IDFA 2021 - Program Review with Venice Atienza

[November 17, 2021] In this episode, I am joined with filmmaker and dear friend, Venice Atienza ahead of her travels to IDFA to review the festival program.  IDFA is one of the largest documentary events, and their extensive programming is energizing for the international documentary film community. But it can also be overwhelming with over 260 titles and only ten days. So, before boarding her flight, Venice joined me to go through each section of the program and co-curated a watch list to help guide our festival experience. 

Venice is a filmmaker currently living between Mumbai and Manilla. She is a graduate of the European film school, DocNomads. Her first feature film, LAST DAYS AT SEA, debuted in March 2021 at the Berlinale and is closing out the year in the “Best of Fests” section at IDFA. She is also a returning contributor to the podcast and sat with us earlier this year to discuss her film, LAST DAYS AT SEA.

You can listen to that discussion, along with discussions with three other filmmakers whose work is featured in the Best of Fests section.

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CHRISTINA ZACHARIADES, DOCS IN ORBIT CO-CURATOR

Christina is a researcher, filmmaker and editor of Docs in Orbit where she leads the curation of content.  Her curious spirit initially led her to a career in consumer ethnography. After ten years in the field, she began transitioning her skills into non-fiction film as a form of expression. 

Christina holds an M.A. from the University of Texas in Austin, and an M.A. in Documentary Filmmaking from DocNomads where she studied at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels, Lusófona University in Lisbon, and the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest.

She participated in an artist residency at UnionDocs in 2020 where she engaged in political media production to provide aid for social movements. In 2021, she was invited to share her experience in the intersection of new media and film criticism at the Berlinale Press Talents in Sarajevo. Christina is also a programming associate and part of the screening committee at the Camden International Film Festival.

VENICE ATIENZA, FILMMAKER AND CO-CURATOR

Venice Atienza (1989) is a Filipino documentarist whose curiosity is observing how life transformations are carried out through everyday mundane actions. To create a space for author-driven documentaries, she co-founded Svemirko Film with Taiwanese filmmaker, Fan Wu. She’s an alumna of IDFAcademy, IDFA Project Space and the European MFA program DocNomads.

Her first feature film, Last Days at Sea, premiered at the Berlinale and is currently being screened in several international festivals around the world.

She is producing Fan Wu’s first feature entitled XiXi. She’s a member of DAE- Documentary Association of Europe and lives between Manila and Mumbai.

Docs in Orbit Co-Curated IDFA Watch List

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION:

ENVISION COMPETITION: 

  • ESKAPE by Adeline Neary Hay / France / 2021 / 70 min

  • FOUR JOURNEYS by Louis Hothothot (Louis Yi Liu) / Netherlands / 2021 / 112 min

  • THE BURROWS by Sanshou Hu / China / 2021 / 101 min

IDFA ON STAGE

IDFA COMPETITION  FOR YOUTH DOCUMENTARY

  • WILD ANIMAL by Maria Besora / Spain / 2021 / 23 minutes

BEST OF FESTS 

HITO STEYERL TOP 10

----- Ones we didn’t get to discuss on the podcast but on our list -----

LUMINOUS 

IDFA DOCLAB IMMERSIVE NON-FICTION

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary