The International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA), which begins next week, will be a bell weather on the current state of the art of non-fiction film and video production. High on its priority list is the charting of technological innovations that are transforming the medium. IDFA will present three exciting programs that will help attending filmmakers, distributors and new media mavens examine the changes ahead in the media landscape.

To focus attention on how the "new media" will effect everything from production to post-production to eventual exhibition and consumer outreach, IDFA will convene a parallel Conference during the event, which has been dubbed DocAgora.

The very first DocAgora will take place on November 30, during the heart of the 10-day long event, at the cultural venue Paradiso. The Conference will focus on the new forms of the creative documentary, new distribution platforms and new sources of financing. The goal of DocAgora is to develop and promote new strategies to ensure that the creative documentary does not get left behind in the dramatic changes that are effecting all aspects of the digital, multimedia future.

DocAgora will be based both in the virtual world, and will also will also touch down at IDFA and other key documentary festivals and markets around the world, at different points on the calendar, with peer-to-peer, face-to-interface meetings, panels, pitches and discusssions.

Participating professionals at the inaugural DocAgora include such new media innovators as Caterina Fake (Yahoo, and co-founder of Flickr), Patrick Crowe (Xenophile Media), Gillian Caldwell (Witness), Maria-Silvia Gatta (Head i2i Action, MEDIA Programme), Peter Broderick (Paradigm Consulting), Frank Boyd (Unexpected Media), Katerina Cizek (Filmmaker in Residence); Björn Koll (CinemaNet Europe), Diane Weyermann (Participant Productions), Emily Renshaw-Smith (FourDocs), Pat Aufderheide (Center for Social Media), Marc Goodchild (BBC Online), Frank Boyd (Unexpected Media) and Gerry Flahive (National Filmboard Canada).

Peter Broderick, Paradigm Consulting

Another parallel event is the Any Media Workshop, where sixteen filmmakers/content creators will take concrete ideas or existing material as a starting point, and develop projects over an intensive five day period. The workshop is organised by Mediamatic, and the topics to be covered include the mobile phone as a production tool, the role of the interactive audience, interactive stories, and the use of computer games for documentary aims. The exciting possibilites for new methods of story telling and reportage, combined with new avenues of distribution and consumer outreach will be extensively discussed and explored.

In addition, the Festival will present the third installment of its Docs Online project on Friday, November 24. In 2000, IDFA started Docs Online, a special program that focuses on the new methods and changes within the media landscape, demonstrated by those making non-fiction films and interested audiences who were looking beyond the traditional big or little screen to view them. This year's program, Docs Online 3, will present an intriguing mix of formats and themes, in collaboration with the Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund, Mediamatic and Cut-n-Paste.

Non-fiction and new media....IDFA will function as the matchmaker for this revolutionary and compelling marriage of form, content and distribution. Stay tuned.

Sandy Mandelberger
Festival Online Dailies Editor