Themed programme to include discussions with 15 leading female directors including Kim Longinotto.

The International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is to investigates the role of women in documentary as part of its next edition (Nov 19-30).

The Female Gaze will comrise a programme of titles by women directors as well as discussions with filmmakers at the festival.

A total of 15 female directors, including Pirjo Honkasalo, Barbara Kopple and Kim Longinotto, have compiled a programme of old and new documentaries by themselves and others.

IDFA will also investigate the share female directors have had of the festival’s own selections during the past ten years, and attention will be devoted to the question of how women are represented in documentaries and of whether a ‘female gaze’ can be said to exist within the documentary genre.

The festival will organise a debate on the role of women for the documentary industry on Nov 22.

The directors who made a selection for IDFA and will be attending the festival are: Phie Ambo (Denmark); Rakhshan Bani-Etamad (Iran); Safi Faye (Senegal/France); Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing (US); Chris Hegedus (US); Pirjo Honkasalo (Finland); Nishtha Jain (India); Barbara Kopple (US); Kim Longinotto (UK); Mercedes Moncada (Mexico); Ileana Stanculescu (Romania); Jessica Yu (US) and Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia).

Heddy Honigmann, who this year compiles her Top 10 for IDFA, has also been asked to select three films for The Female Gaze.

A total of 28 documentaries will be screened: classics including Portrait of Jason (1967) by Shirley Clarke and The House is Black (1962) by Forough Farrokhzad as well as films by emerging talents such as How to Pick Berries (2010) by Elina Talvensaari and Waiting for August by Teodora Ana Mihai.

The latest films from a number of directors will also be shown, such as Misconception by Jessica Yu; Love is All: 100 Years of Love & Courtship by Kim Longinotto and Good Things Await by Phie Ambo.

After the screenings, the will be discussed in the various Q&As with the directors present.