Thursday, November 30----While it is true that most major international film festivals do showcase important documentary films, the explosion of documentary-only film festivals, as evidenced here at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam, is nothing less than an explosion. With brochures littering the industry areas, it is amazing and heartening to see such a massive public interest in the documentary form.

So, instead of writing a long article, I am simply going to list the ones I've picked up literature about. It is an amazingly diverse list, in terms of geography and scope. A documentary filmmaker could plan an entire year's travels circling the globe, having their film screened at this marathon of documentary festival events. It is yet another sign of the vitality and interest in the non-fiction form, which is truly an international phenomena. I guess the "need to know" is a strong impulse everywhere these days.

In no particular order:

HOT DOCS (Toronto, Canada)
DOK FEST (Munich, Germany)
DOC A TUNIS (Tunisia)
VISIONS DU REEL (Switzerland)
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FF (USA)
FULL FRAME (USA)
DOK LEIPZIG (Germany)
AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY CONFERENCE (Australia)
IMPAK FILM FESTIVAL (The Netherlands)
DOUCMENTARY IN EUROPE (Italy)
DOCS BARCELONA (Spain)
IT'S ALL TRUE DOC FESTIVAL (Brazil)
MOVIES THAT MATTER (The Netherlands)
JIHLAVA INTL DOCUMENTARY FF (Czech Republic)
GREEN FILM FESTIVAL (Seoul, Korea)
SILVERDOCS (Washington DC, USA)
TEMPO DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL (Sweden)
MERCADOC (Spain)
DOC POINT (Finland)
YAMAGATA INTL FILM FESTIVAL (Japan)
DOCKUNAMA (Mozambique)
RENCONTRES DU DOCUMENTAIRE (Montreal, Canada)
ZAGREB DOX (Croatia)
DOCUMENTAL MADRID (Spain)
SHEFFIELD INTL DOCUMENTARY FF (UK)
VERZIO HUMAN RIGHTS FF (Hungary)
TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL (USA)
DOC AVIV (Tel Aviv, Israel)
TAIWAN INTL DOCUMENTARY FF (Tapei, Taiwan)
HUMAN RIGHTS NIGHTS FF (Bologna, Italy)
FILM ON MUSIC FF (Prague, Czech Republic)
THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FF (Greece)
LENS POLITICA (Helsinki, Finland)
BRITDOC (Oxford, UK)

So, pack your bags, documentarians. The world awaits you.

Sandy Mandelberger
Festival Online Dailies Editor