Documentary Film Festivals

An annotated list of important documentary film festivals and their dates for 2012.

An Overview of the 2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New York version.

A report from Toronto's Hot Docs Festival 2012

A report from the Hot Hacks Workshop at Hot Docs 2012

An overview of the annual United Nations Association Film Festival which presents an international program of films that focus on human rights and related issues around the world.

Tribeca Film Festival 2012 presents twelve films in its World Documentary Feature Competition. Here's the list.

In addition to the twelve documentaries in its World Documentary Competition category, Tribeca Film Festival 2012 is presenting these feature-length documentaries in non-competitive categories.

Salem Film Fest is a top-quality annual documentaries-only festival held in Salem, Massachusetts each March. Here is an overview of the festival.

The International Film Festival Amsterdam has announced its deadline for filmmaker submissions for the 2012 festival program and associated events. Here's the schedule.

New York's Museum of Modern Art's Documentaries Fortnight, a two-week festival of nonfiction film and media, with screenings and other events, is on the cutting edge of documentary filmmaking.

The annual 'straight 8' documentaries competition gives filmmakers the chance of a screening at Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Cannes Film Festival.

The annual 'straight 8' documentaries competition gives filmmakers the chance of a screening at Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Cannes Film Festival.

Ally Derks opens the IDFA 2011 documentaries festival with a barometric speech about the current atmosphere in the documentaries world.

IDFA 2011 distributed about 57,000 Euros to awards winners in juried categories. Here's the list.

Amping up the debate about corporate sponsorship and branding of documentaries, Sheffield Doc/Fest initiates a survey and sets panel discussions to delve into the issues about what filmmakers relinquish when signing on for much-need corporate funding.

On overview of New York's prestigious Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, one of the oldest documentary film festivals in the United States.

The program of films selected for the 2011 Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, held November 11 to 14 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

A report on DOC NYC 2011, the second editon of New York's documentaries film festival.

A report from Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011, including coverage of the films and events that made the festival, held from June 8 to 12, a first rate documentary film event.

An overview of the annual Traverse City Film Festival, founded by controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore to bring independently produced films -- including documentaries and narrative features -- and cinema classics to the midwest.

The Traverse City Film Festival, founded by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, presents 35 awards, of which 13 are designated specifically for documentaries. Here's a list of the awards given to documentaries at the 2011 Traverse City Film Festival, held from July 26 to 31, 2011.

Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) and the Ford Foundation's JustFilms have partnered to launch the TFI New Media Fund, a six-year multi-million dollar initiative to find, fund and develop documentary projects that integrate the traditional documentary film format with newer media platforms, including video games and mobile apps, as well as social...

An overview of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, held annually in Durham, North Carolina.

Here is a list of the winners in the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival's nonfiction competitive categories, including World Documentary Competition, Best New Documentary Director, and others.

At the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, the all-star documentaries program features premieres of films by Errol Morris, Alex Gibney, Kim Longinotto and Werner Herzog (working in 3-D!), among others. Here's the list.

DOCBOAT presents about 70 documentaries to online viewers in Poland and around the world, and has a juried and audience prizes.

Documenta Film Festival presents more than 1000 documentaries from around the world, about 100 of which are featured in three competitive categories with monetary awards totaling more than 70,000 Euros.

There are hundreds of documentary film festivals around the world. Use this list to find those that are most appropriate and accessible for you.

A list of important international documentary film festivals in Europe, Asia and New Zealand.

A list of important Documentary Film Festivals in the United States and Canada.

A list of documentary film festivals that focus on specific themes, notably human rights or short films.

FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (SIIFF) is held annually in August in Providence, Rhode Island. Here's an overview.

Hamptons International Film Festival is a leading East Coast film festival that presents annual awards for documentary films as well as independent features. It takes place annually during October in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York.

Hot Docs, held annualy in Toronto, is the largest documentaries film festival in North America. This is a list of the 2009 awards, including those with monetary prizes.

Hot Docs annual film festival is North America's largest documentaries film festival, with a comprehensive screening program and opportunities for filmmakers to meet with distributors, marketers and moviegoers.

Slumdance Film Festival founder Brian Flemming's twelve step guide to establishing film festivals is intended primarily for venue-seeking filmmakers, but will work equally well for viewers who can't find festivals that meet their criteria, can't get to or into existing festivals, want to do something wonderful for their community, or are so addicted to docs they simply must have their own show.

Held in March in London, and in June in New York (at Lincoln Center for the Performing Art's Walter Reade Theater), the traveling Human Rights Watch International Film Festival screens documentaries about some of the world's most pressing social, political and economic issues, ranging from abuse of women and children, to the spread of HIV, to...

The 19th annual festival runs from June 13 to 26, presenting documentaries covering a wide range of current political and social issues, including injustice in Brazil's juvenile courts, child trafficking in China, rape in the Congo, the U.S. health insurance crisis, the murder of a crusading journalist and a human rights lawyer's battle to bring a killer dictator to trial. Several of the films fo…

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is dedicated to bringing public awareness to social and political issues around the world through the medium of film. The 2010 festival, scheduled in New York at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater from June 10 to 24, presents 30 films from 25 countries. The festival program was also presented in London from March 17 to 26.

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, held annually in March in London and in June in New York City, is the leading venue for socially oriented documentary films.

IDFA, the acronym for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, is one of the the world's largest and arguably most prestigious film festivals featuring documentaries exclusively. It takes place in November of each year, in Amsterdam.

Steve James is the curator for IDFA's Top Ten Documentaries in 2011. Here is the list of documentaries James has chosen for screening at IDFA 2011.

IFP Independent Film Week's Spotlight on Documentaries is one of the world's most important showcases for new and emerging documentary filmmakers and their projects. The IFP Marketplace is held in New York City annually in September. The 2008 dates are September 14-22.

The Los Angeles Film Festival 2008 presents ten feature length documentaries in competition for the Target Documentary Film Award and its $50,000 cash prize. Here's the list.

The Nantucket Film Festival spotlights screenwriters, screenwriting and storytelling in contemporary cinema -- including the documentaries genre. This is a list of the festival's 2010 nonfiction program.

Films selected for this year’s 30th anniversary Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s Native American Film and Video Festival reflect the richness and variety of Native American cinematic expressions, as filmmakers share their unique dreams and concerns, as well as those of their varied communities, through the art of the moving image.

New York Documentary Film Festival is the American extension of the Florence, Italy-based Festival dei Popoli, the oldest documentaries festival in Europe. The third annual festival, set at New York's Anthology Film Archives, presents 18 films in five days from May 26 to 30, 2010.

Basic information about the AFI Silver Docs Film Festival, held annually in Silver Spring, Maryland in June. Festival history and programs are included.

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, held annually in July and August, focuses primarily on Jewish cinema from around the world. The festival promotes awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people. The event is intended to create community and strengthen consciousness of Jewish identity, history and culture, and to provide a forum for exploration of and discussion about t…

A list of documentary features in competition at the 2010 Silver Docs Film Festival, held in Silver Spring, Maryland, from June 21 to June 27, 2010.

The list of award winning documentary films from SILVERDOCS 2009 Documentary Film Festival, held in Silver Spring, Maryland from June 15 to 22.

The list of feature length documentaries in AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs 2010 Sterling World Feature Competition. The 2010 Silverdocs festival takes place in Silver Spring, Maryland, from June 21 to 27, 2010.

The 2008 Sundance Film Festival presents 16 docs in competition, all made by American independent filmmakers. Each is a world premiere. The subjects range from the nation's use of natural resources and political system to intimate portraits of artists and wider studies of cultural trends. The selection was made from 953 submissions, a record-setting number in the documentaries category. Look for…

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival, set in Park City from January 15-25, premieres 32 docs in two categories of competition: 16 are by American filmmakers, 16 are from World Cinema. Subjects include current events, political analysis, environmental issues, cultural trends and portraits of iconic artists. The American films were selected from a record-breaking 953 submissions. There were 620 internat…

For the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, 12 documentaries selected from 782 submissions from around the world have been selected for the World Documentary Film Competition.

Sundance Film Festival 2010 presents the world premieres of sixteen films in its U.S. Documentaries Competition. Included are films by Davis Guggenheim, Alex Gibney, Leon Gast, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, among other leading documentary filmmakers.

SXSW's 2009 line up of documentary films in all categories, including documentary feature competition, SX Global, 24 Beats Per Minute, Lone Star States and others.

The Toronto Film Festival is an important North American film festival, premiering documentaries from around the world. This is the list, with descriptions, of documentaries presented at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival (September 10-19, 2009)

48 documentaries from 18 countries at Toronto International Film Festival 2008 cover subjects ranging from creation of a Broadway hit musical to finding the next Tibetan lama, and from fighting whaling in Antarctica to watching a cattle auction. Track these films on the festivals circuit, releasing theatrically, television or DVD. They'll inform...

Toronto International Film Festival programmer Thom Powers is a powerhouse in the documentary film world. His recognition of a film’s qualities can create a film’s festival afterlife. Read his comments about documentary film selection for Toronto International Film Festival 2008.

Tribeca Film Festival is a major international film festival that takes place in New York City every April. The festival premieres documentaries and narrative features, as well as documentary and narrative shorts.

The list of 2008 Tribeca Film Festival jurors for all categories of awards and prizes.

Tribeca Film Fesival 2008's World Documentary Competition's twelve films from seven countries take audiences to a Baghdad high school, a New Jersey prison, behind-the-scenes at The Public Theater and other intriguing places--and present compelling personal stories, investigations of important global events and issues, and new perspectives on...

The Tribeca Film Festival recognizes excellence in documentary filmmaking with awards for Best Documentary Feature, Best New Documentary Filmmaker, Best New York Documentary, Best Documentary Short. In addition, there are special jury mentions. This is a list of the winners in all categories.

2008 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Awards

Hamptons International Film Festival 2010 features documentaries in several categories, including World Cinema Documentary, Golden Starfish Documentary Competition, Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition (which includes both documentary and fiction), and Special Screenings. Here you will find the featured documentaries listed by category.

At the opening of IDFA 2010, Festival Director Ally Derks delivers an impassioned speech that sums up the importance and current state of documentary filmmaking in the Netherlands, and around the world, especially targeting funding cutbacks. IDFA is the largest and arguably most important documentaries-only film festival in the world. Derks...

An annotated list of documentary films that won awards at IDFA 2010.

An overview of Sheffield Doc/Fest, the noted international documentaries film festival that takes place annualy in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

List of 2011 Sundance Film Festival Awards for documentary films in U.S. and World Cinema competitions.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City presents its 2011 Documentaries Fortnight, a two-week program of outstanding documentary films from around the world, from February 16 to 28, celebrating the festival's 10th anniversary. The schedule includes 20 feature-length documentary films representing 14 countries, and thematic programming that...

The program of the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents 19 films that explore human rights issues around the globe. The Festival takes place from June 16 to 30, 2011, at New York's Lincoln Center.

A List of awards presented at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011

The Games For Change Festival (G4C) is an annual gathering at which digital games developers and social activists exchange information, have panel discussions and workshops about how digital and video games, and mobile apps can be used to raise awareness about social, political and economic issues, educate school children and the general public...

The 2011 Silverdocs Transmedia Lab offered six filmmaking teams the opportunity to compete for a $5,000 grant to develop multiplatform interactive projects -- including Websites, digital games and social media campaigns -- for their documentary films.

Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis chronicle ongoing international efforts to bring José Efraín Ríos Montt, the Guatemalan dictator and military commander, to justice for his role in the genocide in that country. Yates provides prosecutors with archival footage she shot for a previous documentary as evidence of Montt's guilt.

The Camden International Film Festival, focusing exclusively on nonfiction film, takes place annually in Camden and Rockport, Maine. This overview of the festival provides you with all the basic details.

An Annotated List of Documentaries Screening at Toronto International Film Festival 2011.

Richard Pena, the longterm Film Programmer for the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Chair of of the Selection Committee for the New York Film Festival will leave both posts in 2012.