Pitching Projects At IDFA Forum

IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, which has taken over this city with a fog as thick as the one that hugs this city of canals, has a very public face, with sold-out public screenings at all hours of the day or night. However, for professionals attending IDFA from all across Europe, indeed all across the world, the possibilities for making invaluable connections and in getting projects funded and sold, is paramount. IDFA Forum is specially designed as a pro-active co-production market, where producers pitch their latest projects to a hand-picked group of professional producers, broadcasters, sales agents and tastemakers. French filmmaker Thomas Balmes kicked off the event with a pitch for his latest project HAPPINESS. The film looks at the impact of television and new media on the remote mountain kingdom of Bhutan. HAPPINESS is one of 20 projects earmarked for Central Pitches this year from over 500 submissions (tough odds). The worldwide economic crisis has meant that new productions are harder to get off the ground, at the same time that technical innovation for low cost production and multi-platform distribution is just gaining traction. In addition to the 20 “big pitches” there will be almost 30 projects that will be presented in smaller roundtable networking sessions. There will also be discussions on several cross-media projects, which utilize crowd sourcing, interactivity and other cutting edge technologies to enhance the film’s central story. There are also some special sessions planned for arts and cultural documentaries, which brings filmmakers together with foundation and television resources that commission such fare, and a special forum on co-producing with Latin America and Scandinavia. . For more information, visit: www.idfa.nl

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