IDFAcademy during IDFA

During the festival, IDFA offers an intensive four-day training program for emerging documentary filmmakers and producers called IDFAcademy. 

IDFAcademy gives filmmakers the opportunity to meet a broad spectrum of highly esteemed documentary professionals who are willing to share their knowledge of the industry. During the training, the participants gain up-to-date market knowledge of the documentary industry and become street-smart about the current trends in documentary filmmaking. Trends and models in various parts of the world are dealt with to ensure that participants develop a broad view of the sector.

IDFAcademy is open to a maximum of 100 participants, who apply with a film that they want to distribute on the world stage, or a project that they would like to produce and/or finance internationally, and eventually distribute. This ensures that participants are constantly applying the general knowledge and advice to their own film or project during the four days.

IDFAcademy 2017 takes place November 16 – 19. Application is now closed; the participants will be announced in October.

Profile of Participants

The IDFAcademy program is open to documentary filmmakers and producers who have made no more than two documentaries, preferably between 20 and 90 minutes in length. These documentaries provide evidence of their talent. A finished course of study in film is a plus, but not a requirement. Film students are not eligible for the IDFAcademy.

Up until now, the filmmakers have operated primarily on the national level, where their films have been financed and screened. They now wish to broaden their careers by operating internationally. A few of the participants have films that are screening at IDFA. For most of them, IDFA is the first major international documentary film festival that they will attend.

Eligibility

IDFAcademy is primarily open to emerging filmmakers and producers from Europe (nationality). Please check the list of eligible European countries. Not from Europe? IDFAcademy also includes a limited number of non-European filmmakers and producers.

Filmmakers and producers who participated in previous editions of IDFAcademy are not eligible for IDFAcademy 2017.