As Documentary Festival IDFA’s industry program, the Forum, opens today, the festival’s industry director, Adriek van Nieuwenhuizen, and artistic director, Isabel Arate Fernández, talk about the changing business environment and how the festival is responding to these changes by modifying its industry program.
Reflecting on the challenges facing documentary filmmakers in the market, Van Nieuwenhuijzen observes that there is a disconnect between what broadcasters and streamers consider to be worthy of investment in documentaries and IDFA’s view.
“Their definition of what a documentary is is often not the same as what we consider an interesting and important creative work,” Van Nieuwenhuizen says. “So it’s a matter of definition. At IDFA, we support artistic and daring filmmaking, which is not always celebrated, for example, by some TV stations and distributors. These opportunities are often found when co-producing with local, often European, producers and some multinational funds.However, when looking at the total funding opportunities, this is not a very positive outlook.
Van Nieuwenhuizen added that there is a “different reality” for filmmakers. “While some are making feature films for €300,000, we are still getting films with budgets close to €1 million,” she says. “They all exist side by side, and both types of projects are programmed side by side in the forum.”
Fernandes added that in previous editions, IDFA has often considered how difficult it is for filmmakers to survive financially, especially as the market appears to be in a continuous cycle of change. “The steps we have taken with this change[to the Forum]are relevant to that in the sense that we continue to adapt the market model to suit the realities of the people making films,” she says. “At the very least, we’ve tried to create more opportunities and spaces where different ways of making films and different ways of collaborating can exist.”
Van Nieuwenhuijzen emphasizes the festival’s desire to “elevate” artistic documentaries, and to that end, she explains, finding a co-producer was a priority, rather than pursuing requests from broadcasters and streamers.
Four years ago, this led to the creation of Producer’s Connection Presentations, which aims to connect producers of artistic documentaries with co-production partners. Meanwhile, projects that wanted to target broadcaster and streamer buyers focused on forum pitch sessions.
This year, in a further effort to boost the potential of artistic documentation, Producer’s Connection presentations and Forum pitches will be held in parallel at the ITA on Monday and Tuesday mornings, with Forum guests able to attend both, and Van Nieuwenhuijzen says the integration will ensure that artistic projects “get more attention.”
Fernandez added that the goal of the changes is to burst the various bubbles in which professionals exist and “create crossovers where people are inspired by something that’s happening in areas they don’t normally work in, or movies they don’t normally watch.”
Another change is the introduction of themed panels in the forums to replace post-pitch feedback from buyers. IDFA said the thematic panels were “curated around specific funding models and are intended to provide filmmakers with practical insights to navigate the current documentary funding environment.”
IDFA added that one-on-one meetings with potential buyers and collaborators will remain a core element of the forum, “enabling deep conversations about artistic intentions, financial plans and potential collaborations.”
Thematic panels will be “very small, informal presentations” by industry representatives “explaining their formats, strategies and strategies,” Van Nieuwenhuizen said. She says some examples of questions that might be posed include: How do I find broadcasters and funders in France? How do multinational funds work? What are the possibilities for Eurimages? Or what are the opportunities for co-production with the Nordic countries?
Fernández commented that the festival and the forum are working together to create a “meeting place” for filmmakers, producers and buyers, hosting a wide range of documentaries. All divisions of IDFA, including the Bertha Foundation, are “interrelated but at the same time independently operated” and the forum is aimed at professionals with different interests than the festival’s general attendees, although there are “overlapping circles” as well.
It is worth noting that IDFA’s reputation for inclusivity was called into question last month, when several media outlets, including Variety, claimed that IDFA does not select Israeli films or allow Israeli filmmakers to apply for certification.
The festival rejected this claim, but acknowledged that it did not accept films or filmmakers who received funding from the Israeli government, and that it had joined the cultural boycott of Israel in line with existing guidelines (see here).
“Filmmakers and films are typically not selected if they have clear ties to governments that lead to serious human rights violations,” IDFA said in a statement.
Israeli film experts see the issue differently, as Variety magazine’s report on the issue shows.
