Exploring Memory and Resistance: A Tribute to Susana de Sousa Dias at IDFA 2025
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will honor Portuguese documentary filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias at its 2025 edition. De Sousa Dias is known for her unique approach to archival images and cinematic form, exploring themes of dictatorship, colonial legacies, and memory. The festival will feature an extended conversation with her as the centerpiece talk of the event.
IDFA also announced the second installment of the curated program Dead Angle, focusing on institutions, and the latest edition of the new media program IDFA DocLab, which will delve into the paradox of our technologically connected world. Dead Angle examines systemic structures through documentary cinema, while IDFA DocLab explores the theme "Off the Internet" with interactive and immersive art experiences.
The festival will showcase a retrospective of Susana de Sousa Dias' work, highlighting her signature style that emerged with films like "Still Life" and "48." Her latest work, "Fordlândia Panacea," explores the neo-colonial archives of Brazil. The retrospective aims to present de Sousa Dias' approach to creating dissident counter-archives and her distinctive visual style, challenging the narration of political histories through film.
In addition to the retrospective, IDFA will feature de Sousa Dias' Top 10 program, which explores collective memory and filmmakers rewriting political narratives. The program includes films like "Monangambééé" and "Images of the World and the Inscription of War." The festival will offer a comprehensive look at de Sousa Dias' impactful body of work, inviting audiences to reflect on the power of archival footage in revealing erased histories of violence and resistance.