Docs for Sale is IDFA’s distribution incubator and marketplace for creative documentaries. During the festival, accredited buyers, sales agents, distributors, and festival programmers can view documentary films in Amsterdam, meet with film teams in one-on-one meetings, and connect in the Docs for Sale Lounge. These film professionals can also stream the selected documentaries via our online viewing platform, for up to one year after the festival. The market also offers bespoke participation and networking services for filmmakers to successfully launch their film at IDFA.
Having your film in Docs for Sale means that it can be viewed by hundreds of potential buyers and festival programmers. If your film is selected for Docs for Sale, it will be included in the catalogue, which is available during the festival in the Docs for Sale viewing booths as well as in an online secure environment for one year.
Docs for Sale focuses on creative documentaries. Non-fiction genres such as nature documentaries, corporate films, travelogues and informational films are not eligible for selection. Of the films that are ultimately presented in the market, many of them are also presented at IDFA in competitive and non-competitive sections. Others include films that Docs for Sale selects itself, on the basis of submissions that we believe are interesting for buyers and sales agents, including classic documentary storytelling and seralized content. If your film is older than one year, it will not be accepted for the Docs for Sale catalogue.
Viewing reports
If you have a film in the Docs for Sale catalogue, you can log in to your MyIDFA account at any time to get the latest information about who has viewed your documentary, and whether they have left any comments.
Meet up with buyers or festival programmers
The 2022 edition of Docs for Sale will be an in-person event at our new markets venue Felix Meritis (Keizergracht 324). There, the Docs for Sale team pre-arranges one-on-one meetings between professionals with a film in the catalogue and potential buyers. Felix Meritis is also home to dedicated Docs for Sale Lounge where you can connect with other professionals attending the markets.
The Docs for Sale staff are always willing to help you meet the right people, but it’s also important to study the market beforehand. You should know what kind of film you are trying to sell and who might be interested in it. In the weeks leading up to the festival, you can find the Docs for Sale Guest List on our website, so you know who will be attending the market in Amsterdam.
Contact details and profiles of buyers and sales agents
If your film is selected for the Docs for Sale catalogue, you will have access to the contact details of all registered buyers via the online Guest List. This means you can introduce your documentary to registered buyers by sending e-mails to the ones whose profile corresponds to your film. Spamming everybody is not a good idea. Instead, do your homework to find out who might be interested in your film.
The profiles of the potential buyers and their contact information will be available on our website at the end of September. We encourage you to reach out and plan meetings with market guests that you can subsequently hold in the Felix Meritis Business Lounge, accessible to all Forum and Docs for Sale passholders.
IDFA has a contract with Vimeo as the provider of HD-quality streaming video on our website. All video materials will be uploaded to a private Vimeo Business account managed by IDFA. Vimeo is a global platform and is used as an industry standard for filmmakers to share and present their work online. Over the past years more than 95% of all submissions to IDFA have allowed full access to content residing on Vimeo already.
To upload your file for your Docs for Sale submission you do not need to create a Vimeo account as we have that covered with our own Business account. All we need from you is a video file of the final cut of your film, encoded according to Vimeo's compression guidelines. You need to upload the file directly onto our viewing platform through the automatically generated link you will receive after submitting the entry form.
We will, however, also need a preview link to preview your film upon selecting it – it can be a link to Vimeo, but also any similar streaming platform. You can provide this link in the Docs for Sale entry form.
Your film will be online for one year.
Docs for Sale online gives buyers access to a wide range of documentaries from anywhere in the world. This online documentary platform contains award-winning titles selected for IDFA as well as other important documentaries that shouldn’t be missed. You can watch documentaries online at your convenience. You’ll be able to browse through the catalogue or perform a search – by subject, genre, length, etc.
Contact the sales representative of the film directly
You can contact the sales representative of the film directly by clicking on the person’s name.
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Professionals (entrepreneurs) can submit a claim for refund of VAT charged by IDFA if:
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How to claim for a refund? This differs for EU entrepreneurs and non-EU entrepreneurs.
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