International Documentary Association

The International Documentary Association (IDA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the work of documentary storytellers and champion a thriving and inclusive documentary culture. Through its funding programs, public screenings, and field-gathering events, the IDA works to uplift the documentary field. Since 2017, with significant seed funding from MacArthur, the IDA has operated the Enterprise Documentary Fund, designed to support documentaries that take journalistic approaches by diverse creators, while also connecting film teams to non-monetary resources. MacArthur support renews funding for the Enterprise Documentary Fund and the intended outcomes are multifaceted support for documentary filmmakers exploring critical issues.

The International Documentary Association (IDA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the work of documentary storytellers and champion a thriving and inclusive documentary culture. From September 27-29, the IDA convenes its biennial, filmmaker-to-filmmaker conference, Getting Real. The intended outcomes of this event are greater understanding and connection among the field of documentary filmmakers about the critical issues facing the documentary ecosystem.

The International Documentary Association (IDA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the work of documentary storytellers and champion a thriving and inclusive documentary culture. The IDA is the home of the Enterprise Documentary Fund, established in 2016, to provide grants to documentary film projects that employ investigative practices. In addition to grant funds, the Enterprise Fund provides documentary filmmakers with legal, digital, and research support through a number of partner institutions. This grant supports continued implementation of the Enterprise Fund. The outcome of these activities is that a diverse set of documentary filmmakers have access to the monetary and non-monetary support that enables them to complete their films on critical and underreported topics.

The International Documentary Association (IDA) supports documentary filmmakers by assisting with financial resources, providing educational opportunities, and protecting the rights of documentary filmmakers, artists and journalists. In 2017, the IDA, with support from MacArthur, launched the Enterprise Documentary Fund, which supports the development and production of feature-length documentaries that have a journalistic approach to storytelling. The Fund has garnered international attention and its Director, Carrie Lozano, has been invited to the Cannes Film Festival to speak about the program. This grant enables Lozano’s participation on a panel at Doc Day, a special daylong event focused on the art of documentary filmmaking, in its third year at the Cannes Film Festival. Participation in this panel allows IDA to introduce the Fund to an international network of filmmakers, funders, distributors and other industry representatives.

The International Documentary Association (IDA) is a nonprofit membership organization that works to address the needs of a global community of documentary filmmakers. It provides grants for documentary films; serves as a fiscal sponsor for documentary projects; convenes conferences to discuss issues facing the field; publishes the quarterly Documentary magazine; and honors the best in documentary film yearly at the IDA Awards. This award supports the implementation of a new grant program and the development of a network of multidisciplinary resources to support journalistic documentary films being produced by U.S. filmmakers. The intended outcome of this grant is that a greater number of documentary films by diverse filmmakers about critical contemporary issues are better resourced and protected, and therefore, better able to inform Americans about the human impacts of public policy.