IDFA Announces 2009 Program of Documentary Films

IDFA, one of the the world's largest and arguably most prestigious film festivals, convenes in Amsterdam every November. This year's edition, the 26th festival, takes place from November 19 to 29, 2009. IDFA is an acronym for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

The festival's mission is to promote creative documentaries with politically relevant and socially conscious themes and to present them to as wide an audience as possible. Approximately 120,000 people attend each year, watching some 250 documentary features, mid-length films and shorts, and student documentaries -- a number of them in competition for juried and audience awards -- that are programmed during the eleven-day event.

In addition to the films in competition for juried and audience awards, the program includes Crude, The Cove, Food, Inc, Capitalism: A Love Story, We Are Together and other films that have already opened very successfully in the U.S, and represents a wide range of documentary styles. Check the IDFA Website for the full program.

In addition to presenting its international film program, the variety of genres and the many European and world premieres featured each year, the festival also hosts debates, forums and workshops.

I should mention that I have the honor of being a juror at IDFA this year, and will blog and Tweet from the festival.