Doc Talk Podcast: Carla Gutiérrez And Irene Taylor From Amsterdam, Plus IDFA Chief Orwa Nyrabia Decries Left-Wing Policing Of Free Speech 

IDFA – the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam – may not be the oldest documentary film festival in the world (that distinction belongs to the Edinburgh Film Festival), but it’s far and away the biggest.

The 37th edition of IDFA, which recently concluded, showcased more than 250 films — the great majority of them world premieres. Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast headed to Amsterdam for the event, speaking with filmmakers behind some of the festival’s most intriguing documentaries including Myrid Carten, director of A Want in Her, and Raed Rafei, director of Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities.

Rafei, who identifies as a queer filmmaker, returns to his historic hometown in Lebanon, engaging in conversation with townspeople on taboo questions in much of the Arab world – especially views on homosexuality. Carten, meanwhile, tells the story of her mother, a charismatic and talented woman brought down by severe alcoholism that rendered her homeless.

We also visit with Orwa Nyrabia, the outgoing artistic director of IDFA, who doesn’t hold back in his assessment of the state of dialogue within the documentary field. He references protests that erupted at IDFA’s 36th edition over Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and criticism Nyrabia received for his response to those demonstrations. He tells Doc Talk he found himself “censored directly, indirectly — I had to not say a list of words.”

We also chat with two filmmakers who came to Amsterdam to promote their films on the awards circuit: director Carla Gutiérrez, who made the Oscar shortlist with her documentary Frida, and director Irene Taylor, who just made the BAFTA Film Awards longlist with her documentary I Am: Celine Dion.

That’s on the new edition of Doc Talk, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. Doc Talk is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios, presented by National Geographic Documentary Films.

Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.