The documentary Talia, directed by Argentine filmmaker Pedro Speroni, has been selected to participate in the prestigious Forum Pitch at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which will celebrate its 33rd edition from November 16 to 19 in the Dutch capital. The announcement was made by the festival’s organizers, who revealed 51 selected projects from more than 800 submissions from around the world. The inclusion of Talia in this section represents a new recognition for Argentine documentary cinema and reaffirms the growing international interest in the personal and poetic voices emerging from Latin America.

The IDFA Forum, considered the world’s leading co-production and co-financing market for documentaries, is a space where projects in development or seeking international partners are presented to producers, distributors, film funds, and festival programmers. In the case of the Forum Pitch, where Talia will participate, selected filmmakers present their works to key industry figures with the goal of forging creative and financial partnerships that help bring their films to completion. This section, together with the Producers Connection, brings together 33 projects from all continents this year, maintaining a strong gender balance and showcasing a remarkable presence of emerging talents.

Speroni’s film joins a line-up that combines established names with new voices in contemporary documentary filmmaking. Among them are Palestinian director Mohamed Jabaly, returning to IDFA after winning the Best Directing Award in 2023, and U.S. artist Alison O’Daniel, known for her innovative exploration of sound in cinema. The 2025 Forum unfolds in a global context marked by conflict, inequality, and profound social transformation, and its program seeks to give visibility to projects that explore these tensions through diverse and daring cinematic languages.

The festival’s organizers highlighted that the selected works demonstrate “the versatility of documentary filmmakers and new media artists,” and praised the inclusion of projects that explore “underrepresented stories and non-narrative expressions” capable of reflecting the complexity of a world in crisis. Within this framework, Talia stands out for its sensitivity and its deeply human approach to reality, consolidating Speroni as one of the most distinctive voices of Argentina’s new generation of documentary filmmakers. The director, known for his previous film Rancho, continues here his exploration of human bonds, identity, and resilience in marginalized environments — themes that have defined his work and earned him international acclaim.

The participation of Talia in the Forum Pitch not only represents a strategic opportunity to connect with European co-production networks but also provides a platform that amplifies the visibility of Latin American documentary filmmaking. In recent years, IDFA has reaffirmed its commitment to cinema from the Global South, supporting projects that offer alternative perspectives on contemporary challenges. The inclusion of Speroni’s film reinforces Argentina’s presence in an international circuit where auteur cinema and formal experimentation find fertile ground to engage with global audiences.

The IDFA Forum 2025 will take place in various venues across Amsterdam, including Pathé City Cinema, ITA, and @droog, bringing together filmmakers, producers, distributors, and representatives of international film funds. In addition to the Forum Pitch and Producers Connection presentations, the event will include Rough Cut sessions and the DocLab Forum, focused on immersive and augmented reality storytelling projects. The program will also feature industry panels on financing and distribution in the documentary field, along with parallel activities from Docs for Sale, the market dedicated to the sale and promotion of completed films.

With Talia in the Forum Pitch, Pedro Speroni’s name once again stands among the most promising figures in contemporary Argentine cinema, reaffirming both his international reach and the vitality of documentary filmmaking as a powerful means of exploring the human experience.

Forum Pitch

• A Film For One, dir. Alexandre Donot-Saby, prod. Valérie Montmartin / LITTLE BIG STORY (France), co-prod. Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre / PORTAGE FILMS (Canada)
• All Fixed Up, dir. Hao Zhou, prod. Jenny Wu (China), co-prod. Tyler Hill (United States)
• Codename: Guster, dir. Katharina Warda, Jascha Hannover, prod. Alexandre Tondowski / Tondowski Films (Germany), co-prod. Alexandre Tondowski / Tondowski Films, Thandi Davids / Storyscope (South Africa)
• ExCoded, dir. Javier Lovera, prod. Hannah Donegan / Have Magic Media, Marc Serpa Francoeur / Lost Time Media (Canada)
• I’ve Always Said We, dir. Lucia Sanchez, prod. Lucia Sanchez / Les Films d’Ici, Marie Régis / Anoki (France), co-prod. Michèle Massé (Spain)
• Inframince, dir. Alison O’Daniel, prod. Maya E. Rudolph / Louverture Films (United States)
• Karsai vs Hungary, dir. Marcell Gerő, prod. Sara László / Campfilm (Hungary), co-prod. Jean-Laurent Csinidis / Films de Force Majeure, Mátyás Prikler / MPhilms (Slovakia, France)
• Lonesome Land, dir. Virpi Suutari, prod. Virpi Suutari / Euphoria film oy (Finland)
• My Name is Khalil, dir. Bilal Alkhatib, prod. Tania El Khoury / Les films de l’Altaï (Palestine, France, Lebanon)
• Never Arrive, dir. Tenji Takakura, Sansan Liu, prod. Jia Zhao / Muyi Film, Takahito Kanegawa / Temjin TV Production Co Ltd (The Netherlands, Japan)
• Nighthawk, dir. Adam James Smith (China, United States)
• Small Expectations, dir. Alexandru Solomon, prod. Ada Solomon / microFILM (Romania), co-prod. Frederik Nicolai (Belgium)
• Sundays, dir. Justine Martin, prod. Amélie Tremblay / Nemesis Films inc (Canada)
• Talia after Talia, dir. Pedro Speroni, prod. Tomas Raimondo / El Ojo Silva, Pedro Speroni / El Ojo Silva (Argentina)
• The Face of Power, dir. James Jones, prod. Sasha Odynova, James Jones (United Kingdom)
• The Documenters, dir. Loretta van der Horst, prod. Claudio Montesano Casillas / The Waves, Ilja Roomans / Docmakers (The Netherlands)
• The Path That Walks, dir. Efthymia Zymvragaki, prod. Efthymia Zymvragaki / Gris Medio (Spain), co-prod. Iris Lammertsma / Witfilm (The Netherlands), Eirini Makedona Pangkopoulou / Sisilo (Greece)
• The White Doctor, dir. Zippy Ms Kimundu / Afrofilms International, prod. Colum McKeown / Little Wing Films, Zippy Ms Kimundu / Afrofilms International Company Ltd (Kenya, Ireland), co-prod. Alex Tondowski / Tondowski Films (Germany)
• Todo Lo Sólido, dir. Luis Gutiérrez Arias, Zaina Bseiso, prod. Luis Gutiérrez Arias / Bahia Colectiva, Zaina Bseiso / Bahia Colectiva (Cuba), co-prod. Rémi Grellety / Warboys Films, Sara Skrodzka / Warboys Films, Daniela Muñoz Barroso / Estudio ST (France)
• Untitled Petra Costa Project, dir. Petra Costa, prod. Rémi Grellety / Busca Vida Filmes (Brazil)
• Untitled Watermelon Pictures Documentary, editor. Rabab Haj Yahya, prod. Ayah Selene

Producers Connection

• Eleven Ears, dir. Yashaswini Raghunandan, prod. Yashaswini Raghunandan (India), co-prod. Heejung Oh / Seesaw Pictures (South Korea)
• Flying like a Bird, dir. El Mahdi Lyoubi, prod. Hicham Falah / Cinema Salama (Morocco), co-prod. Marie Dubas / Deuxième Ligne Films, Louise Bansard / GoGoGo Films (France)
• Four Comrades, One Echo, dir. Kiva Liu, prod. Kiva Liu (The Netherlands)
• Into the Mist, dir. Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee, prod. Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee / Fanoos Films (Iran)
• My Sister Gaza, dir. Mohamed Jabaly, Rima Jabaly, Ibrahim Jabaly, prod. Mohamed Jabaly / Palarctic Productions AS (Palestine, Norway), co-prod. Mohanad Yaqubi / Idioms Films (Palestine)
• Resisting Residents, dir. Nikos Pilos, prod. Kalafati Dafni / FILMIKI S.A (Greece)
• Serraria, dir. Ricardo Imakawa, Matias Borgström, prod. Matias Borgström, Ricardo Imakawa / Salga Filmes (Brazil)
• The Pylon and the Lake, dir. Sylvain Yonnet, prod. Cécile Lestrade, Elise Hug / Alter Ego Production (France)
• The Video Guy, dir. Sam Howard, Alexander Dickerson-Watson, prod. Erica Starling Productions (United Kingdom)
• The Black Wedding – 7 Years of Eternal Mourning, dir. Dragan Nikolić, prod. Jovana Nikolić (Serbia)
• Tongues of Fire, dir. Alyx Ayn Arumpac, prod. Alyx Ayn Arumpac / Guerreros (Philippines)
• Trail on the Water, dir. Juan Pablo Polanco, prod. Laura Nogal / Los Niños Films (Colombia)

Rough Cut Presentations

• Architecture as Invention, dir. Michael Madsen, prod. Per Damgaard Hansen / Paloma Productions (Denmark), co-prod. Ove Rishøj Jensen / Auto Images, Cecilie Bolvinkel / Auto Images, Heino Deckert / Majade filmproduktion GmbH (Germany, Sweden)
• Bugboy, dir. Lucas Paleocrassas, prod. Rea Apostolides / Anemon Productions, Yuri Averof / Anemon Productions (Greece), co-prod. Maria Stevnbak Westergren / Toolbox Film ApS, Adam Leibovitz / Flach Film Production (Denmark, France)
• Dreams of the Wild Oaks, dir. Marjan Khosravi, prod. Milad Khosravi / Seven Springs Pictures (Iran), co-prod. Stephanie von Lukowicz / Lukimedia S.L., Thibaut Amri / Avant la Nuit (France, Spain)
• Getting the Message, dir. Neasa Ní Chianáin, prod. David Rane / Soilsiu Films (Ireland), co-prod. Hanne Phlypo / Clin d’oeil films, Ilja Roomans / Docmakers (Belgium, The Netherlands)
• Sweet Belonging, dir. Benjamin Bucher, prod. Olivier Zobrist / Langfilm (Switzerland)
• The Cord, dir. Nolwenn Hervé, prod. Estelle Robin You / Grande Ourse Films (France)

DocLab Forum

• Amasonic, dir. Marcel van Brakel, M. Cecilia Oliveira, prod. Corine Meijers / Studio Biarritz (The Netherlands)
• Anatomy of Revolution, dir. Lara Baladi, prod. Lara Baladi (Egypt)
• Body Count, dir. Cris Bringas, prod. Mica Oliveros, Sönke Kirchhof / INVR.SPACE (Philippines, Germany)
• Cripping Up, dir. Amy Crighton, Meg Fozzard, prod. Meg Fozzard / Unlikely Tangent Studios (United Kingdom)
• Fear City Paradise, dir. Darren Emerson, prod. Dan Tucker / East City Films (United Kingdom)
• Ghost Towns, dir. Robin Coops, prod. Floris Smit / UPscaleXR, Robin Coops / Coops&Co (The Netherlands)
• I’m in Love with my Testo, dir. Juno Álvarez, prod. Nell Córdova / Cacao Cinema (Spain), co-prod. Paola Álvarez (Germany)
• Inside A Stripper’s Mind, dir. STORRY, prod. Karimah Zakia Issa / KZI Films (Canada)
• Like Every Cloud (Zayy Kulli Ghaima), dir. Bentley Brown, prod. Bentley Brown / Aboudigin Films, Turki Al Mutairi (Chad)
• Metramorphosis, dir. Laura Yilmaz, prod. Fanni Fazakas / RumeXR (New Zealand, Hungary)
• Reframing Queer Exile, dir. Emma Hamilton, prod. Anne-Lise Miller / Adventice (France)
• The Eyes of Mila Kaos, dir. Yimit Ramírez, Tony Alonso, prod. Patricia Pérez Fernández / Free Hundred Media (Spain), co-prod. Boris Prieto / Vega Alta Films (France)