About the IDA

Since 1982, the International Documentary Association has worked to promote nonfiction film and video, support the efforts of documentary film and video makers around the world and increase public appreciation for the documentary form.

HISTORY & ACTIVITIES

History

The IDA was founded in 1982 as a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to supporting the efforts of nonfiction film and video makers throughout the United States and the world; promoting the documentary form; and expanding opportunities for the production, distribution, and exhibition of documentary. The IDA is committed to continuing its efforts to increase public appreciation and demand for documentary films, videos, and television programs across all ethnic, political and socioeconomic boundaries.

Activities

Over the past twenty-six years IDA has served as a forum and voice for documentarians around the world. IDA currently serves over 2,800 members in over 50 countries, offering programs, seminars, lectures, workshops, and screenings for those members and the general public. Our major activities include:

IDA MAGAZINE, WEBSITE AND ONLINE NEWSLETTER

IDA publishes its quarterly magazine, Documentary, devoted exclusively to nonfiction media. Documentary is sent to all IDA members around the world and made available to an expanding general readership through bookstores, newsstands, and festivals. IDA’s Documentary magazine, website, www.documentary.org, and the bi-monthly e-newsletter sent to all IDA members, serve a critical role in linking the local and international nonfiction film and video community to create a more informed and appreciative audience for documentaries.

FISCAL SPONSORSHIP

IDA serves as a fiscal sponsor for more than 300 independent nonfiction projects each year. Under its 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella, IDA accepts grants and donations for those projects approved to participate in its Fiscal Sponsorship Program, thereby supporting worthwhile programs that would otherwise have difficulty finding funding.

AWARDS

The IDA Awards Competition is the foremost genre-specific event dedicated to the documentary film. To honor the excellence and promise of documentarians, IDA presents awards annually to professional and student documentary filmmakers at the IDA Awards Gala every December. Awards are given for Distinguished Documentary Achievement, Career Achievement, and Preservation and Scholarship. In addition, donors have endowed special recognition awards which are also presented, such as the David L. Wolper Student Award, the ABCNews VideoSource Award, The Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award, the Pare Lorentz Award, and the Alan Ett Music Documentary Award. The general public has a chance to see the winning works at DocuFest™.

DOCUFEST™

DocuFest™, which takes place on the weekend following our Awards Gala, has been a popular event with an ever-growing audience. Past DocuFests™ have screened such celebrated work as A Walk to Beautiful, Born Into Brothels, Fahrenheit 9/11, We Are Together, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Angel’s Fire. Lively and thought provoking discussion sessions with the creators follow each screening at DocuFest™.

DOCUWEEK™ THEATRICAL DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE

IDA’s DOCUWEEK™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase, presents a public theatrical exhibition of outstanding new films. DOCUWEEK™ helps to qualify feature and short documentaries for Academy Award® consideration. DOCUWEEK™ was created in 1997. To date, DOCUWEEK™ has qualified 165 films yielding 15 Academy Award® nominees and garnering six coveted Oscars®. The films must meet all requirements for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Annual Academy Awards®, Special Rules for the Documentary Awards. Visit www.oscars.org.

OSCARS® GALA AND DOCUDAY™

IDA also celebrates the Academy Award® nominated films and filmmakers in both the feature and short subject categories with its annual Academy Award® Nominees Program or Gala and Reception, held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences headquarters in Beverly Hills. This tribute to each year's Academy Award® nominees is followed by DocuDay™ an all-day screening of the Academy Award® nominated documentaries in both the feature and short categories.

SEMINARS

IDA produces several seminars and workshops each year on subjects such as grant writing, production, distribution, using stock footage, legal issues, and marketing. These seminars and workshops are designed and moderated by veteran professionals, all volunteers, who look forward to giving back to the documentary community.

OUTREACH / DOCS ROCK

As part of its Outreach Program, IDA has developed a digital documentary film curriculum for secondary schools that drives critical thinking and production into both Visual Arts and English standards. DOCS ROCK was created in 2001 at San Pedro High School and was developed in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the City of Los Angeles.

NATPE AND MIPTV

IDA facilitates the participation of its members and their programs at the largest television markets in the world. For the past several years, IDA has co-sponsored a booth which serves as an information center and home base for independent producers, buyers and distributors working in non-fiction. Recently NATPE added IDA as co-producer of the documentary panel held at the conference. IDA has also forged links for its members at the international television markets, MIPDOC, MIPTV and MIPCOM.

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