Documentary film festivals

Film festivals

List of film festivals Europe North/Central America Oceania Documentary film festivals New Media art festivals

Documentary film festivals are film festivals devoted solely to documentary film, which is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality.

Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a television series. Documentary, as it applies here, works to identify a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.^[1]

In many cities around the world, documentary film festivals are held annually to showcase documentaries made that year. Many of them are theme or genre specific.

1 List of documentary film festivals
2 References

List of documentary film festivals

Africa

Name	Est.	City	Country	Website
Dockanema	2006	Maputo	Mozambique	www.dockanema.org
ENCOUNTERS	1999	Johannesburg, Cape Town	South Africa	www.encounters.co.za

Asia

Name	Est.	City	Country	Website
Freedom Film Fest	2003	Malaysia	Malaysia	freedomfilmfest.komas.org
Wildlife Asia Film Festival		Singapore	Singapore	www.wildlifeasia.org
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival	1989	Yamagata	Japan	www.yidff.jp
DOX BOX - Ayyam Cinema Al Waqe	2008	Damascus	Syria	www.dox-box.org
Development Film Festival	2005	Chennai	India	www.dhan.org/dff
GZDOC - Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival	2003	Guangzhou	China	www.gzdoc.com
Iran International Documentary Film Festival: Cinema Vérité	2007	Tehran	Iran	www.irandocfest.ir
PSBT Open Frame International Film Festival	2001	New Delhi	India	www.psbt.org
Jeevika:Asia Livelihood Documentary Competition	2003	Delhi	India	www.jeevika.org
Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival	1998	Taichung	Taiwan	tidf.tmoa.gov.tw
DocAviv Documentary Film Festival	1998	Tel Aviv	Israel	docaviv.co.il
ViBGYOR International Film Festival	2006	Thrissur	India	2009.vibgyorfilm.com
DocuDays Beirut International Documentary Film Festival	1999-2009	Beirut	Lebanon	www.docudays.com
SIGNS - Indian Festival of Documentaries and Short Features for John Abraham National Awards	2005	Thiruvavnanthapuram	India	www.ffsi.in

Europe

Name	Year Est.	City	Country	Website
A Film for Peace Festival	2006	Medea	Italy	www.unfilmperlapace.it
Biberach Independent Film Festival	2004	Biberach an der Riß	Germany	www.biff.easyweb.ag
Cinéma du Réel	1978	Paris	France	www.cinereel.org
International 1001 Documentary Festival	1998	Istanbul	Turkey	www.1001belgesel.net
Copenhagen International Documentary Festival - CPH:DOX	2003	Copenhagen	Denmark	www.cphdox.dk
ekotopfilm - International Festival of Sustainable Development Films	1974	Bratislava	Slovakia	www.ekotopfilm.sk
Festival dei Popoli	1959	Florence	Italy	www.festivaldeipopoli.org
International Health Film Festival	1994	Liege	Belgium	www.imagesante.org
Alanya Documentary Film Festival	2002	Alanya	Turkey	www.sinematekalanya.org.tr
DocPoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival	2002	Helsinki	Finland	www.docpoint.info
IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam	1988	Amsterdam	Netherlands	www.idfa.nl
IDFF Jihlava	1997	Jihlava	Czech Republic	www.dokument-festival.cz
DOK.FEST IDF Munich	1997	Munich	Germany	www.dokfest-muenchen.de
Dok Leipzig	1955	Leipzig	Germany	www.dokfestival-leipzig.de
International Golden Saffron Documentary Film Festival	2000	Karabük	Turkey	www.altinsafranbolu.com
doclisboa IDFF Lisbon	2004	Lisbon	Portugal	www.doclisboa.org
Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival	1992	Pärnu	Estonia	www.chaplin.ee/filmfestival
Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra		Pamplona	Spain	www.puntodevistafestival.com
Planet Doc Review	2004	Warsaw	Poland	www.docreview.pl/2010
Sheffield Doc/Fest	1994	Sheffield	United Kingdom	www.sidf.co.uk
Strasbourg International Film Festival	2008	Strasbourg	France	www.strasbourgfilmfest.com
Tekfestival. Ai confini del mondo... dentro l'Occidente	2001	Rome	Italy	www.tekfestival.it
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival	1999	Thessaloniki	Greece	www.filmfestival.gr
Hellenic Documentary Festival of Chalkida	2007	Chalkida	Greece	www.docfest.gr
Visions du réel	1969	Nyon	Switzerland	www.visionsdureel.ch
ZagrebDox	2005	Zagreb	Croatia	www.zagrebdox.net
Den Norske Dokumentarfilmfestivalen	2001	Volda	Norway	www.dokfilm.no
Festival dokumentarnega filma	1999	Ljubljana	Slovenia	www.fdf.si

North and South America

Name	Est.	City	Country	Notes	Website
Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival (DocuFest Atlanta)	2006	Atlanta, Georgia	United States	August 20–22, 2010, DocuFest Atlanta is held during Independent Film Month, a month-long celebration of independent film, August 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.	http://www.docufest.com
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival		Missoula, Montana	United States		http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org
Charleston International Film Festival	2007	Charleston, South Carolina	United States	April 8–11, 2010 at the American Theater 446 King St.	http://www.CharlestonIFF.com
Chicago International Documentary Festival	2003	Chicago, Illinois	United States		http://www.chicagodocfestival.org
Cine Pobre Film Festival		La Paz, Baja California Sur	Mexico		http://www.cinepobre.com
DocMiami International Film Festival		Doral, Florida	United States		http://docmiami.org
Ambulante Gira de Documentales	2006	Different cities around Mexico	Mexico	This is an annual traveling documentary film festival, which visits between twelve and sixteen cities around Mexico, with a program of up to fifty documentaries	http://www.ambulante.com.mx/
Festival Internacional de Cine Documental Ciudad de Mexico (DOCSDF)		Mexico City	Mexico		http://www.docsdf.com/
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival	1998	Durham, North Carolina	United States		http://www.fullframefest.org/
History Makers	2001	New York	United States	Held annually in January; An international event that examines the future trends in History and Investigation programming.	http://www.historymakers2011.com/
Hot Docs	1993	Toronto	Canada	Held annually in April; North America's largest documentary film festival.	http://www.hotdocs.ca/
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival		Hot Springs, Arkansas	United States	Held annually for 10 days in October	http://hsdfi.org
Imagine International Film Festival		Clearwater, Florida	United States		http://www.imagineinternationalfilmfestival.com International
It's All True (film festival) (International Documentary Film Festival Brazil)	1996	São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro	Brazil		http://www.itsalltrue.com.br/
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal		Montreal	Canada		http://www.ridm.qc.ca/
SilverDocs		Silver Spring, Maryland	United States		http://www.silverdocs.com
Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival (DOCUTAH)	2009	St. George, UT	United States		http://www.docutah.com
Stories from the Field: The Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival		New York City	United States		http://www.storiesfromthefield.org/
True/False Film Festival		Columbia, Missouri	United States		http://www.truefalse.org/
United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)		Stanford, California	United States		http://www.unaff.org/
Doc Meeting Argentina		Buenos Aires	Argentina		http://www.docmeeting.com.ar/
Encuentros del Otro Cine EDOC		Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Manta, Ibarra, Portoviejo	Ecuador		http://www.festivaledoc.org
Primer Festival de Cine de Cuenca FCC		Cuenca	Ecuador		http://www.festivalcinecuenca.com/
DOXA	1998	Vancouver	Canada		http://www.doxafestival.ca

Oceania

Name	Est.	City	Country	Website
Documentary Edge Festival - International Documentary Film Festival New Zealand (former DOCNZ)	2004	Auckland, Wellington,	New Zealand	http://www.documentaryedge.org.nz	[1]
FIFO - Pacific International Documentary Film Festival of Tahiti	2004	Papeete	French Polynesia	http://en.fifo-tahiti.com/
queerDOC, Sydney International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival	1997	Sydney	Australia	http://www.queerscreen.com.au/

References

^ Nichols, Bill. 'Foreword', in Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (eds.) Documenting The Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997