“Three days were not enough,” says chairman Wieke Paulusma about the Assen International Film Festival (IFA). And that is why, from Thursday, visitors can spend an extra day at the festival in the DNK cultural center.
The feminist IFA is now in its 44th edition. “We are the only film festival in the Netherlands that focuses so specifically on films made by women or in which women play the leading role,” Paulusma says in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata. “You still see that in blockbusters the man often has the leading role and the storyline is often the same. We have been focusing on showing different stories for 44 years. Because women write and make different films.”
“Feminism is actually also about looking at the world differently. And realizing that not everyone looks like you or me. And films are an excellent way to show that,” says the festival chairman. “We are very excited that we now have an extra day. Because three days turned out not to be enough.” Due to the extra day, IFA opens on Thursday for the first time this time.
To her delight, Paulusma notices that young people really enjoy the festival in Assen. “IFA used to have an image of dungarees and goats’ wool socks. But that is of course no longer the festival. Nowadays we are there for a lot of different people. We work a lot with education and so more and more young people are coming. people.”
Paulusma is also known as a Member of Parliament for D66. “I have quite a complicated job and that work takes a lot of time. But I think it is very important to also volunteer. I have taken the IFA to my heart. We show films other than those in the cinema at the corner. We have to cherish what we create here in the North.”
IFA zooms in on generations during the 44th edition. “Who or what has made us who we are today, what we think, see and feel? And we now have a day when we have many filmmakers from the North in-house,” says programmer Henriëtte Polman. “It is intended to expand their knowledge and contacts and bring them into contact with each other.”
“We also have a number of workshops and master classes and we go into depth with dramaturge Gwyneth Sleutel about women’s roles. And we have a director’s talk with the French director Céline Sciamma, our guest of honor and who has been praised worldwide. She comes to the Netherlands especially for us. It is so more for visitors than just a visit to the cinema.”
According to Polman, there are more and more films with a female hand. “The nice thing is that searching for those films seems to become a little easier every year. We mainly focus on films from Europe and that range is increasing. And that means that film festivals such as IFA work. Because if a film is on an international film festival is being held, more doors will open for the makers.”