Enzo’s Monday Motion #20: IDFA Addiction
Hello, My name is Enzo and I’m addicted…
Every year in November I have a massive setback. All because of my dealer who is taunting me with too much of the good stuff. Maybe you know him… He’s called IDFA and I’m addicted to documentaries.
Every docu junky has a feast at the worlds largest documentary festival based in Amsterdam. From 18 to 29th of November you can enjoy over 200 docu’s. To save you some time I’ve made a setlist divided into 4 themes: music, sport, people and interactive.
Music
Eunice Waymon’s dream was to become the world’s first black female classical pianist. To pay for her piano lesson’s she started singing in jazz nightclubs. And that’s where she transformed into Nina Simone. In ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’ we see her turbulent life story in archive footage and interviews with her daughter and regular band member.
A universe filled with sound
‘Hot sugar’s Cold World’ is an entertaining look into the life of musical genius Nick Koenig aka Hot Sugar. Director Adam Bhala Lough follows Koenig in his obsessive quest to find out what sound actually is. Hot Sugar’s instruments aren’t the ones you would expect. I give you human bones on skulls, typewriters, or ambient city sounds. “The universe is full of sound, so why not make use of it?”.
Blessed by the Devil
For the fourth album of Queens of the Stone Age Josh Homme works together with our main character Jesse “The Devil” Hughes. When he turns 40 he’s about the change his life and not into the most obvious direction. Especially when you know his wife is a former porn actress and his regular shows are filled with drugs.
Meet preacher Hughes in the documentary ‘The redemption of the devil’. TIP: if you want a personal blessing from The Devil himself buy tickets for the show of 20 november.
Sport
At IDFA there’s also place for documentary shorts. Teamed up they form an interesting set with a similar theme. If you’re into boxing watch the diptych ‘Boxeadora’ and ‘Life of a butterfly’. In the first we follow 38-year old Namibia.Her goal is to win the gold medal in female boxing. The problem is that in Cuba this sport is banned for women.
K.O. King
In ‘Life of a butterfly’ we follow the Polish heavyweight champion Marcin Różalski. With his appearance (shaved head and a body filled with tattoos) he already knocks you out. Filmmaker Piotr Bernaś went searching for the person behind his mask and attempts to discover what motivates this man to train day in and day out, making his money by fighting. Beautiful close-ups of his boxing life is blended with footage of his private life.
Alpinism
‘Meru’ is the biggest challenge for alpinist. When you give the camera to mountain climbers who keep on filming during avalanches, storms and a serious skiing accident you know you get the full experience.
People
For those of you who can’t wait for Netflix’s Narcos season 2, get your tickets for ‘Cartel Land’. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman risks his life by following the groups who fight the drug cartels on both side of the USA — Mexican border. On the latter side he joins doctor Jose Mireles and his ‘autodefensas’ hunting down gang members in their homes. Back in the States he follows former addict Tim “Nailer” Foley, who tracks smugglers deep into the Arizona desert.
If you can’t get tickets anymore try ‘Kingdom of shadow’s’ which tells a similar story through the eyes of the family members of missing persons during the drug wars.
Peter Jackson eat your heart out
The docu ‘Human’ of French director Yann Arthus-Bertrand is longer than 2 out of 3 Lord of the Rings movies. Like Jackson, Arthus is king of impressive aerial nature shots. He mixes this with personal interviews of people from different cultural backgrounds resulting in personal anecdotes.
Interactive
I conclude with a must see for everyone who is into digital and interactive. Since 2007 DocLab showcases the best interactive docu’s at theater ‘De Brakke Grond’. This year the theme is Seamless Reality. With a set of 12 shorts they focus on the impact of social media, public awareness of privacy issues and the use of virtual reality.
For those of you who want actually experience the interactive parts go to the expo where 30 installations are set up especially for you.
