Founded in 1988, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), is the largest film festival for documentaries which came into existence with a motive to stimulate national as well as international documentary culture. Held annually since its inception, it was first held in the Leidseplein area of Amsterdam but later spread to many other locations.
Considered as the most important documentary film festival, it continues to bring more buyers and industry players together than any other event. The are many filmmakers and a sizeable audience (more than 120,000) present at this festival and everyone at the event is accessible as there are no exclusive parties and the focus is more on the festival wide mixers and cocktail hours.
The IDFA is well known for its various European and world premiers it features every year, politically committed program, various genres and its unique international film program. At the event you will also find other interesting events such as the workshops, masterclasses, discussions and debates which are facilitated and complemented by an experienced staff.
IDFA is also known for placing the focus on creative documentaries, putting them on center stage and presenting them to as wide an audience as possible. The selection criteria for documentaries is extensive as well as complex but in the end, the festival chooses those which are creative and cinematic in expressing the filmmakers point of view.
Documentaries at the IDFA compete for six different awards and there are also other non-competitive programs at the festival. The competition can tend to get fierce as the festival screens more than 200 documentaries over the period of eleven days. However, its the best place for a documentary if the filmmaker wants to put it on American TV or European theaters.