A VISUAL HISTORY 15 years of the IDFA Fund The IDFA Fund works with filmmakers and festivals in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe seeking to make a difference in their own countries. Creating opportunities to finance and screen documentaries allows powerful, urgent stories to reach audiences worldwide. The architecture office XML, in collaboration with the IDFA Fund, has created a series of visual stories to show the diversity and reach of the IDFA Fund over the past 15 years and the role it has played in giving documentary filmmakers from non-Western countries a voice in an industry dominated by the West.
Transcript
A VisuAl History15 years of the iDFA Fund
The IDFA Fund works with filmmakers and festivals in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe seeking to make a difference in their own countries. Creating opportunities to finance and screen documentaries allows powerful, urgent stories to reach audiences worldwide.The architecture office XML, in collaboration with the IDFA Fund, has created a series of visual stories to show the diversity and reach of the IDFA Fund over the past 15 years and the role it has played in giving documentary filmmakers from non-Western countries a voice in an industry dominated by the West.
Int. Film Festival UruguayCape Winelands Film Festival
Zanzibar Int. Film Festival
Las Vegas Int. Film Festival
Vancouver Int. Film Festival
Auburn Int. Fest. for Children & Young Adults
Yamagata Int. Documentary Film Festival
Kazan City Int. Film Festival
Taiwan Int. Documentary Festival
Jakarta Int. Film Festival
Busan Int. Film Festival
Mexico Int. Film Festival
3
2
1
Bilal premieres in the IDFA Fund screenings at IDFA 2008.
Bilal then screens at 52 film festivals worldwide.
The documentary Bilal is produced in Calcutta, India, thanks to support from the IDFA Fund.
The IDFA Fund allows documentary filmmakers from developing countries to join the international documentary scene.
Opportunities
The IDFA Fund works as a catalyst: most of the budget is obtained after support has been received from the IDFA Fund.
On average, the IDFA Fund contributes 13% of selected projects’ budgets.
On average, projects have just 19% of their budget in place when they apply to the IDFA Fund.
A contribution from the IDFA Fund attracts other financiers.
Missing Link
5 Broken Cameras premieres at IDFA in 2011.
‘Uniquely powerful, putting faces and human consequences to a political dispute that will seemingly never end.’
Burnat started filming after his fourth son was born in 2005. Since then, he produced 500 hours of footage. The IDFA Fund allowed him to edit this material into a film.
5 Broken Cameras
‘Startlingly intimate and direct. ‘
5 Broken Cameras started a debate about the conflict.
‘(A) powerful record of the Palestinian village of Bil’in’s course of civil disobedience.’
‘Presents vivid witness to the power of the image to help with…healing.’
‘(W)e so often hear of either a pro-Israel or an anti-Israel sentiment. Yes or no. On or off. 5 Broken Cameras proves that this situation is not that simple. ‘‘A compelling personal
tale.’
‘[A] rigorous and moving work of art.’
‘Eye-opening! Sharpened into an adrenalizing narrative...’
505.000 Results
The film is released theatrically in the USA, Canada, Japan, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Israel. AUDIENCE
The film goes on to screen at 52 film festivals.
5 Broken Cameras picks up 20 awards.
The documentary is broadcast on TV in 13 countries.
‘A balanced View’
IDFA Fund-supported documentaries help create a balanced view of developing countries.
Balanced View
Advanced economies according to the IMF.
Economies in transition, less developed economies and least developed economies according to the IMF.
29% of the films that screened at IDFA between 2008 and 2012 were produced in the rest of the world …
… of which 32% received support from the IDFA Fund.
71% of films that screened at IDFA between 2008 and 2012 were produced in the advanced economies.
The documentary scene is dominated by films made in the advanced economies.
The Rest and the West
In the Early Years (1998 – 2002), 50% of projects supported were in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
From 1998 to 2002, the IDFA Fund supported 24 documentaries from Latin America.
Of the 33 African projects supported between 2003 and 2007, 50% were festivals and workshops for filmmakers.
Recently, the IDFA Fund’s focus has shifted from Latin America and Eastern Europe towards countries with fragile, dictatorial regimes such as Syria, Afghanistan, Tunisia and Iraq.
In Recent Years (2008 – 2012), support for African documentaries, festivals and workshops accounts for more than 25% of the total. 10 documentaries have already been completed and 23 are currently in production.
In the Middle Years (2003 – 2007), Asia became more prominent in the Fund’s selections. Support for Chinese documentaries increased and countries such as Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Indonesia began to appear on the IDFA Fund map.
The IDFA Fund has helped boost the production of documentaries in development cooperation countries.
Catalyst
92%93% 99%
93%
Tonio was arrested on December 12, 2005 as a first degree murder suspect and was convicted.
However, Tonio was convicted again. He appealed his case. At his hearing, footage of his earlier trial was presented to the appellate court.
As a result, the appellate court overturned the verdict and released Tonio.
Presumed Guilty uncovers staggering facts about the Mexican judicial system.
...elevated Presumed Guilty to a box-office hit.
Presumed Guilty received an Emmy for Best Investigative Journalism.
Thanks to support from the IDFA Fund, the film could show Mexicans their justice system at work for the first time.
The judge suspended screenings of the film in Mexico on grounds of violation of privacy.
The film opened in Mexico in February 2011, after screening at several festivals.
This backfired gloriously. Pirate copies sold by street merchants...
92% of verdicts are based on no physical evidence.
93% of defendants never see a judge.
93 % of inmates are never shown their arrest warrant.
99% of accusations are based on a single witness testimony.
Presumed Guilty Tonio got a retrial thanks to help from the filmmakers and lawyers.
Police officers are rewarded for the number of arrests they make.
Even though, according to 5 witnesses, Tonio was 20 min. away from the crime scene.
IDFA Fund-supported documentaries tell stories that stimulate dialogue within communities.
Driver of Change
The IDFA Fund supported 33 documentaries in Argentina.
Since 1998, the IDFA Fund supported 126 projects in Latin America.
IDFA Fund supported 12 documentaries in Brazil
79 IDFA Fund documantaries from Latin America premiered at the IDFA festival
The IDFA Fund supported 19 festivals and workshops in Latin America.
With support of the IDFA Fund, EDOC (Encuentros del Otro Cine) celebrates its tenth anniversary.
Support from the IDFA Fund has played a major role in forming a documentary community in Latin America.
Latin America
Addicted in Afghanistan screened at 40 international and 6 regional festivals.
The Malaysian documentary The Last Communist screened at 9 regional festivals.
The South African film See Point Days screened at 15 local and regional festivals.
Tambogrande: Mangos, Murder, Mining screened at 24 festivals in South America.
Dolls - A Woman from Damascus played at 5 regional festivals.
Looking at the Life Through My Eyes screened at 9 regional festivals.
The documentary Journalistsproduced in Belarus screened at 9 regional festivals.
Shakespeare and Victor Hugo´s Intimacies played at 35 regional festivals.
The Banglasdeshi film The Last Rites played at 15 regional festivals.
Congo in 4 Acts screened at 17 African film festivals.
Documentaries supported by the IDFA Fund are proving popular in their home countries and regions.
Local effect
The IDFA Fund has supported 8 documentaries in Mexico.
The IDFA Fund has supported 10 projects in China, 5 of which were documentary festivals.
The IDFA Fund has supported 13 documentaries in Iran. Iran ranks 175th on the Press Freedom Index.
The IDFA Fund has supported 8 projects in Palestine.
The IDFA Fund has supported several editions of Doc à Tunis.
During the past 5 years, the IDFA Fund has supported 4 projects in Indonesia.
In Kinshasa, the IDFA Fund supported the Balabala Cine mobile documentary cinema.
4
The IDFA Fund has supported 3 editions of the Int. Documentary Festival in Agadir, a platform for freedom of expression.
No. of projects supportedbetween 2008 - 2012good situationsatisfactory situationnoticeable situationdifficult situationvery sensitive situationno dataSource: Reporters without borders (2012)
3
3 3
3
3
355
5 5
4
44
44
4108
8136
Press FreedomThe IDFA Fund supports filmmakers working in countries where freedom of the press is limited.
NU
MB
ER O
F ID
FA S
UB
MIS
SIO
NS
IDFA FUND SUPPORT
Thanks to help from the IDFA Fund, a strong documentary scene has developed in the Balkans.
The number of films submitted is increasing.Number of films
submitted to IDFA from Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Amount of support given by the IDFA Fund to Croatian, Serbian and Bulgarian documentaries in EUR x 1,000.
