The Iranian film A Fox Under a Pink Moon by Mehrdad Oskouei has won the Award for Best Film in the International Competition at the 38th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
The film follows 16 year old Afghan sculptor and illustrator Soraya as she attempts to escape Iran and join her mother in Austria.
In a statement the jury said, “This film opens a window onto the power of art and hope during the difficult times through which we’re living. 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. A self-portrait that witnesses the growth of an Afghan artist whose work will continue to resonate.”
The IDFA Award for Best Directing in the International Competition went to Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel for The Kartli Kingdom, an observational documentary about Kartli, a Tbilisi sanatorium that became a refuge for people fleeing the 1992 Abkhazia war.
“A visual labyrinth that takes us deep inside a single location yet continuously reveals new facets and faces, this film depicts something scarcely seen in stories of the refugee experience: the long arc of permanent exile in which dislocation engenders new communities defined by survival and defiance—communities that are then forcefully dissolved, creating another wave of trauma. We were struck by the evident time and care the directors took in working with members of this community, in their ability to capture and convey a sense of home in such an unlikely place,” said the jury.
Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani won the IDFA Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition for Past Future Continuous; Paikar by Dawood Hilmandi won the IDFA Award for Best First Feature along with the FIPRESCI Award; the IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film went to Maasja Ooms for My Word Against Mine.
Complete list of 2025 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) winners
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. Aistė 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
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