IFA Trofee Internationals

Since 1986, IFA has awarded the IFA Trophy to women who have made an exceptional contribution to the film world. The IFA Trophy is inseparably linked to what IFA stands for: films in which women are central both in front of and behind the camera, and that challenge our perspective on equality and identity. This year, the IFA Trophy goes to documentary filmmaker, writer, and activist Sunny Bergman.

For decades, Sunny Bergman has shown how powerful, confronting, and necessary film can be. In her work, Bergman addresses topics that many would rather avoid. She does so personally, sharply, and without softening them.

In the documentary Beperkt houdbaar (2007), Bergman dissects the dominant beauty ideal and exposes how women become trapped in a system of constant self-correction. With Sletvrees? (2013), she examines the ambivalent thinking surrounding female sexuality. Sexual attractiveness is often seen as a gateway to success, yet those who visibly embrace it are quickly labeled a “slut.” In doing so, the documentary touches on questions of autonomy, representation, and equality.

Photographer: Raymond van Mil

Her most recent documentary, Blauwe ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes (2025), forms a compelling high point in her oeuvre and opens the conversation about consent. In this thoroughly researched and personal work, Bergman shows how deeply sexual violence is embedded in our system, and how often victims become stuck in procedures, prejudices, and silence. By combining observations at the vice squad and in court with personal experiences and conversations with those involved, she makes the failure of the system painfully tangible and actively invites people to reflect on their own experiences.

What characterizes Sunny Bergman is her consistent influence on the public debate through her work. Throughout her extensive oeuvre, she repeatedly contributes to breaking taboos, questioning assumptions, and creating space for stories that are not (yet) self-evident. Time and again, she makes visible how gender, power, representation, and racialization intersect. A strong feminist approach can be recognized in her work, rooted in intersectionality. That is precisely why she deserves the IFA Trophy: because her work shifts perspectives and invites us to look differently.