International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, or IDFA as it is known in the doc world, announced their program this week. Congrats to US filmmakers Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady and Andrew Berends, Jesus Camp and When Adnan Comes Home are in the prestigious Joris Ivens Competition - IDFA’s best feature doc competition.

Other intriguing US films: a new Jay Rosenblatt project, I Just Wanted to Be Somebody (they love Jay at IDFA and I’ve become a fan of seeing his work there each year); my buddy-in-blogging AJ Schnack’s Kurt Cobain About a Son; a short from the director of Iraq in Fragments James Longley, Sari’s Mother; a new Les Blank project, The Tea Film; a Paul Chan project, Untitled Video on Lynne Stewart and her Conviction, The Law and Poetry (I became a Chan Fan at the Flaherty Seminars but haven’t seen any of his work since!).

One trend I’ve noticed after attending IDFA for 3 years in a row now is that while the fest is top notch for new, fabulous European work, they seem to take US projects that already have proven successful - Kirby Dick’s This Film is Not Yet Rated and Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke will both be there and from the films I’ve peeled off above, they are from pretty well-established makers. I love getting exposure to the international doc scene there because many of the projects from IDFA don’t make it to US festivals.

From the non-US scene, IDFA has a fund for films from developing countries, the Jan Vrijman Fund. Its projects are typically a little rough around the edges, but frequently quite eye-opening. And this year, the festival is boasting a China section, China Transit. I know nothing of the quality of the films but it is a large selection of projects which alone is impressive.

I’ll be covering the festival for International Documentary so get your subscription now if you don’t have it already! hehe.