Exclusive-The documentary directed by Firouzeh Khosrovani for Oslo-based Antipode Films, is the only Nordic film competing at IDFA’s main Feature Length programme.

Radiograph of a Family is among 12 international films selected for the prestigious IDFA Feature Length Documentary section, and also among 10 documentaries vying for the  Creative Use of Archives Competition. The film takes the viewer on a personal journey into the social genetics of modern Iranian society.

“I am the product of Iran’s struggle between secularism and the Islamic ideology,” says Iranian-born Firouzeh Khosrovani. Indeed, she grew up in her Tehran home, constantly forced to choose between her father Hossein, a secular progressive and her mother Tayi, a devout, traditional Muslim. The family portrait lays bare the conflicts of Iranian society, in the run-up to, and aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

The film was produced by Fabien Greenberg and Bård Kjøge Rønning of Antipode Films, who said: “Working with Radiograph of a Family has been a long journey. We started developing the film together with Firouzeh in December 2015 and being able to have a world premiere at IDFA is a great honour.”

Irena Taskovski, managing director of London-based sales company Taskovski Films, says she boarded the film at development stage.

“It was natural for us to board the film, as we had worked with Khosrovani on her previous film Fest of Duty (2014), and our strategy at Taskovski Films is to support talented female directors and films with positive impact on society,” explained the sales executive to nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “Radiograph of a Family is unique as a personal story and a look at the history of Iran, captured with a strong artistic cinematic approach,” continues Taskovski. “I’m sure the film will do very well not only at festivals, on TV stations around the world, but also at educational programmes, museums, and organisations supporting women’s rights.”

The film was co-produced by Storyline in Norway, Rainy Pictures in Iran and DV Films in Switzerland, with co-financing from ZDF/ARTE, RTS in Switzerland, support from Norway’s Fritt Ord, the Arts Council Norway, Viken filmsenter and DFA Bertha Fund.

Taskovski has four other films selected at Amsterdam’s leading documentary film festival unspooling November 18-December 6: the Italian/Swiss film War & Peace, also selected for the main Feature Length competition, Far from You I Grew by Marie Dumora (France) screening at the Luminous programme, and the two Best of Fests selected The Foundation Pit (Russia) and Things We Dare Not Do (Mexico).

Other Nordic films selected at IDFA include: 

  • Silence by Saara Hakkarainen (Finland) screening at the Student Competition programme 
  • Arica by Lars Edman and William Johansson Kalén (Sweden/Chile, Norway, UK), world premiering at the Frontlight section. 
  • Bitter Love by Jerzy Sladkowski (Sweden/Finland) at the Masters 
  • Gunda by Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/US) at the Masters 
  • Long Live Love by Sine Skibsholt (Denmark) at the Best of Fests 
  • Songs of Repression by E. Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga (Denmark) at the Best of Fests. 

The 33rd hybrid IDFA Documentary Film Festival will screen 258 films from 72 countries. “Amidst all the uncertainty and big questions of this era, the films and the new media projects we watched, discussed, and selected, offered us hope and affirmed our faith in the future. The IDFA 2020 programme tells us, without doubt or hesitation, that documentary art is just essential, relevant, and meaningful,” said IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia.