How could my "Joys of November" be complete without a mention of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)?!?!  This is, seriously, one of the coolest things to happen in Amsterdam every year -- and it happens in November!

Believe it or not, there was once a day when I wanted to be a documentary producer "when I grew up" (this was, by the way, way back before it was cool, or prestigious, or lucrative to do so).  I studied video production at the university level and regularly tinkered with a number of my own (small-scale) projects for several years... But then, with moving to Amsterdam, that part of me kind of died...

But every November, it gets somewhat resurrected with the onset of IDFA.

I never get to be as involved with IDFA as I would like to be.  But I love the fact that whenever I do have avabilability, there's pretty much always something showing (from 10:00 in the morning to 12:00 midnight) -- and even if I get "stuck" watching a less-than-preferred showing of something more marginal and obscure, it still ends up to be a stimulating and enjoyable experience.  So today, when our staff meeting ended up being cancelled (because of the long hours put in at the Church Planting Movements Seminar last week), I checked out the schedule and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to sit in on a documentary entitled "I.O.U.S.A." (which fit nicely into the typical staff meeting time slot).   The trailer for the film is here below:

And in case you're interested in this particular film (which really was quite complex, though also very fascinating and somewhat horrifying), here is the brief description from the IDFA site:

According to one American newspaper, the documentary I.O.U.S.A. is An Inconvenient Truth about the national debt. The question is only if reality hasn't already caught up with this film, now that the credit crisis has been dominating the news for months. The filmmakers argue that ever since its foundation in 1776, the United States has been stuck with a constantly increasing national debt. A little debt isn't always a call for alarm, but during the Reagan administration, thinks really got out of control. For the first time in history, the national debt reached disastrous heights in peacetime. When Bush Sr. proclaimed "No new taxes!" in 1988, the situation didn't get any better. As attempts are being made to deal with the credit crisis, the United States is still saddled with a debt in excess of 10 trillion dollars. The filmmakers follow a number of people, including the country's head accountant, who has been touring the US for years to inform the people about what this debt means. It's now clear that only drastic measures can offer a solution. I.O.U.S.A. explains the financial disaster scenario and shows without panic or apocalyptic rhetoric which strategies can provide a way out. Burying one's head in the sand is no longer an option.

But really -- more than any particular film, I'm just filled with joy by the general idea and experience of IDFA. If you've got a space of a couple free hours this week, I'd highly encourage you to check out IDFA's awesome website which allows you to see all of the trailers and navigate easily between schedules and film descriptions.  Pick a film that looks interesting to you -- and then experience the Joy of IDFA for yourself...