IDF Competition - West Lake International Documentary Festival

IDF Competition

IDF Competition is aimed to highlight outstanding documentary filmmakers, all the while encouraging documentary filmmakers to be curious and persistent on their journey of creation. The festival conducts an open call for submission. The submission opens to feature-length documentaries (60 minutes and above), short documentaries (less than 60 minutes) completed after 1st January, 2021.

After two rounds of evaluation and selection, the outstanding documentaries will be shortlisted for IDF Competition of the 6th West Lake International Documentary Festival. The finalists will be evaluated by an international jury committee and compete for awards.

* for more details please refer to the announcement of open call for entries of IDF Competition of the 6th West Lake International Documentary Festival

Submission

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2021 IDF Best Documentary

Far Eastern Golgotha

Country/Area of Production： Russia
Language of Dialogue： Russian
Runtime： 85min
Director： Julia Sergina
Type of Work： Feature-Length Documentary
Producer： Alexander Balashov, Karina Sharafutdinova

Introduction: A taxi driver Viktor Toroptsev from an endangered city in the Far East of Russia, decides that a critical moment has already arrived in his life. He starts a You-tube channel, where he begins publishing evidence of total poverty and lack of rights of his people and gathering a team of soulmates. Victor is sure that he must save his city a…

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2021 IDF Best Chinese Documentary

I’m So Sorry

Country/Area of Production： Hong Kong, France, Netherlands
Language of Dialogue： Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German
Runtime： 96 min
Director： ZHAO Liang
Type of Work： Feature-Length Documentary
Producer： ZHAO Liang, Serge Lalou, Valérie Guérin

Introduction: Anchored by a man whose quest humanizes global changes, this film traces the historical events and present situation of nuclear disaster across human society. Every nuclear site he revisits represents a specific temporality - Fukushima, Japan, as the ongoing present; Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, as the concealed past; Chernobyl, Ukraine, as…

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2021 IDF Special Mention

Radiograph of a Family

Country/Area of Production： Norway, Iran, Switzerland
Language of Dialogue： French
Runtime： 82min
Director： Firouzeh Khosrovani
Type of Work： Feature-Length Documentary
Producer： Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

Introduction: I am the product of Iran’s struggle between secularism and the Islamic ideology. My parents’ love story takes us from the Shah era to the Islamic Revolution and the hardships during the Iran-Iraq War, up to the present day – all in our home in Tehran. In my childhood, I was constantly forced to choose between my parents; each day, I endur…

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2021 IDF Best Short Documentary

Skies Above Hebron

Country/Area of Production： Netherlands
Language of Dialogue： Arabic，Hebrew
Runtime： 55min
Director： Esther Hertog, Paul King
Type of Work： Short Documentary
Producer： Janneke Doolaard

Introduction: Brothers Amer & Anas simply love pigeons and spend days catching them on their roof in the Palestinian old city of Hebron. The birds fly freely, but the brothers are continuously watched by Israeli settlers and soldiers from the rooftop posts. The more thoughtful Marwaan lives on a street opposite a large Israeli settlement. To get home h…

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2021 IDF Best Documentary Series

Tough Out

Country/Area of Production： China
Language of Dialogue： Chinese
Runtime： 35 min
Director： Huijing XU
Type of Work： Documentary Series（6 Episodes）
Producer： Haitao YANG, Kang QI, Aihua CHEN

Introduction: In the suburbs of Beijing, a group of troubled teenagers are learning to play baseball under the guidance of a 70-year-old baseball coach. A boy named Ma Hu joins them and disturbs their peace. He is fond of pranks and forms cliques in the team, which makes him a thorn in others’ side. The series tell the story of a few boys: Ma Hu, Li Ha…

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2021 IDF Best Zhejiang Documentary

Road of No Return

Country/Area of Production： China
Language of Dialogue： Chinese
Runtime： 80min
Director： QU Jiangtao
Type of Work： Feature-Length Documentary
Producer： QU Jiangtao, FANG Min

Introduction: As a small factory owner on the verge of bankruptcy, Yaoling Wang discovers a heroic dream in his weary life in music. Without any talent, he went around to learn from teachers, but was met with ridicule and humiliation. He was so stubborn that he had a crazy idea to start a solo concert.As the factory was unsustainable, Yaoling Wang went…

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IDF 2021 | IDF Nominated Films