Ava DuVernay’s 14th and Isaki Lacuesta’s Flamenco Sketches are among more than 100 films selected so far for the 2026 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA, November 12–22).
Both titles will play in the Signed strand, which aims to showcase “the latest cinematic adventures of some of the most original filmmakers of our time”, according to the festival.
Ava DuVernay’s 14th, which traces the legacy of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment from Reconstruction to the present, will have its world premiere as the closing film of the New York Film Festival in October before coming to IDFA and then playing globally on Netflix in December. It is a companion piece to DuVernay’s acclaimed 2016 doc 13th.
Lacuesta’s Flamenco Sketches had its world premiere at San Sebastian last week and will have its international premiere at IDFA.
Other films playing in Signed include Michal Marczak’s Closure, which premiered at this year’s Sundance and won the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in March. The doc follows a father in search of his missing son along the Vistula River near Warsaw.
The Signed line up also includes UK filmmaker Sam Pollard’s Berlinale premiere Tutu, about the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as Cannes ACID premiere Detention by Guillaume Massart, filmed at a French prison officers’ training school.
Elsewhere, IDFA’s Best of Fests has 59 titles from festivals from around the world, including Pegah Ahangarani’s Cannes special screening Rehearsals for a Revolution and Ahmed Hassouna’s Venice out of competition title Citizen Osama.
IDFA Bertha Fund-supported titles in the selection include Nong Nhat Quang’s Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava, Asmahan Bkerat’s Concrete Land and Francisco Marise’s Truck Driver.
The IDFA DocLab has unveiled its first projects, including the two winners of the Netherlands Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant: The Love Files by Sanne De Wilde and Samir Veen, and All the Downtime by Ant Hampton. Each receives €10,000 to finalise and present the work at IDFA DocLab.
The festival has selected 16 titles for its Paradocs showcase of non-fiction film art, in which visual artists and filmmakers present their explorations into non-fiction filmmaking. It has also unveiled its short film competition.
