Doc Mavens In Amsterdam

The who’s who of the international documentary film community will be descending on Amsterdam starting this week to attend IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. One of the event’s most pragmatic sections is the Docs For Sale initiative. Established in 1996, Docs For Sale has grown into one of the world’s premiere markets for documentary cinema. Every year, more than 250 TV buyers, sales agents, distributors and festival programmers convene in Amsterdam to watch the very latest documentaries in the Festival’s digitized screening facilities. This year, the Docs For Sale catalog contains some 450 new high-quality titles, broken down into categories such as human interest, auteur cinema, art/music/culture, and history/politics. The market’s cutting-edge Intranet system allows participants access to the entire catalogue from one of 60 viewing booths. The options include browsing through the catalogue or performing a goal-oriented search – by subject, genre, length, producer, director, or sales agent.

During Docs For Sale, producers and sales agents whose films have been accepted can obtain accurate, up-to-date information about who has viewed their films and to what extent potential buyers are interested in them. After the market is over, participants also receive the complete viewing report by e-mail. Adjacent to the viewing booths, the Docs for Sale Lounge provides the perfect place for producers and sales agents to meet with potential buyers and make deals or arrange follow-up meetings. Since 2008, Docs for Sale has been offering an online platform so that buyers and exhibitors can view documentaries from anywhere in the world. This means that even those who cannot make it to Amsterdam still stay abreast of the Docs for Sale selection. To view a list of the industry experts who are attending the event, visit: http://www.idfa.nl/industry/markets-funding/docs-for-sale/guest-list-2011.aspx

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