This week, for the first time, I felt snow falling over me. For most, this was no surprise; in fact, they knew that it would happen that day. But I’m still not used to chasing down meteorology reports every day. I come from a tropical country where one can comfortably wear shorts all year long, even when it’s raining. The surprise was a pleasant one though, just one of several surprises occurring during this IDFA season. The first feelings beyond the new, the never seen… it’s something lots of people experience when attending the screenings of this festival.

Awkward situations that we never heard of, people we never dreamt existed, things that if we’d heard them over a beer in a bar would have sounded so lame. We are allowed to see things through other dimensions, reaching new meanings for every topic. When the lights are off for each presentation, an unraveled world appears.

How could you not be surprised by the suspense-documentary Victor Hugo and Shakespeare Intimacies? Or being part of the changes in modern Tehran through discovering the dietary habits of its people, as in My City, Pizza? How about listening to the many different stories which act as a driving force for an important race - which probably most of us never heard of, like in Comrades?

I don’t really know if it will snow more, and to be honest I’m not really worried. May it surprise me once more…

Arturo Mestanza