Read all the latest news from the festival and IDFA's year-round programs here, in addition to in-depth articles.
With summer finally in our midst, we're eagerly embracing a new season of open-air screenings. Enter IDFA by Night, 10 days of unforgettable documentary film programming in collaboration with Pakhuis de Zwijger. All screenings are free. So, without further ado: see you under the stars.
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We are pleased to announce that IDFA’s markets are now open for all project and film submissions. As of today, project teams can submit their entries for IDFA Forum—including the Producers Connection, Forum Pitches, and Rough Cut Presentations—as well as for IDFA DocLab Forum and Docs for Sale.
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The IDFA DocLab R&D Program operates as a living lab and place for creative exchange during the annual International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. It explores specific research questions that arise from developments in the interactive and immersive storytelling field. Each year, an integral component of the IDFA DocLab research program is the R&D Summit, a think tank event for experts from all corners of the interactive and immersive storytelling industry to (re)connect with their peers around specific topics and share insights, questions, and recommendations that sprung from their various practices.
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The first 15 films in the catalogue have been supported by IDFA through the IDFA Bertha Fund or via their participation in IDFA Forum.
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IDFA’s Filmmaker Support department is delighted to present the third year of IDFA Project Space, the latest in the organization’s expanding slate of talent development programs. Taking place both in Amsterdam and online from June to September, IDFA Project Space has selected sixteen international filmmaking teams with a documentary project in progress—either in the development and production or editing phase. Next to the anticipated return to meeting in person, the full week of tutoring and high-profile plenary sessions (previously known as IDFAcademy Summer School) in July will provide projects with tailored and in-depth support.
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On May 21, the lauded documentary filmmaker Heddy Honigmann passed away at the age of 70. Her body of work, for which she received the Living Legend Award from IDFA in 2013, revolved around intimate encounters rooted in a deep bond of trust. She was known for her socio-political engagement and her tender approach, which she was able to make tangible in a very unique way in her films.
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The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) remains extremely disturbed by continued reports of arrests of filmmakers in Iran and demands an end to a growing environment of fear and insecurity in which filmmakers live and work.
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On Sunday, June 12, two special IDFA programs will take place at cinema Het Ketelhuis in Amsterdam: the IDFA Junior Morning for children age 9 and up, and the IDFA Junior Afternoon for children age 12 and up. Enjoy great youth documentary films, Q&A's with the makers, performances and fun activities. Grab this unique opportunity to have a great film day with your kids!
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Join the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation and IDFA for a screening of and a panel discussion about ‘Wild Relatives’ by filmmaker Jumana Manna, which follows the transaction of seeds between the Svalbard Seed Vault and the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, and captures a matrix of human and non-human lives between these two distant spots of the earth.
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Director Mariam Al-Dhubhani and producer Mohammed Al-Jaberi have taken home the IDFA Spotlight Award for their project Let’s Play Soldiers, part of the Documentary Work in Progress track at Beirut Cinema Platform. Pitched as a powerful coming-of-age film on Nasser, a child soldier in Yemen, the project has been hailed for its sensitive approach as it seeks to reclaim representation of Yemenis. Winning the award has secured travel and stay at IDFA 2022 for the director, and festival accreditation, a professional consultancy, and participation in the online sessions of IDFA Project Space for both the director and producer.
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