Partners, sponsors and Friends
Partners are crucial for a festival like IDFA. As the largest documentary film festival in the world, IDFA cannot exist without the support of Friends, Special Friends, and other donors. IDFA thanks all partners and Friends and looks back on a year with great partner events and the start of the brand new IDFA cinema in Vondelpark.
Deloitte Client Event at the Royal Theater Tuschinski featuring an introduction by Orwa Nyrabia (Artistic Director IDFA), Hans Honig (CEO Deloitte Netherlands), and Fredrik Gertten (director of Breaking Social). (Picture: Roger Cremers)
In many ways, 2023 was an eventful year. Not least because of IDFA's move to the iconic pavilion in the Vondelpark, where a new cinema for documentary film was established. In the run-up to the official opening in March 2024, IDFA organized a series of documentary screenings and events in the autumn of 2023. This open and inclusive new venue will host film screenings and events throughout the year, offering many new opportunities for our partners, professionals, talent, and new audiences.
IDFA is very grateful and proud of the support of all the dedicated partners who, like us, want to promote and celebrate documentary film—both during the festival in November and throughout the rest of the year. The generous support of our partners gives us the opportunity to support and guide filmmakers worldwide in showing their work, engaging with audiences, and having meaningful discussions.
VPRO Extra: Breaking Social + Talk in Koninklijk Theater Carré (Picture: Pier van der Elsen)
IDFA 2023 had a significant number of partner events take place during the festival. IDFA also welcomed new partners, such as National Geographic, Documentary Films, GVB, ELJA Foundation, Brook Foundation, Cortazu, RSGA Design, and Stichting JC Art Fund. Here is an overview of some highlights:
- Awarding the NPO IDFA Audience Award: 20 Days in Mariupol
- The must-sees of IDFA 2023 selected by the editors of our media partners VPRO, de Volkskrant, De Groene Amsterdammer, and NTR
- The IDFA hits in Carré made possible by the VriendenLoterij
- Oxfam Novib Specials in Royal Theater Tuschinski
- Screenings and talks hosted by Mama Cash, OneWorld, and European Cultural Foundation
- The winner of the Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award: Selling a Colonial War by In-Soo Radstake
- Special curated nights with WePresent
- Industry events with Buma Music in Motion, Arte France, Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, and LaScam
- IDFA Meets x Nieuw West
- New club IDFA members, such as Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, and Andersson Elffers Felix
- The first Club IDFA Dinner in Het Documentaire Paviljoen in Vondelpark
- A morning screening hosted by Saeco
- Exclusive events with Deloitte, VriendenLoterij, Pinsent Masons, UNHCR, and a tailor-made program for InsingerGilissen
Friend of IDFA Marloes Michels“I support IDFA as a Friend because watching documentary films and immersing myself in IDFA for over a week each year immensely helps me keep my feet on the ground—in my daily life and my work. It also helps me gain inspiration, to be aware of the world’s challenges, and be reminded of the power of visualising these stories. IDFA always puts everything into perspective. For years now, it’s my go-to moment to recharge, reflect, and be inspired. More and more, I inspire and encourage colleagues and friends around me to join me in this.”
European Cultural Foundation“By supporting and collaborating with IDFA, we invite both the audience and ourselves to consider Europe in all its facets and complexity. The history of Europe comprises numerous stories told by various individuals with diverse perspectives. These narratives are essential for fostering a sense of connection but also for challenging where the status quo falls short.”
Bor Beekman (De Volkskrant)“IDFA has always been the foremost festival for documentary films that reveal what is happening in the world, pushing the boundaries of innovative and artistic cinema. Our collaboration with the festival felt logical from the outset: in terms of subject matter, this is precisely what we cover in our newspaper, both in the news and arts sections. But it goes beyond that: IDFA is also a community, a social gathering where our readers from across the country feel deeply connected.”
Oxfam Novib Special: Queendom + Talk (Picture: Melle Meivogel)
Private donations
n 2023, we received more donations from individuals than in the previous year. Our loyal supporters, both Dikke Vrienden (Major Friends) and Vrienden (Friends), form a family of ambassadors around IDFA. We are immensely grateful for this support and the trust placed in our organization and the mission we stand for. Together, we believe in the power of documentaries as a high-quality, artistic source of information and reflection: films that help us understand the world and determine our own place within it, films that prompt us to think, see, and experience, so that we comprehend why we must advocate for others and are motivated to build better societies with more democracy, openness, and humanity.
Dikke Friend+ of IDFA Jan Willem Vosmeer“Documentaries are an incredibly beautiful art form where creativity and reality converge. These films offer me a penetrating insight into a world that I might otherwise never have encountered. I always look forward immensely to the Dikke Vrienden Diner at the end of October. I am excited by the film recommendations shared there and find it meaningful to meet the entire Program team of IDFA and speak with them personally.”
Dikke Vrienden Diner 2023 (Picture: Coen Dijkstra)
Thanks
IDFA uses a mix of financing sources to generate 75% of its own income, to create a solid financial foundation to minimize risks. In addition, IDFA is guided by a code of ethics and focuses on partnerships that are aligned with IDFA's priorities and core values. The support of partners and private donations were essential in making the 2023 edition of the festival a great success.
We would like to thank our structural subsidizers for making IDFA 2023 possible: the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Dikke Vrienden Diner 2023 (Picture: Coen Dijkstra)
Premium Partners of IDFA are VriendenLoterij and Deloitte.
Main partners of IDFA are VPRO, Fonds 21, de Volkskrant, WePresent by WeTransfer, Ammodo, NPO and Oxfam Novib.
Partners: InsingerGilissen, Beeld & Geluid, De Groene Amsterdammer, Mama Cash, National Geographic Documentary Films, Saeco, Cortazu, OneWorld, and Pinsent Masons
Funds: Creative Europe Media, Nederlands Filmfonds, Vfonds, VSBfonds, European Cultural Foundation, Vevam, Brook Foundation, Cultuurloket DigitALL, ClickNL, NPO-fonds, Dioraphte, Deloitte Impact Foundation, ELJA Foundation
All Club IDFA members, donors, suppliers, Friends, Special Friends(+) and Patrons who made the festival possible. This support has been essential for the 36th edition of International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. We would also like to thank everyone who contributed to IDFA's new home for documentary in the Vondelpark: Het Documentaire Paviljoen. With special thanks to Fonds 21, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, het Cultuurfonds, Province of North Holland, Municipality of Amsterdam, Brook Foundation, BPD Cultuurfonds and Vfonds, RSGA Design, JC Art Fund and all contributions from (Special) Friends and donors who contributed to the crowdfunding campaign. We would also like to express our great thanks to the 500 volunteers who make the festival possible every year.
