Thursday, November 23----The International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA), the largest showcase and market for non-fiction films, kicked off in high style this evening, with the world premiere of the film 4 ELEMENTS, the feature directorial debut of Dutch director Jiska Rickels.

Throngs crowded the City Cinemas for two almost parallel screenings of the film (one beginning at 8:00pm, the other beginning at 8:30pm), followed by the Festival's Opening Night bash....one of the major events of the Amsterdam film social calendar.

IDFA expects close to 2000 international guests during the next 10 days, including a roster of international filmmmakers, distributors, buyers, festival programmers, film critics and television executives.

4 ELEMENTS mixes documentary technique with visual poetry, which illustrates man's battle with his environment. The film focuses on four places around the world where companionship and mutual trust are still of vital importance. Riskels is a well respected documentarian, whose earlier short film DAYS UNDER (2003) won the Utrecht City Prize at the 2003 Nederlands Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the 2004 Vila do Conde International Film Festival.

The choice of a prominent Dutch documentary to kick off the event shines a strong light on the tradition of excellence of Dutch documentaries. 4 ELEMENTS is also competing for the VPRO Joris Ivens Award, the Festival's highest honor.

While IDFA is very definitely an audience-oriented festival, media professionals from around the world are also descending upon Amsterdam for a series of market and development events that run parallel to the public screenings.

The IDFA FORUM is an international co-financing conference that brings together European television commissioning editors and independent documentary producers in a productive and stimulating series of sessions and "meet and greets". Now in its 14th ear, the FORUM has created networking opportunities for these two groups, stimulating co-production and co-financing liaisons for many films and television projects.

Another key initiative is DOCS FOR SALE, a professional market sidebar that allows documentary filmmakers to network with sales agents, television stations, film distributors and festival programmers. The goal is to stimulate the sales and distribution of exciting and creative documentaries from all over the world in a professional atmosphere. Films included in this unique initiative are new works that IDFA has selected for its competition sections.

With documentary films experiencing a worldwide renaissance and making waves (and money) at the theatrical box office, the focus on non-fiction works is more intense than ever. With a mix of screenings, lectures, seminar sessions and, of course, fantastic reception events, Amsterdam is definitely the place to be for those interested in the state-of-the-art and the future of documentary film.

Sandy Mandelberger
Online Festival Dailies Editor