IDFA 2026 names Tatiana Huezo Guest of Honor

Tatiana Huezo will be the Guest of Honor at IDFA 2026, the Amsterdam documentary festival announced on Sept. 15, according to Deadline.

IDFA — the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam — is one of the world's largest gatherings devoted to non-fiction film. Its 39th edition will run in Amsterdam from Nov. 12-22, according to Deadline.

Huezo was born in El Salvador and raised in Mexico. Her credits include The Tiniest Place (2011), Prayers for the Stolen (2021) and The Echo (2023).

The Guest of Honor title is IDFA's annual invitation to a filmmaker whose work has shaped documentary. Past honorees include Laura Poitras, Johan Grimonprez and Wang Bing, alongside 2025 honoree Susana de Sousa Dias.

For 2026, the honour comes in three parts. IDFA will present a complete retrospective of Huezo's work, including several short films. She will also curate a personal Top 10 selection of films for the festival. An extended on-stage conversation with her will serve as the centrepiece Talk of the edition.

What makes this stand out for audiences is access. The retrospective puts early shorts and later features in one place. The Top 10 shows what she watches. The Talk gives room for longer answers.

IDFA is under the artistic direction of Isabel Arrate Fernández. The festival has also detailed two other strands for 2026.

Its Spotlight programme will focus on the late American filmmaker William Greaves. Screenings will include Once Upon a Time in Harlem, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1971) and The Fight [William Greaves Director's Cut] (1973), according to Deadline.

Its Dead Angle programme will close with the theme Common Ground. That follows Borders in 2024 and Institutions in 2025.