International Documentary Association
non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media

International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events.
Based in Los Angeles, the IDA has approximately 2,800 members in over 50 countries, providing a forum for supporters and suppliers of documentary filmmaking.
Awards
The IDA Documentary Awards is an annual event presented by the International Documentary Association (IDA) to recognise excellence in documentary filmmaking. The ceremony highlights significant achievements across multiple categories, including Best Feature, Best Short, Best Writing, Best Director, Best Limited Series, and other creative and technical awards.
Previous winners in the Best Feature category include Crip Camp (2020), Flee (2021), All That Breathes (2022), Bobi Wine: The People's President (2023), and No Other Land (2024).
All of these films were subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Advocacy
The IDA advocates for, protects and advances the legal rights of documentary filmmakers. IDA has a long history of making the case for documentary filmmaking as a vital art form, and seeking ways to ensure that the artists who make documentaries receive appropriate funding. Most recently, IDA has been vocal in confronting the non-fiction film industry, to include promoting net neutrality efforts, lobbying for the development of strong public policies for the arts, lobbying for the appropriation of increased public funding for the arts, promoting fair use practice, and protecting the first amendment rights of filmmakers.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3504953. VIAF identifies the subject as 155408498. The Library of Congress control number is n85080741. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “International Documentary Association” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.