So here I am, crying my heart out in this editorial which will be my last article of the IDFA. Here I am, writing an epitaph on this cinematic celebration. How can I make a report on the festival, when all of the previous editorials have already done so and I have nothing left to say?

This may be the biggest illness of our times, an intense, post-modern feeling that words can say nothing new, that images are not powerful anymore, and that every feeling has already been experienced.

Is reality used up? Are documentaries not here to remind us of the infinite depth of our senses?

I don’t want to be too dramatic here, as I already mentioned the words ‘epitaph’ and ‘celebration’. These lyrical markings of enthusiasm are a little bad habit of mine, as if reality needs to be emphasized to look more appealing. Still, words have a meaning, and images, even the most grandiloquent, have a meaning.

Can a documentary festival be seen as a big funeral for reality? Does the need for documentaries point out a weakness of Reality? Or are they simply another vision of it? What will definitely remain of this festival are all the questions it raised. If there may be nothing more to assert, be sure there always will be questions to be asked.

By Viviane Saglier