce our outstanding award winners! Read about all our competition winners and audience award below, alongside a few festival highlights.
The 38th edition of IDFA is expected to have attracted a total of 255,000 visits. The total number of audience and school student visits at this edition is expected to reach 165,000. The number of visits to the professional program during IDFA was approximately 30,000. This edition, we welcomed almost 2,600 professional guests to IDFA. Year-round, Het Documentaire Paviljoen generated approximately 60,000 visits in Amsterdam.
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A Fox Under a Pink Moon wins Best Film in International and Past Future Continuous wins Best Film in Envision
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A Fox Under a Pink Moon by Mehrdad Oskouei and Past Future Continuous by Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani led the way for a celebratory night of IDFA awards. Get the full overview of winners from last night's ceremony.
➤ Read about the winners
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IDFA Forum winners announced
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All Fixed Up by Hao Zhou won the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch Project. Four Comrades, One Echo by Kiva Liu won the IDFA Forum Award for Best Producers Connection Project. The Cord by Nolwenn Hervé took home the IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut Project, and the IDFA DocLab Forum Award for Best Project went to Body Count by Cris Bringas.
➤ Read more
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Cutting Through Rocks wins NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award
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Cutting Through Rocks by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eynihas won the IDFA NPO Doc Audience Award 2025, the grand public prize of IDFA. The prize will be awarded in Pathé Noord on Saturday night, November 22, followed by a special screening of the film.
➤ Read more
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Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Artistic Director, in Variety
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Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Artistic Director, spoke to Variety on IDFA 2025, this edition's winners, and the path ahead. “What I’m seeing is that we have been able to create a space for meaningful dialogue and conversations that are not one-dimensional,” says Arrate Fernandez, when asked about how she navigates such sensitive political times.
➤ Read more here
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Coverage - Industry Talk: Alternative distribution and exhibition
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As traditional documentary distribution models falter and some formats start taking safer paths, the question is: Can we collectively shape a new kind of cinema that reimagines how films are experienced and shared?
➤ Read more
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Coverage - Industry Talk: Fair co-productions
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True fairness demands more than good intentions, as EAVE’s 2025 report on inclusive co-productions reminds us. So how can we implement practices that prioritize equity in co-productions?
➤ Read more
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Coverage - Industry Talk: Who's watching whom – Documentary and AI
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The Industry Talk on documentary and AI took place on November 15, weighing in on the opportunities and ethical ramifications of the use of this technology in non-fiction film.
➤ Read more
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Selected highlights of IDFA in the media, ranging from in-depth articles, reviews and interviews with filmmakers.
➤ See IDFA in the press
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Editorial – Dead Angle: Institutions
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All around the world, institutions are under pressure—from universities and parliaments to libraries and botanical gardens, the places where power, knowledge, and community are constantly being negotiated. Read more about our focus program, a continuation of Dead Angle, this year focused on Institutions.
➤ Read the editorial here
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IDFA Bertha Fund: Upcoming deadlines
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The IDFA Bertha Fund is revising its workflow to better support filmmakers. In 2026, IBF Classic will have a single deadline: February 10, 2026.
Other IBF deadlines (IBF Europe Minority Co-production Fund and NFF-IBF) remain unchanged.
➤ Read more
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