A total of 266 films from over 80 countries will be showcased at Amsterdam’s IDFA documentary festival, including the world premiere of Håvard Bustnes’ Name of the Game.

The Norwegian documentary Name of the Game (Trond Giske-Makta rår) selected for the Frontline section, is an intimate portrait of controversial politician Trond Giske who was for a long time the ‘crown prince’ of the Norwegian Labour Party, until accusations of sexual harassment brought his downfall…Soon enough, he goes back on the campaign trail, in a red-painted caravan, to try to win back his voters.

Bustnes - behind IDFA 2017’s selected Golden Dawn Girls - has followed Giske for several years on his tour, and interviewed politicians and journalists. The film is produced by Bustnes with Christian Falch and Ingrid Galadriel Aune Falch for UpNorth film, with support from the Norwegian Film Institute.

The Competition for Youth Documentary has the following Nordic titles:

  • Gabi Between Ages 8-13 (SE)
    By debut director Engeli Broberg, produced by House of Real, in coproduction with Norway’s Fuglene. The coming of age film focuses on Gabi, searching for her identity and place in the world, beyond the typical gender norms.
  • Kids Cup-Bortebane (NO)
    By Line Hatland, produced by Norway’s Medieoperatørene, in co-production with Denmark’s Hansen & Pedersen, and Finland’s Kinocompany. The ensemble film features young soccer players gathering in Norway for an international youth tournament, and facing all sorts of challenges-off and on the field. The film premiered in Norway last summer and won the EFCA Award at the Zlín Children & Youth Film Festival.

The Best of Fests section has four Nordic documentaries, including three titles by Denmark’s Final Cut for Real.

  • Flee (DK)
    By Jonas Poher Rasmussen, this year’s Danish Oscar candidate, running for a Nordic Council Film Prize. The film is produced as well by Sun Creature Studio Denmark.
  • Raising a School Shooter
    By Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors, which world premiered at CPH:DOX.
  • Our Memory Belongs to Us
    Directed by Rami Farah, with co-director Signe Byrge Sørensen, winner of the Human Rights Award at Prizren’s Dokufest. The film was produced with On Screen Off Record Productions and OSOR Palestine.

Also screening at the Best of Fests is Finland’s How to Kill a Cloud directed by Tuija Halttunen for Wacky Tie Films, earlier winner of the Zonta Club Award in Locarno.

How to Kill a Cloud, Flee, Raising a School Shooter all received support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Among the 19 must-see titles at the Masters section are:

  • The Banality of Grief (DK)
    Directed by Jon Bang Carlsen for C&C Productions. After his wife’s death, the celebrated filmmaker of Déjà Vu, Cats in Riga, starts to work on a new film. But everything he sees reminds him of her absence. As he says, the film turns into “a little stammering love letter.”
  • A People’s Radio-Ballads form a Wooded Country (FI)
    Directed by Virpi Suutari for Euphoria Film. The director of Garden Lovers, Aalto, Architects of Emotions, turns her camera to summery Finnish landscapes and daily life, accompanied by cries from listeners of a popular radio programme. The entire experience forms a quiet declaration of love to Finland.
  • Songs to Bergslagen (SE)
    Directed by Nina Hedenius and William Long for William Long AB. Against the backdrop of the passing seasons, the film observes the iron-ore region of Bergslagen, Sweden, where old ways of life are disappearing and an as-yet unformed future is emerging.

Meanwhile four Nordic projects and the French-majority produced Who Killed Thomas Sankara by Mads Brügger, will be presented at IDFA’s FORUM platform.

  • Who Killed Thomas Sankara (FR)
    By high-profile Danish director Mads Brügger (The Mole: Undercover in North Korea, Cold Case Hammarskjöld), is the first international investigation on the murder in 1987 of Thomas Sankara, the former President of Burkina Faso, also known as the ‘African Che Guevarra’. The project in development is produced by Jeremy Zelnik and Tancrede Ramonet for Temps Noir, France, in co-production with Dibona Films, and Peter Engel for Wingman Media ApS, with support from France’s CNC.
  • Finding Frida by Hilde K. Kjøs (NO)
    Produced by Bjørn-Morten Nerland for Stargate Media AS, with co-financing from Centre of Excellence in Film & Interactive Media Arts, Viken Filmsenter. When the restless ghost of a forgotten artist is visited by a youthful relative, she is encouraged to revisit her past and make peace with the regrets and doubts that still haunt her.
  • Kaspar by Piotr Winiewicz (DK)
    Produced by Mads Damsbo for Makropol, exec produced by Jakob Høgel. World's first artistic documentary made by a machine.
  • La Vida Es un Musical by Patty Pajak (DK)
    Produced by Emil Lynge Johnsen for GotFat Productions, with co-producer Stina Gardell of Sweden’s Mantaray Film, support from the DFI, West Danish Film Fund. While having found the true way to express himself, Alvaro uses his boombox to perform his musicals. When life starts to put him down, he turns up the volume and strengthens himself with the help of the boombox. But how long can you stay in the colourful musical world when you grow up?
  • Son of the Mullah by Nahid Persson (SE)
    Produced by Nahid Persson for RealReel Doc AB, in co-production with France’s Little Big Story, with co-financing from SVT, SFI. After being lured to Iraq and kidnapped to Iran, France-based Iranian journalist Rohollah Zam was executed in December 2020.

The 34th IDFA under the aegis of artistic director Orwa Nyrabia is set to unspool November 17-28 in Amsterdam.