IDFA Industry Head Says Audiences Want Timely Documentaries
Documentary audiences want films about urgent issues, according to the head of industry at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, IDFA. Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, who has worked in the festival's industry side for almost 20 years, said viewers are looking for films that help them make sense of an increasingly chaotic geopolitical picture, as Variety reported on 12 November 2026.
Documentaries are films that record real people and events rather than actors playing roles. Van Nieuwenhuyzen pointed to Alex Gibney's Musk, a film about money and power in the United States, as a strong example of the kind of timely work audiences want to see. She called it a brilliant example.
She also praised NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. She said she loves that the film is bringing people into cinemas, even though it is an extremely uncomfortable watch. Films that are hard to sit through do not always draw crowds, so she framed the film's pull as a point in its favour.
The festival's Forum, its market for documentary projects that are still being made, has also changed how it presents work. Van Nieuwenhuyzen said the Forum has split its presentations into two categories. Forum Pitches are designed for larger audiences. Roundtable Presentations offer longer, more in-depth feedback.
For filmmakers, the choice between the two formats is a question of what they need most: a wider room, or detailed responses from the people in it. For audiences, the message is simpler. Festival leaders are paying close attention to subjects that feel urgent right now, and to films that ask viewers to stay with difficult material.
Van Nieuwenhuyzen's remarks came in an interview with Variety, and the festival's industry programme continues to shape which documentaries reach screens after their premieres.
