IDFA Forum 2015 selection announced

IDFA’s international co-finance and production market, the IDFA Forum, will take place in the Compagnietheater in Amsterdam from 23 to 25 November. 

During this market, filmmakers and producers will present their documentary projects to representatives of international television stations, online platforms, distributors and funds with the aim of finding finance and distribution for their documentary projects. 

A total of 59 projects has been selected for the upcoming edition of the IDFA Forum, including new projects by Victor Kossakovsky, Raoul Peck, Leonard Retel Helmrich, Brian Hill and Mads Brügger. The IDFA 2015 program includes 23 documentaries and one interactive project which were pitched as projects at previous editions of the IDFA Forum. 

IDFA Forum Selection 2015 

This year, 600 projects were submitted – a record number since the foundation of the IDFA Forum in 1993. 

A committee of international experts has selected 59 of these projects, with the selection reflecting the variety found within the documentary genre. For example: observational, investigative, historical and socially urgent documentary projects have been selected. 

Alongside the variety of styles and topics, a wide range of countries is also represented, with 22 different countries of origin present within the IDFA Forum selection. 

The majority of the projects are linear, creative documentaries: ten cross-media/transmedia documentary projects have also been selected, including by Oscar Raby and Bregtje van der Haak.

Three projects are included in the selection that were previously selected by the IDFA Bertha Fund. 

The principal criteria in the selection of the projects were the originality and visual expressiveness of the project and the filmed material. 

The projects are categorised depending on genre, stage of development and finance. 

The Central Pitches are for projects at an advanced stage in terms of finance and development. 

The Round Table pitches are intended for projects at an earlier stage of development and finance. Alongside the public sessions, all of the projects also have individual meetings with potential financiers, distributors and potential co-producers. 

For the second year, attention will also be focused on youth documentaries. 

The Norwegian project Tongue Cutters will be pitched and the international finance possibilities for this genre will then be discussed in an Industry Talk following the pitch. 

IDFA Forum films at IDFA 2015 

Some 90% of the projects presented at the IDFA Forum are eventually produced. 

This year too, a number of films pitched as projects at previous editions of the IDFA Forum are included in the IDFA program. 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2014 

Alisa in Warland by Liubov Durakova and Alisa Kovalenko (Poland) 

Rebels by Kari Ann Moe (Norway) 

Say Something by Åsa Ekman (Sweden) 

Thank You For Playing by David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Warrall (USA) 

Thru You Princess by Ido Haar (Israel) 

Varicella by Victor Kossakovsky (Norway) 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2013 

Banking Nature by Sandrine Feydel and Denis Delestrac (France) 

Bolshoi Babylon by Nick Read (Russia / UK) 

A Flickering Truth by Pietra Brettkelly (New Zeeland) 

Guantanamo's Child: Omar Khadr by Patrick Reed (Canada) 

How to Change the World by Jerry Rothwell (UK) 

Motley's Law by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi (Denmark) 

The Pearl Button by Patricio Guzmán (France) 

The Road by Zanbo Zhang (China) 

A Syrian Love Story by Sean McAlister (UK) 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2012 

The Chinese Mayor by Hao Zhou (China) 

Don’t Blink: Robert Frank by Laura Israel (USA) 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2011 

Democracy by David Bernet (Germany) 

Jheronimus Bosch, Touched by the Devil by Pieter van Huystee (the Netherlands) 

Maiko – Dancing Child by Anita Rehoff Larsen and Åse Svenheim Drivenes (Norway) 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2009 

Beyond My Grandfather Allende by Marcia Tambutti (Chile) 

Pitched during the IDFA Forum 2005 

Return of the Atom by Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola (Finland / Germany) 

The IDFA Forum is made possible thanks to financial support from Creative Europe and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.