Latest News

09-03-10 | New world docs released for free on IDFA TV

The MoMA in New York recently screened films from the archives of IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund. Two films can now be seen online.

08-03-10 | Audience favorite The Cove wins Oscar

The 82nd Academy Awards took place on 7 March. The Oscar for best feature documentary went to The Cove.

17-02-10 | JVF supported film wins Cinema for Peace Award

On Monday 15 February, the Iranian documentary Women in Shroud won the Cinema for Peace Award for Justice in Berlin.

16-02-10 | IDFA TV releases new documentary classic

The Underground Orchestra: Acclaimed portrait of uprooted subway musicians in Paris (Heddy Honigmann, 1997).

04-02-10 | Jan Vrijman Fund Films at Berlinale

The Berlin film festival will be screening three films that have been supported by IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund.

04-02-10 | MoMA spotlights Jan Vrijman Fund Films

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is showcasing Jan Vrijman Fund films at the 9th edition of Documentary Fortnight.

04-02-10 | Documentary nominations Oscars 2010

Nominated feature documentaries are: Burma VJ, The Cove, Food, Inc., The Most Dangerous Man in America and Which Way Home.

01-02-10 | IDFA congratulates Sundance documentary winners

During the closing ceremony last Saturday, Sundance awarded three documentaries screened at the previous IDFA.

26-01-10 | 'Women in Shroud' nominated for humanitarian award

The Iranian documentary Women in Shroud has been nominated for the Cinema for Peace Award for Justice.

25-01-10 | Haiti documentaries released for free to support relief efforts

IDFA TV is now streaming two insightful documentaries about Haiti. With this, IDFA wants to support relief efforts.

14-01-10 | Drona & Me competes for Crystal Bear

Clever portrait of autistic boy, which premiered at IDFA 2009, has been selected for festivals in Berlin, New York and Prague.

24-12-09 | IDFA - The FORUM 2009: Review

This year’s FORUM at IDFA was again a resounding success, anticipating the birth of more great documentaries.

02-12-09 | New head of European Documentary Network

Cecilia Lidin has been appointed as the new head of EDN, the international documentary network with over 1000 members.

28-11-09 | The Main Event

Portrait of English punk-rock band Dr. Feelgood against backdrop of their dreary hometown.

28-11-09 | And The Winners Are ...

Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home wins the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary.

28-11-09 | Asia Pacific honours Defamation

Yoav Shamir's Defamation is Best Documentary Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

27-11-09 | Last Train Home wins VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary

The winners of the various competition programmes were announced this afternoon.

27-11-09 | IDFA awards tonight

The winners of the IDFA competition programmes will be announced this evening at the festival’s closing ceremony.

27-11-09 | IDFA TV Launches Tonight

Tonight, IDFA TV will be officially launched by Amsterdam’s alderman for Arts & Culture.

27-11-09 | Je n’accuse pas

Today, maverick auteur Jeanette Groenendaal will present excerpts from her new project Reformation.

27-11-09 | Film Transit scores sales hits with Google Baby

Films Transit has sold mid-length competition screener Google Baby to Franco-German documentary channel Arte.

27-11-09 | Support for all

Rotterdam Media Fund director Jacques van Heijningen about changes to the institution’s regulations.

26-11-09 | FORUM wraps on a high

IDFA’s three-day co-producing event the FORUM wrapped on Wednesday with a lively morning session.

26-11-09 | IDFA in Good Pitch talks

IDFA talks with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Sundance Institute to join forces on a planned Good Pitch event.

25-11-09 | Nominations IDFA 2009 announced

Tonight, during the IDFA Talk Show in Escape, the nominations were announced of the different competition programmes.

25-11-09 | Lucky Thirteen

Last night, the €125,000 Media Fund Documentary Award went to Martijn Blekendaal for his project De dertiende man (The Thirteenth Man).

25-11-09 | Don’t get angry…

Ben Steinbauer’s Winnebago Man is set to be launched theatrically in the US in April 2010.

25-11-09 | Banned Iranian doc picked up

Spanish pay-TV operator Multicanal has acquired the banned Iranian film We are Half the Iranian Population.

25-11-09 | Crossed Wires at the FORUM

The growing importance of cross media content was evident at the FORUM on Tuesday.

24-11-09 | Exclusive Sneak Preview: Work In Progress

Requiem for Detroit? – Julien Temple Tonight, right after the Talk of the Day in Escape Club at 21:15

24-11-09 | Workshop rewards

Tonight, the 2009 Media Fund Documentary Award will be awarded to one of the seven Dutch projects developed over the past seven months at the IDFA Documentary Workshop.

24-11-09 | Coach and courses

Amsterdam’s Binger Filmlab this week announced two documentary initiatives commencing 2010.

23-11-09 | Megacity Four

Cities On Speed to receive special screening at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month.

22-11-09 | IDA and Oscar nominees screening at IDFA

Diary Of A Times Square Thief (Klaas Bense) is nominated in the Best Feature category at IDA 2009 in LA, and 9 of the 15 films screened at IDFA advance in the voting process for the 82nd Oscars.

22-11-09 | New doc co-ops

Doc Alliance’s Artur Liebhart told the IDFA Daily yesterday about embryonic plans to forge greater co-production activity between the five countries within his organization.

22-11-09 | Not all black and white

Mugabe and the White African has been nominated for the IDA (International Documentary Association) Distinguished Feature Achievement.

22-11-09 | Danes Tackle Finns

Freetime Machos has been picked up for worldwide sales by Denmark's DR International Sales

21-11-09 | Greenhouse Effect

Greenhouse, the international development programme for documentary filmmakers, will launch a new project in April 2010

21-11-09 | Double your money

Jan Vrijman Fund partners with International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund

20-11-09 | If the kids are united

UK production house Film and Music Entertainment is to produce Street Kids United.

19-11-09 | Pathé launches new doc label

Pathé Netherlands launches Pathé Docs, bringing documentaries to a wider audience.

18-11-09 | IDFA opens on Thursday

IDFA 2009 kicks off with Polish spy thriller.

17-11-09 | Man With a Movie Camera: Global Remake

Call for participation.

23-10-09 | Released filmmaker Maziar Bahari thanks supporters

Months after his imprisonment in Iran, documentary filmmaker Bahari has been let out on bail on 17 October.

23-10-09 | Online films on IDFA TV

Watch complete docs for free on IDFA's online documentary channel IDFA TV.

21-10-09 | Not Normal: Films about unusual lives

What is normal and who decides? Special program during IDFA '09 focuses on theme of art event Not Normal.

13-10-09 | Director Sins of My Father on CNN

Filmmaker Nicolas Entel is today's guest in CNN show Amanpour. Topic: the drug wars in Colombia.

08-10-09 | Green documentaries at IDFA 2009

The environment and globalisation once again important themes at IDFA.

06-10-09 | IDFA honours Frederick Wiseman

In honour of his 80th birthday, this year’s IDFA will present a retrospective of Wiseman's work.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani released

After 13 months in prison, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani was released from Evin Prison last month.

Eyal Sivan presents Top 10 at IDFA 2009

Each year, IDFA offers a renowned filmmaker the chance to compile his/her personal documentary Top 10.

French filmmaker killed in San Salvador

Documentary filmmaker and photographer Christian Poveda (La Vida Loca) was found murdered last Wednesday.

Jan Vrijman Fund wins honorary award

On the opening night of Festidoc Paraguay, director Hugo Gamarra presented an award to the Jan Vrijman Fund in honor of its work.

IDFA moves to a new office!

The offices of IDFA, the FORUM, Docs for Sale and the Jan Vrijman Fund have relocated to Frederiksplein.

In memoriam: Christian Bauer 1947-2009

Documentary film maker and producer Christian Bauer passed away on Monday 27 July. He was 61.

Filmmakers' petition for Maziar Bahari

German director Wim Wenders and more than 60 other distinguished filmmakers and film institutes from 22 countries have petitioned the Iranian government to release their colleague Maziar Bahari.

BBC produces open source documentary

Marking the web's 20th anniversary, the BBC will produce an open source documentary exploring the impact of the internet.

Call for release documentary makers Iran

On Sunday 21 June 2009, Iranian journalist and documentary maker Maziar Bahari was arrested in Teheran. Nothing has been heard of him since then.

Report Summer School 2009

For six days in June, Pakhuis de Zwijger was host to the second annual IDFA Academy Summer School. Twenty-two enthusiastic, young filmmakers gathered in this cultural hub to exchange ideas, make new contacts, learn more about their craft and have fun.

Wouter Barendrecht, 1965 - 2009

IDFA is deeply saddened to hear that Wouter Barendrecht, founder and co-chairman of international sales and production company Fortissimo Films, passed away suddenly last Sunday, at the age of 43.

The EDN Award 2009 goes to Nenad Puhovski and ZagrebDox

EDN, The European Documentary Network, is once again honouring an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture with The EDN Award. This year, the award is presented to ZagrebDox and its initiator Nenad Puhovski.

Filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani imprisoned in Iran

Arrested in July 2008, filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani has now been imprisoned for a year.

Former FORUM Films at Berlinale

IDFA's FORUM helps to finance documentaries with potential international appeal, many of which to be screened at prestigious film festivals around the world. The programme of the 59th International Film Festival in Berlin included some films which had previously been pitched at the FORUM in Amsterdam.

IDFA congratulates Kim Longinotto, Havana Marking and Anders Østergaard

Last Saturday, several documentary makers familiar to the IDFA audience were awarded at the 25th edition of the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah. IDFA is pleased to congratulate Kim Longinotto, Havana Marking and Anders Østergaard.

The EDN Financing Guide 2009

EDN, the member-based organisation for documentary professionals, has expanded their well-known documentary funding book The EDN TV-Guide into The EDN Financing Guide.

New EDN Chairman and Executive Committee

At the newly held EDN General Assembly, Danish Producer Mikael Opstrup was elected as the new Chairman of the EDN Executive Committee. On the same occasion a new EDN Executive Committee was elected.

Winners of IDFA 2008 announced!

This evening in Pakhuis de Zwijger the winners of the various competition programmes were announced, at the closing ceremony of the twenty-first IDFA, presented by Twan Huys.

The Art of Documentary Sales

Ever wondered what happens to the mountain of colourful promotional posters and flyers stuck to the walls of Docs for Sale once the market is over?

The Nominations Are...

On Thursday night, in the Talk of the Day in the Escape Club, hosted by journalist and presenter Twan Huys, the nominations were announced for IDFA’s various competition programmes.

VJ On Tour

First Hand Films chief Esther van Messel confirmed yesterday that her Joris Ivens Competition nominee 'Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country' has been picked up by Finnish broadcaster YLE.

Countdown to Revolution

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution (February 11, 2009), Katayoon Shahabi of Tehran-based Sheherazad Media International is looking forward to brisk business at IDFA.

Family Values

With its official launch scheduled for Spring 2009, new Norwegian sales entity Kudos Family Distribution makes its unofficial debut at IDFA 2008.

(Para) Docs R Us

Right at very the top of the Tuschinksi theatre – up the lushly carpeted stairs and round countless corners, below ladders and skylights, concealed behind closed doors with ‘Staff Only’ signs – there is a little room, formerly used for screening films.

Go for Seven Million Perspectives

Bio-docs and projects with Cold War connections were the unintended order of the day at Tuesday’s Central Pitching session at the FORUM.

Out Standing in his Field

On Tuesday on Dutch public television, representatives of the indigenous farming community will gather to discuss Geertjan Lassche’s The Farmer Who Wanted to Emigrate, which world premieres in the Premieres of the Lowlands programme.

On the Way to School

Orhan Eskikoy and Özgür Dogan, the makers of Joris Ivens Competition entry On The Way to School, will be arriving at the premiere in the Tuschinski on Tuesday in a ‘Turkish school bus’.

DFI Looks Up and Out

Danish docs are on the upsurge. That was the message this weekend from Claus Ladegaard, Head of Production and Development at the Danish Film Institute (DFI).

New Arena for Forum

IDFA’s influential pitching and co-financing event the FORUM opens on Monday, giving increasing space to cross media projects and new media commissioners as it attempts to keep up with the rapidly changing nature of content delivery across the world.

Cut Out the Middleman

Onlinefilm Ag CEO Cay Wesnigk revealed yesterday that his web-based distribution company has secured further MEDIA development funding from 2009.

Docs for Sale Launches Online Arm

Having physically changed its location last year to the Arti and Amicitae Arts Society building, IDFA’s Docs for Sale marketplace is on the move again – this time into cyberspace, with the launch of its online viewing service. Melanie Goodfellow talked to IDFA industry office chief Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen about the new developments.

Guests Galore

As ever, a wide array of unlikely guests is expected in Amsterdam during festival fortnight.

EDN welcomes member number 1000

EDN, the European Documentary Network, welcomed their 1000th member with a free observer seat at IDFA FORUM 2008.

Seven IDFA documentaries on Oscar shortlist

On 17 November, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences divulged the fifteen documentaries that are nominated for an Oscar in the 'Best Feature Documentary' category.

Top 10 compiled by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

This year’s Top 10 is compiled by Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter. A number of his own films will also be shown, and he will give a masterclass during the festival.

NISIMAZINE Workshop at IDFA 2008

MeccaPANZA, the Association for New Cinema, is organizing a workshop for emerging film journalists at IDFA 2008.

Visit the new IDFA website

The IDFA website is renewed! Beside a complete new look, several functionalities have been added. The media player makes it possible to watch films, trailers and reports fullscreen.

Premieres from the Lowlands

From now on, the IDFA programme section that spotlights documentaries from the Netherlands will be open only to world premières, and it will bear a new name: 'Premieres from the Lowlands'.

17 Documentaries from contemporary India

As part of the Amsterdam India Festival, IDFA presents 'East Side Stories', a programme of seventeen documentaries from contemporary India. East Side Stories focuses on a country in transition, and raises the question of how this development will continue.

Retrospective 2008: Frans Bromet

This year, a special programme is dedicated to the work of Dutch documentary maker and cameraman Frans Bromet. IDFA will be screening a selection of sixteen films, including 'Een tip van de sluier' from 1980.