Business Doc Europe

In her feature documentary, prominent filmmaker, actress and activist Pegah Ahangarani reflects on her turbulent experiences and those of her family in post-revolution Iran over the last 40 years. “International recognition is always enjoyable - but I am really, really aiming this film at my own people, the Iranian people,” she tells BDE. “Especially now because now they are in such darkness, such despair, I think they might need a small reminder of their own courage, their own persistence in this fight…I do hope they have the chance to see it.”

In The Match, Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco revisit one of the greatest, and most controversial, games of football ever played, the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England. The match took place just a few years after the two countries went to war over the Malvinas (the Falklands) “We wanted to tell a balanced story about these two nations. It’s beyond football,” co-director Cabral tells BDE.

Before the May 17 Ji.hlava IDFF/J-Docs Hub reception at Cannes Marché, Yamagata IDFF’s Asako Fujioka sat down with BDE to discuss the new J-DocsHub initiative, whose goal is to create “a structured pathway for Japanese documentary makers to engage with the global market, develop internationally competitive projects, and build long-term partnerships with overseas producers, broadcasters, and distributors.” The Yamagata docfest is partnering with Cannes Docs this year, in line with Marché du Film’s choice of Japan as Country of Honour.

During the European Film Promotion event, Dutch doc producer Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen will be presenting Willemiek Kluijfhout’s new doc project The Woman Who Made Van Gogh Famous, which tells the story of Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Vincent’s sister-in-law who changed art history by safeguarding his legacy after his death. “It's a brilliant story that needs to be told and it stands for so many more stories that are not in the history books,” says van Leeuwen. “Without her, nobody would know of Van Gogh.”

Christophe Dimitri Réveille’s partly-animated new feature doc tells the remarkable story of three of Che Guevara’s trusted followers who made a remarkable 2600-mile trek to safety after Che’s execution in Bolivia. Réveille, 48, has an intriguing background for a documentary maker. He’s an actor and acting coach. “What’s the connection between an acting coach in New York and the survivors of Che Guevara?” he muses to BDE. “It’s that they were hiding in the shadows of well-known people.”

In Gabin, director Maxence Voiseux follows his eponymous character, a precocious and sensitive boy from a rural background in northern France, over an entire decade of his life, from 8 to 18. On the one hand, the boy is fiercely proud of his roots and very loyal to his family’s way of life. On the other, he wants to “do something different” and this quickly puts him in conflict with his father. “For me, he [Gabin] is a strong cinema character because has to deal with these two sides of his life,” Voiseux tells BDE.

At the May 19 close of Cannes Docs 2026, section head Pierre-Alexis Chevit hosted the Docs-in-Progress Awards Ceremony during which this year’s winners were announced. Over the past days, eight showcases of docs-in-progress from around the world were presented, totalling 33 new creative documentary projects. The big winner was Super Sila by Mohammed Alshareef [Palestine Showcase] which won both the IEFTA Award and the Al Jazeera Documentary Award. All awards…

To the West, in Zapata, directed by David Bim, was announced May 19 as winner of the inaugural Marcel Łoziński International Documentary Award, established jointly by the Kraków Film Festival and the Polish Documentary Film Directors Guild. “It is a remarkable documentary – one that unites beautiful, painterly imagery and precise dramatic construction with genuine emotional force,” the jury observes. “With remarkably restrained means, and never transgressing the boundaries of his protagonists’ intimacy, the young director speaks about the matters that give meaning to our lives – love, family and work.”

At this year’s Doc Day, Academy Award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov and Deutsche Kinemathek artistic director Heleen Gerritsen offered highly thoughtful and sensitive reflections on the ethical and artistic dilemmas facing filmmakers working in conflict zones. “We are balancing on this thin line between being truthful and realistic and honest, and trying to be exciting,” said Chernov, adding: “The filmmaker who tries to tell a war story cannot cleanse it...It has to be terrifying.”

The winners of the Doc Alliance Award 2026 were announced May 19 during the Doc Day Lunch, held at the Marché du Film in Cannes, with The Case Against Space picking up the prize for Best Feature (€5,000) and Some of You Fucked Eva winning the award for Best Short Film (€3,000). This year’s jury brought together Wouter Jansen (CEO of Square Eyes), Maria Palacios Cruz (festival director of the Open City Documentary Festival), and film critic, filmmaker and producer Mark Peranson.

To the West, in Zapata, directed by David Bim, was announced May 19 as winner of the inaugural Marcel Łoziński International Documentary Award, established jointly by the Kraków Film Festival and the Polish Documentary Film Directors Guild. “It is a remarkable documentary – one that unites beautiful, painterly imagery and precise dramatic construction with genuine emotional force,” the jury observes. “With remarkably restrained means, and never transgressing the boundaries of his protagonists’ intimacy, the young director speaks about the matters that give meaning to our lives – love, family and work.”

MIA (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo) unveiled May 17 details of its 2026 edition running October 19 to 23 in Rome. “MIA is embarking on a transformation that will take it from a market built on highly distinctive vertical content segments to an integrated industry platform, capable of accompanying the entire audiovisual value chain in a circular way,” said Director Gaia Tridente.