Business Doc Europe

In her feature doc In Defense of Self, Norwegian filmmaker Linn Helene Løken explores the fatal shooting of a man in urgent need of psychiatric help. The film reconstructs the final years of writer Morten Michelsen through more than 35 hours of personal audio recordings, alongside police reconstructions of the incident. World-premiering at CPH:DOX 2026, the 87-minute film examines the fragile intersection between mental healthcare systems and law enforcement, while raising broader questions about responsibility, narrative control and institutional transparency. Director Løken talks to BDE.

Sabine Lidl’s film about the Norwegian/American author was never going to be a simple retelling of Hustvedt's life story. It would also be about her obsessions and inspirations - figures like Dadaist artist Baroness Elsa and French-American artist Louise Bourgeois. It was also going to be about biology, neurology and psychiatry, her migraines and hyper-sensitivity, and her attritional relationship with her father. “My editor Maxine Goedicke saved me…I had much more to tell, and this was already 110 minutes,” the director tells BDE of the struggle to shoehorn so much material into a feature under two hours. The film screens in the festival's Highlights section.

When the Swedish woman of his dreams fails to return to him after their whirlwind romance, the ‘untouchable’ PK Mahanandia sets out on a treacherous 6000-mile cycle ride across deserts and mountains, and over dangerous borders, to find her. No map, and with only $80 in his pocket. “The story of PK’s cycle journey is an epic adventure filled with magic, but it also really moved me,” says Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel of his new film, receiving its European premiere in Copenhagen. “His story covers such a rich tapestry of universal themes, from love and destiny to the idea of enduring hope.”

Betsy Hershey and Emma Wall’s film follows the charismatic (if slightly neurotic) US climate activist and stand-up comedian, Michael Greenberg, founder of Climate Defiance, a group which stages imaginative and very noisy protests at public events involving companies and individuals with links to fossil fuels. ‘Our goal is to help people, young people especially, feeling climate anxiety,” Wall tells Business Doc Europe. “For us, it was always about helping them feel a sense of agency and possibility so they can take a role, whatever it is.”

After he read an article about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and its potential benefits, Swiss director Marcel Wyss decided to become his own guinea pig. “It said that psychedelics can help people deal with deep fears, including the fear of death,” Wyss confides to Business Doc Europe. “After more than twenty years of making documentaries, many people had trusted me with their personal stories. At some point I felt it was my turn to open up and share my own.”

In a society in which expectant young mothers now need to bring their own medicine and equipment to hospital, Caroline, the subject of Nolwenn Hervé’s feature debut The Cord, is part of a network that gives Venezuelan women a chance of a safe pregnancy. “I didn’t have a producer; I didn’t have resources to do it; I didn’t have money but I was sure I would make it,” director Hervé describes both the film’s humble beginnings and her determination to tell Caroline’s story.

Organised by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with the One World Festival, the 15th edition of East Doc Platform once again opens part of its programme to the public through talks, screenings, and discussions exploring contemporary documentary filmmaking. “This year’s programme focuses on questions shaping the field today – from audience engagement and distribution to creative practice and changing industry structures,” write organisers.

Four new Swiss documentary projects, ripe for outreach treatment, were presented this week during FIFDH Impact Days in Geneva, with To the Moon and Back by Elisa Gómez Alvarez picking up the Swiss Impact Award, valued at CHF 2500. Business Doc Europe reports on the winning project, and the three other presentations: A Search for Love by Carlotta Piccinini, Imagine Peace by Fabian Chiquet and One Step Closer by French director Mehran Tamadon.

Visions du Réel unveiled March 12 the projects selected to participate in the 24th edition of VdR–Industry, the festival’s four-day programme dedicated to industry professionals, and which features an “exciting slate with bold artistic ambition,” alongside returning talents and new faces to Nyon. The opening of Industry Days will feature a conversation with Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras. Under the direction of new Head, Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, the 2026 VdR–Industry Days will take place April 19-22.

Brian Logvinsky's creative feature project, exploring how young Ukrainians navigate war through music, nightlife and community, was presented to professionals at Agora Docs, where it won the 2|35 Post-Production Company Award. Immortal Flowers is currently in post-production and seeking partners for its final stages. “My hope is that audiences first connect with the characters and their energy, and through that begin to understand the reality they’re living in," says director Logvinsky.

Four international and one Swiss award were handed out March 10 as doors closed on the 8th Impact Days, the professional arm of FIFDH. The StoryBoard Impact Award, valued at CHF 10,000, was given to Olimbi - Mother Courage by Karlo Mlinar. The Swiss Focus Impact Award, valued at CHF 2,500, was given to To the Moon and Back by Elisa Gómez Alvarez. All awards…

Renowned Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, born and raised in Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp, explored two vital aspects of film and filmmaking in Gaza during his Impact Days keynote on March 9. He articulated the urgent need to bring the works of Palestinian filmmakers to international audiences. At the same time, films from around the world must be delivered to children in Gaza, who have grown up surrounded by blockade, loss, and repeated wars, to offer moments of escape, imagination, and emotional relief.