Mission statement

IDFA believes in the power of documentary film as a high-quality, artistic form of information and reflection. In films that help us understand the world and determine our own place in it. In films that make us think, see, and experience so we are willing to stand up for others and build better societies with more democracy, openness, and humanity.

IDFA strives to strengthen the international documentary climate by focusing more than ever on documentary film as an art form. This focus includes documentary films with an original visual language or structure, films that show lesser-known cultures or are filmed from a non-Western perspective, and interactive or immersive documentaries that innovate the field.

Aesthetics, imagination, and inspiration: Rediscovering the balance between documentary as an art form and as a commercial product or mass medium.

Inclusion, diversity, polyphony, and solidarity: Showing and developing films and projects from around the world, made from a diverse and non-dominant perspective for a diverse audience.

Innovation: We wish to lead and innovate by actively seeking documentary films with new narrative forms and original visual language and structure. At the same time, the IDFA institute searches for concepts, formats, and programs that are followed globally—those which are innovative but with the classic values of cinema as a starting point.