International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM - IDFA is one of the world's leading documentary film festivals, held annually in Amsterdam in November since 1988. The 23rd edition of IDFA will take place from 17-28 November 2010.

Press release August 9, 2010:

New festival dates: IDFA 2010 will take place from November 17-28
Every year, IDFA is drawing larger and larger crowds. In order to offer space to more people, this year’s IDFA will be one day longer. The festival will start on Wednesday, November 17 and go until Sunday, November 28.

This extension will have no effect on the scheduling of IDFA’s markets (Docs for Sale and the FORUM) and IDFAcademy, as the dates of these industry activities remain unchanged.

New guest pass this year: IDFA Guest Pass “Light”
You can get accredited for IDFA 2010 starting Monday, August 16 and will receive a separate call for accreditation very soon. In the meantime, we would like to inform you of an important change this year, namely the expansion of our accreditation possibilities with a new, slimmed down guest pass: The IDFA Guest Pass Light.

IDFA offers documentary professionals a variety of passes that provide access to the festival, its markets Docs for Sale and the FORUM, and IDFAcademy, our training program for young filmmakers.

This year, in addition to the regular IDFA Guest Pass (€210), you also have the option to purchase an IDFA Guest Pass Light for €100. Like the normal Guest Pass, this “lighter” variant provides access to all industry screenings, talk shows and debates, as well as the daily Guests Meet Guests cocktail hour, but it does not offer free admission to regular festival screenings and master classes. That said, the Guest Pass Light allows you to purchase tickets to regular screenings for a discounted price of €6.50 each.

For more information about this year's guest passes and their different benefits, see our accreditation guidelines.

Reminder: Call for Entry Docs for Sale
Docs for Sale is the leading marketplace for creative documentaries, offering streaming video all year round and excellent network opportunities for buyers and sellers of quality documentaries. The 15th edition of Docs for Sale will take place from 19-26 November.

We would like to invite you to submit your documentary to Docs for Sale (Online). Upcoming deadlines are:

15 August: your documentary will be online on 1 September 2010 and placed in the Docs for Sale catalogue during IDFA
15 September: your documentary will be online on 8 November 2010 and placed in the Docs for Sale catalogue during IDFA
Note that this year's deadline is earlier than in previous years. This way we can put most of the documentaries online before the festival opens, so buyers can watch films prior to their visit to Amsterdam.

For more information on regulations and how to apply, please visit: www.idfa.nl/docsforsale.

Reminder: Call for Entry the FORUM
The FORUM, IDFA's international co-financing market for documentaries, is Europe's largest gathering of filmmakers, television commissioning editors, and independent documentary producers. The FORUM combines public pitches in various setups with over 500 prearranged individual meetings.

The FORUM 2010 takes place from 22-24 November. Producers with projects in any stage of financing and production may submit their documentary project. The deadline to enter your documentary project for the FORUM is 1 September.

For more information on regulations and how to enter, please visit: www.idfa.nl/theforum.

Submit your film or project using MyIDFA
In order to submit a film or project, you must create a MyIDFA account or use your MyIDFA account from previous years. This allows you to submit films and projects to IDFA, as well as to the Docs for Sale and FORUM markets.