International Documentary Association Must Say Good-bye…

In case you missed receiving his letter of farewell, Simon Kilmurry has announced his leaving IDA. He (and Michael Lumpkin before him) transformed IDA from its idealistic though small beginnings into a much needed and very important organization for documentary filmmakers not only in the USA but abroad. Following is his letter in which he summarizes the highpoints of the many accomplishments of IDA in the last five years. He will leave mid-2021, and the IDA Board of Directors has launched a committee chaired by co-VPs James Costa and Lauren Lexton to search for a replacement.

Kilmurry had been executive director of American Documentary and executive producer of the PBS series’ POV and America ReFramed when he took the IDA job. Since then, the organization has increased its grantmaking to more than $1.3 million annually, with recent grantees including Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham (Crip Camp) and Nanfu Wang and Lynn Zhang (One Child Nation) among others. In addition, IDA’s membership grew by 300% and its annual budget increased 175%.

Dear Friends,

Earlier this week I announced that I’ll be stepping down from IDA in spring 2021. Over the past few months we’ve all been living through an unprecedented pandemic, inspiring movements for racial justice, and uncertain political situations. That has…