In support of filmmakers

Faced with a tough year ahead, IDFA’s newly appointed Deputy Director and Head of the Filmmaker Support department Isabel Arrate Fernandez sought alternative ways of supporting documentary filmmakers in 2020. “We came up with a completely different setup,” she says—one that brings funding and talent development together. “In spring, we introduced the Filmmaker Support department: a new department that merged IDFA’s funding and talent development activities. The team exists for the creative support of filmmakers, with an emphasis on artistic freedom. While IDFA has developed into a yearly event not to be missed for the international industry, it’s just as important to endorse and empower filmmakers from all over the world and support them in their creative work. It’s necessary to cherish and safeguard a space where there is freedom to imagine the potential of what documentary cinema can be. “As part of the new department, we launched another talent development program: IDFA Project Space. Offering tailor-made support, the first phase of the program took place online in July, matching 10 project teams with international mentorship, one-on-one sessions, and lots of extra activities depending on the stage of the project and the teams’ individual needs. Looking ahead, IDFA Project Space will continue offering a broad array of sessions throughout the year. As long as on-site workshops remain not possible, we’ll focus on reaching mainly IDFA alumni, including filmmakers from the IDFA Competition for First Appearance, the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF), and IDFAcademy. “We also continued with our existing activities at the IBF and IDFAcademy, but had to find new solutions to accommodate the situation. Fortunately the IBF, supported by the Bertha Foundation and Creative Europe, was able to continue grants and tailor-made support activities in 2020. Not only did we keep funding projects from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe—we actually funded more. Since many more filmmakers applied for the IBF Classic during the pandemic, we received extra support from the Ford Foundation so we could select additional projects. In the end, the IBF supported 35 projects in 2020 through our various grant programs.

“IDFA’s talent development activities, headed by Meike Statema, continued online in 2020. Like every year, we ran several support tracks throughout the year for Dutch talents, such as the IDFAcademy & NPO Fund Workshop and ZappDoc Lab, providing them with an opportunity to connect internationally. Although these workshops did follow through in 2020, we offered them in an adapted, online form.