Dear IDA Community,
At the time of writing, there has been a recent spate of momentous elections in the U.S., Taiwan, India, Mexico, France, Georgia, and many other corners of the world. Political change always brings uncertainty, but IDA will be here, as always, to support and defend the interests and voices of documentary makers.
As the IDA Board Co-Chairs, we are stepping in to give you updates while Dominic Willsdon is on brief medical leave. We expect Dominic to make a quick recovery and be back soon. In this column last time, Dominic described the strategic planning that IDA staff and board members have been undertaking for the past six months. The planning process continues and will conclude at the end of 2024.
We are now finalizing our strategic plan based on stakeholder feedback and internal assessment. We look forward to announcing IDA’s clear priorities and commitments for the years ahead. The direction of this plan has depended enormously on consultation with many of you in the field, ranging from former board members to grantee filmmakers and IDA members from around the world. We thank you for the opportunity to listen to and learn from your experiences.
One indication of our future direction came earlier this fall, when we welcomed three new board members: Picturehouse CEO Bob Berney, Chiledoc Director Paula Ossandón Cabrera, and Kenyan-born, Oscar-shortlisted producer Toni Kamau. They bring a wealth of experience in distribution and marketing, across commercial and grassroots approaches, in the U.S. and internationally. Their breadth of work accounts for the way we want IDA’s board to continue to evolve—with a more global presence and representing documentary professionals and perspectives, just like our membership does. We plan to add more board members in 2025.
IDA staff is hard at work planning the upcoming edition of the IDA Documentary Awards, which will be held on December 5. This year, we are thrilled to honor Dawn Porter with a Career Achievement Award, Shiori Ito with the Emerging Filmmaker Award, and the directing team of cover feature No Other Land, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, and Yuval Abraham, with the Courage Under Fire Award. The IDA Documentary Awards have been vital for the documentary community for over 40 years, and its long history is explored in this issue. We look forward to seeing many of you at the ceremony.
Ina Fichman & Michael Turner
Co-Presidents, IDA Board of Directors