Festival Data:

• Established: 1989
• Genre: Documentary (click to see)
• Attendance: 23387
• Media Attendance: 347
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 112
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 1796
• Total Number of Films Screened: 238
• Accreditations: FIPRESCI

• Competitive
• Catalog
• Has Panels

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) strives to screen radical documentaries from around the world. The program consists of:

International Competition: A program that began with the very first YIDFF. Feature-length works were sought from around the world, and from the 969 entries emerges a stringent selection of 15 cinematic gems, richly varied and representing the vanguard of world filmmaking.

New Asian Currents: This program endeavors to uncover and support rising Asian filmmakers, including those whose work shows signs of nascent promise. Waves of talent from around the region continue to surge forth, gathering momentum from year to year. Get a head start on discovering the next global filmmaking sensations in Yamagata!

Facing the Past—German Documentaries: From the Nazi era, WWII, partition, the collapse of the Berlin Wall to reunification, Germany has endured an epoch of upheaval. With a focus on war responsibility and “overcoming the past,” and furthermore the various issues left behind by East Germany, this program studies the ways in which German documentarians have faced up to their own history.

Dramatic Science! —Yamagata Science Theater: The wonders of nature, the mechanisms of life and the infinite universe . . . enjoy the dramatic delights of science films in this special program. The wonderful living world of French filmmaker Jean Painleve; early science films from Germany’s world-renowned UFA; a tribute to the late director, “cosmologist of life” and Yamagata native Higuchi Genichiro; and a selection of classic Japanese science films! Welcome to the amazing world of “science (non) fiction,” offering excitement for children and adults alike!

The festival also includes the Asian Network of Documentary (AND)’s workshop for up-and-coming filmmakers from around Asia; New Docs Japan which displays the diversity of Japanese documentary; special invitation screenings, jurors’ films and a whole lot more. Apart from screenings, there’ll also be a constantly evolving array of talk events, discussions and more.