Who knew there was an emerging web documentary genre? A small part of IDFA, the 22nd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, is dedicated to this genre.

Doc Lab, Amsterdam’s “hotbed of experiment, is the special area of the festival exploring the relationship between ‘new media’ and documentary filmmaking. The program is open to all media that can be used to tell a documentary story. During the festival, Doc Lab presents films, web documentaries, and installations that innovate the documentary genre. Projects are showcased in the Doc Lab Media Lounge and in Amsterdam cinemas during a number of special Live Screenings and events. The theme this year is Live Stories, and the principal guest is Ira Glass.”

Doc Lab programmer Caspar Sonnen says DocLab is focused on “finding ways to reach an audience bigger than just new-media experts… the point is that there are great stories emerging online and we have to show them!”

You can get a good sense of these great stories here.