A Fox Under a Pink Moon and Past Future Continuous are among the winners of the top awards at the 38th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), unveiled at a ceremony held at the Dutch city’s Eye Filmmuseum.
Mehrdad Oskouei’s Pink Moon, a self-portrait of 16-year-old Soraya who creates drawings and sculptures, won the honor for best film in the international competition. “This strong-willed Afghan sculptor and illustrator has been trying for five years to escape Iran and join her mother in Austria,” notes a synopsis.
“This film opens a window onto the power of art and hope during the difficult times through which we’re living,” said the jury. “Through masterful cinematography, often filmed in dangerous conditions, and the protagonist’s radiant energy, this empowering collaboration between an established filmmaker and a young new artist enables her to reclaim identity amid exile and domestic violence, to bloom despite repression, and to find solace through creation.”
Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Past Future Continuous won the IDFA Award for best film in the Envision Competition. “Maryam fled Iran decades ago and settled in the United States,” reads a synopsis for the doc. “Her parents remained in Tehran. Now that they are growing older and political unrest is intensifying, she is concerned,” reads a synopsis. “She persuades them to install security cameras in every room, so she can stay in direct contact with them from a distance. Maryam finds herself glued to this virtual connection, only now realizing how lonely they must have been all these years.”
Noted the jury: “In this film, with an outstanding text, the form elevates the subject to another level. Here, time and space are both concrete and suspended. The authors invented and set up a reality where cinematic experience offers emotional truth. The film presents itself as an unusual and poignant cinematic experiment that holds together various lines of reflection: diaspora, exile, historical repetition, and personal memory.”
Meanwhile, the IDFA honor for best first feature was bestowed upon Paikar by Dawood Hilmandi. “Afghan artist-filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi is called paikar – the Persian word for ‘war’ or ‘warrior’ – by his family,” reads a summary of the doc on the IDFA website. “His parents use this nickname proudly, but in this family portrait, it seems more of a burden than a blessing.”
And the IDFA Award for best Dutch film went to Maasja Ooms for My Word Against Mine. With one in 10 people hearing voices, the doc introduces us to five such people. One of them hears a single voice, another hears 19. Some voices want to protect, others are out to berate – or even kill.
The NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award winner will be unveiled on Friday.
Check out the full list of IDFA 2025 award winners below.
IDFA Award for Best Film – International Competition
A Fox Under a Pink Moon, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei
IDFA Award for Best Directing – International Competition
The Kartli Kingdom, dir. Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel
IDFA Award for Best Editing – International Competition
December, dir. Lucas Gallo
IDFA Award for Best Cinematography – International Competition
Silent Flood, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
Special Mention – International Competition
Flood, dir. Katy Scoggin
IDFA Award for Best Film – Envision Competition
Past Future Continuous, dir. Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani
IDFA Award for Best Directing – Envision Competition
Holy Destructors, dir. Aiste Žegulytė-Zapolska
IDFA Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution – Envision Competition
Amílcar, dir. Miguel Eek
IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction
Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista, dir. Claudix Vanesix for Collective AMiXR
Special Mention – IDFA DocLab for Immersive Non-Fiction
Under the Same Sky, dir. Khalil Ashawi
IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling
Artificial Sex (Ep. 1 & 2), dir. Anan Fries
Special Mention – IDFA DocLab for Digital Storytelling
Coded Black, dir. Maisha Wester
IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary
an open field, dir. Teboho Edkins
Special Mention – Short Documentary
Dreams for a Better Past, dir. Albert Kuhn
IDFA Award for Best First Feature
Paikar, dir. Dawood Hilmandi
Special Mention – IDFA Award for Best First Feature
The Kartli Kingdom, dir. Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel
IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film
My Word Against Mine, dir. Maasja Ooms
Special Mention – IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film
Paikar, dir. Dawood Hilmandi
Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award
Remake, dir. Ross McElwee
Special Mention – Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award
The Memory of Butterflies, dir. Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski
FIPRESCI Award
Paikar, dir. Dawood Hilmandi