The IDFA – the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam – takes place annually in November and is one of the most important festivals for documentary film worldwide. With 3400 trade visitors, it is one of the most important industry events for the international documentary film scene. The short film has played a rather small role here so far. This will now change.
New programme regulations have opened the door to more short films in the IDFA’s festival programme. Notable changes include IDFA’s short film competition now standing as a premiere-only program section. Short documentary films must be slated for a European premiere, international premiere, or world premiere to be eligible for this revamped competition program.
Short films are now also permitted in all non-competitive sections that were previously reserved for feature-length documentaries. This includes the sections which exclusively show premieres such as “Frontlight” and “Luminous” as well as those sections which do not require a premiere such as “Masters” and “Best of Fests”. In 2019 there will therefore be considerably more short films to see at the IDFA than before.
The curator of the short film competition is Jasper Hokken, who is also responsible for the IDFA on Stage programme and, together with Raul Niño Zambrano, for the Dutch competition.
Documentaries completed after 30 April 2019 can still be submitted until 30 August for IDFA 2019.