Rough Cut Presentations

• 20-minute excerpt accompanied by a short, moderated introduction

• Pre-arranged meetings with industry professionals who have expressed interest in the project. These are organized by Forum staff based on the preferences of the project team, as well as input from financiers and industry representatives.

• A two-member team: producer and director

• Selected teams receive access to IDFA’s sales and distribution market, Docs for Sale, and its network of professionals participating exclusively in the Docs for Sale market.

• The presentation format includes the option to make your full rough cut available via IDFA’s online platform, accessible to a curated group of acquisition and exhibition professionals. You may also include a short introduction to the rough cut to provide context—for example, the current stage of editing and what work remains on the film.

• Entries period: June 2 to July 25.
• Selected project teams must deliver their full rough cut and twenty-minute excerpt by October 27.

• Presentations: Sunday, 16 November
  Venue: Pathé City
• One-on-one meetings: Monday to Wednesday, 17–19 November 2025
  Venue: Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA)
• Docs for Sale: Saturday to Wednesday, 15-19 November 2025
  Venue: Het Documentaire Paviljoen

• Creative documentaries intended for theatrical distribution, TV broadcasting, and/or other platforms.
• A minimum of 75% of your material must be shot and the project must be in post-production/rough cut stage.
• Project teams wanting to apply in this category need to have a rough cut file available by October 27.
• Completed films are not eligible to apply in this category (see instead Docs for Sale).
• Projects that previously presented at IDFA Forum or Producers Connection are encouraged to submit.
• Projects must be looking for festivals, distributors/sales agents, and/or TV buyers. Preference is given to projects without a world sales agent.

• It is only possible to apply for one Forum category with the same project. If you are uncertain which category to apply in, please get in touch with the Forum team.
• IDFA Forum is open to independent production companies and producers from all over the world.
• Providing visual materials (trailer or other examples of your project) is highly recommended. Depending on the category, this can be a trailer, mood board, or other visual examples of the project. Incomplete applications without sufficient documentation will not be considered for selection.
• By submitting a project to IDFA Forum 2025, you agree that the project will not be withdrawn after selection.
• Please make sure to complete the IDFA accreditation form as well. The accreditation form offers producers the opportunity to indicate if they would like to attend the IDFA Forum even if their project is not selected. You can find the accreditation form in your MyIDFA account starting June 2.
• If your project was previously selected for one category, you can only apply again for another category relevant to your stage of production. E.g a Producers Connection project can apply to IDFA Forum, and then to Rough Cut Presentation.
• Unfortunately, due to the high number of entries we cannot give feedback to projects that are not selected.
• To make a balanced selection regarding geography, gender and point of view, the selection committee takes into consideration: the artistic quality, uniqueness of the content, stage of development, subject, team, extent of exposure at other international markets, country of production, amount of financing in place, and genre, among other criteria.
• If you have submitted or are planning to submit to IDFA and/or Docs for Sale 2025, the project is not eligible for IDFA Forum.
• The applicant will guarantee to have secured clearance from the copyright holders of any copyrighted materials included within the submitted film/project and any photographs submitted relating to the film/project for all purposes for which the material will be used by IDFA. The applicant will guarantee to hold IDFA harmless from any claims from copyright holders in relation to use of the submitted film by IDFA for the agreed purposes. IDFA reserves the right to disqualify any film with unauthorized inclusion of copyrighted materials.

• All Forum entries for IDFA 2025 will be charged an administration fee of €30 (excl. VAT) per entry.Fee exemptions or discounts for teams where the main producer is from and living in a country on this list are available. Please inquire with the Forum team for more details.
• In case you fill in a company that is based outside the Netherlands in the billing address, you will not be charged additional VAT by IDFA, but you will have to pay your VAT duties in your own country.
• If this country is a member of the European Union, you need to fill in your VAT details in the billing address field. For general VAT rules within the EU, please go to EU Tax and Customs info.
• If you have a company based outside the EU, IDFA will not charge VAT but you will need to check the tax regulations in your own country and act accordingly.
• All Dutch submissions and all submissions done by private persons only (with no company attached) will need to pay VAT and will be charged in the IDFA invoice.

Disclaimers:

• Your entry or accreditation will not be taken into consideration until we receive your payment.
• We apply a no-refund policy to which we can make no exceptions.
• Your payment will be handled by Adyen. This name may appear on your bank statement.

Selecting projects for IDFA Forum is a collaborative process that involves a dedicated team of experienced industry professionals. Assessing each and every project thoroughly, these experts from around the world join in the discussion that leads up to the Forum’s final project selection.

• Projects entered to the Forum are subjected to a two-fold selection process. First, projects are sent to teams of two readers who assess the projects solely based on artistic and innovative merits and international potential. All preselected projects are then discussed in a dedicated final selection committees that examine artistic merit as well as financial and distribution strategy documents.
• Preselection and selection committees are changed every year and consist of new and returning industry professionals and leading experts. The names of the 2025 committee members will be announced later in the year.
• All projects must be submitted through an entry form in MyIDFA. All submissions are reviewed thoroughly and carefully by our selection committee members.

• A maximum of two projects can be selected per company. For each selected project, two participants (the team presenting the project) are allowed to attend the Forum, as included in the project fee.
• The project team (producer and director) must be present for the full Forum activities, including their presentation and meetings. The exact days of participation depend on the presentation format. The Forum will run from November 16 to 19, 2025.
• If your project is selected, you must include contracts or letters that prove any financial investment listed in your entry form. These contracts or letters of commitment from broadcasters and financiers must state the amount of the investment and must be written in English. The letters must be dated and signed.
• After the selection of the project, the participation fee must be completed online by September 29, so within two weeks of the selection results.
• The Forum staff strongly advise first-time project presenters at IDFA to register for the pitch training (for selected projects only).
• After IDFA Forum, all participants are asked to participate in a guest survey and a questionnaire of the financial impact of the Forum to help us evaluate the year’s edition.
• By providing your trailer or other visual material and stills, you give IDFA permission to publish the material on www.idfa.nl and use the material for promotional purposes for IDFA Forum 2025. If, for safety reasons, the material cannot be published, let us know immediately after selection.
• If the selected project is completed in due time, IDFA Forum will be referred to in the credits as 'This film was presented at IDFA Forum 2025”. The Forum logo can be provided by the Forum staff. All participating projects are invited to add their film (upon completion) for free to the Docs for Sale catalogue, IDFA’s sales market and distribution incubator for creative documentaries.
• All participating projects are offered a fee waiver code to submit to the IDFA festival (upon completion). Please contact the Forum staff on forum@idfa.nl.
• All projects are featured through the IDFA Forum online project collection (with a trailer or other sample material, project information, and a still), where they can be securely viewed by industry representatives/financiers who have a password.
• All projects are also featured in IDFA Forum's printed publication which is distributed to IDFA Forum passholders.

All selected projects are charged a presentation fee for their participation in the Forum. Below is an overview of what the fee covers.

Presentation fee per project for IDFA 2025: €475 (€574.75 incl. VAT 21%). This fee includes:

• Presenting your project at the IDFA Forum event, taking place November 16 to 19, 2025.

• Featuring your project in the official Forum selection, as published in our online and print catalogue.
• Curated (in-person and/or online) one-on-one meetings.
• A maximum of two IDFA Forum accreditations for the project team*.
• Access to social and networking events arranged during the Forum in Amsterdam.
• Access to IDFA's Industry Program of talks, sessions and networking events.
• Online access to company profiles, strand profiles, and contact information of accredited guests.

Fee exemptions or discounts for teams where the main producer is from and living in a country on this list are available. Please inquire with the Forum team for more details.