Business Doc Europe

Chilean artist/filmmaker Meliza Luna Venegas’ Green Desert (screening in the International Competition at DOK Leipzig) is both a climate change movie and an intensely personal and poetic journey into the director’s own past, and that of her family. “For me, the film is a journey through time,” the director tells BDE. “A lot of the archive is used to help remember the culture of the people who lived on this land and of the forests that don’t exist anymore.” Venegas is joined in interview by producer Isabel Orellana Guarello.

Melt is a movie that intends to wrap its audience in a giant white shawl; to explore snow in all its manifestations and guises - and, yes, we do also see penguins traipsing across icy landscapes. But it also offers a grim reflection on how snow is an element in retreat. “If this film had had the title ‘Climate Change,’ nobody would have wanted to see it,” he reflects. “I’m not expecting a film like this to change the world, of course not, but consciousness is the beginning for any change…you can raise awareness!”

White Smoke over Schwarze Pumpe, selected for German Competition at DOK Leipzig, is a film of two halves, looking at working class life in an East German industrial town. The first part was shot by Peter Badel and Dieter Chill just after reunification, the second half between 2019 and 2025 by Badel and Martin Gressmann, the latter of whom answers questions posed by Business Doc Europe.

Some see OnlyFans as purveyors of “fair-trade” porn, allowing content creators control over their business from the safety of their home. Others see it as no less exploitative in its objectification of women than pornography has ever been. “It's consensual from both sides, so that's why we decided that we want to do it in a very observational way,” Czech producer Pavla Klimešová tells Business Doc Europe of her Ji.hlava opener Virtual Girlfriends. “We just wanted to shoot the situation and make the viewer make the decision about what they think.”

Swiss audiences may be startled by Gregor Brändli’s new feature premiering in International Competition at DOK Leipzig, and sold by Filmotor. The film looks at the very troubling legacy of the Swiss naturalists Paul and Fritz Sarasin who looted huge amounts of sacred objects and even body parts from Sri Lanka in the late 19th and early 20th Century. “We always grew up with the narrative that we didn’t have colonies and so we’re the good guys,” the director tells BDE, and therefore hopes the film will spark discussions about this little-known side of Swiss history.

The 29th edition of Ji.hlava IDFF, the most important docfest within the CEE region and one of key staging posts within the global yearly calendar, kicks off October 24 with the world premiere of Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová. The opening film may be Czech, but the festival is solidly international in outlook. “It is important for us to connect films from all over Europe in the program, to create a place where filmmakers from the North and South, as well as from the West and East, can meet,” festival director Marek Hovorka tells BDE.

Fossil Matter follows twin scientific endeavours undertaken within a natural history museum in southern Patagonia; firstly, to excavate an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile from the Cretaceous period, and secondly to retrieve the carcass of a whale stranded on the shores of Tierra del Fuego. It’s “a project rooted in the far south that involves scientists, artists, historians, and filmmakers who are convinced that research - across all its disciplinary expressions - can be a step toward rewriting the story of southern Patagonia and envisioning possible futures for the planet,” Panizza tells BDE.

Located in the east-German city of Halle, Kindesmutter tells the story of Anne who became a mother at the age of 17. Her daughter Leonie (now 14) runs the risks of taking the same path of drug addiction. To break the cycle, Anne determines to change her life, but can she become the role model her daughter needs before it’s too late? “While the film is rooted in the social realities of Eastern Germany, Anne’s struggle to break cycles of poverty, addiction, and stigma speaks to universal experiences of motherhood, resilience, and hope,” producer Friedemann Hottenbacher tells BDE.

Kim Hess’s There You Go follows new ballet director Demis Volpi during his first season at the Hamburg State Opera, after the departure of legend John Neumeier who, over the previous 50 years, had turned the Hamburg Ballet into an internationally renowned company. “What began as a portrait of a promising new beginning has, in a few months, become a chronicle of a historic cultural conflict,” producer Lotta Schmelzer tells BDE.

The feature doc project Finding Connection investigates the extent to which AI can provide help and comfort to folk who cannot receive these via human contact. “As AI increasingly mimics empathy, people turn to it not just for information, but for companionship and emotional support,” producer Martin Schwimmer tells BDE. “The film probes urgent questions about loneliness, authenticity, and what it means to form connections in a world where the line between human and machine is fading.”

Industry chief Nadja Tennstedt fills in BDE on what professionals can expect over the coming week, during the 68th edition of DOK Leipzig. This year, a record number of 391 projects were submitted for the DOK Co-Pro Market, of which 35 were chosen, and funders, broadcasters and sales agents were alerted in advance to the projects and filmmakers they may wish to focus on, and vice versa. “That’s how we schedule over 900 meetings that take place over the course of two days,” Tennstedt affirms to BDE.

The Irish-Scottish filmmaker will turn the January 17 event into "a live film-essay," working in close collaboration with film composer Dascha Dauenhauer and stage director Robert Lehniger. “I love playing with the form of film events, so I jumped at the chance to be part of the European Film Awards' evening,” says Cousins. “We hope to have some surprises. We'll try to conjure cinematic images, emotions and ideas.”