What was learned from the digital experimentation put in place last year has not been lost, van Nieuwenhuijzen says, and what has been delivered this year is a hybrid. “We know that, for the whole industry, these personal encounters, in-person meetings, are crucial,” she says. “But we also learned that we are far more accessible for many people [through remote access].
One objective is to encourage the development of “brave, cinematic, creative documentaries, which are challenging, a little bit out of the box,” she says. “You’ll see many kinds of projects, and some could be exciting for streamers. What we want to show them is the breadth of what can be made, so maybe they’ll feel inspired to take some chances.”
Among the popular topics that are explored in projects in IDFA’s industry section is gender identity, such as Kani Lapuerta’s “Niñxs,” Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s “Land of Women,” Paul B. Preciado’s “Orlando: My Political Biography,” and Viv Li’s “The Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest.”