Business Doc Europe

Fourteen Dutch documentary projects, twelve of which are at advanced stage, will be presented during the second edition of NLWave (September 30 to October 2), an initiative of the Netherlands Film Fund and presented in co-operation with SEE NL. The 2026 showcase comprises a who’s who of top Dutch creative and business talent, and presents a wealth of fascinating stories that span the globe. Simone van den Broek, Head of Documentary and Fiction at the Netherlands Film Fund, guides Business Doc Europe through this year’s selection.

World-premiering in Utrecht, Joeri Pruys’s Final Cut looks at how the provocative TV show Body Art, made by Pruys’s father in the 1970s and starring the then little-known Serbian artist Marina Abramović, turned into one of the most notorious cases in the history of Dutch censorship. “The rules around who is actually the owner of this material are very vague,” Pruys tells BDE. “That is why in the film I am also saying it is my heritage, so I should be able to do with it whatever I want, because my father created this. It’s Marina’s work as well, so she should be free to use it.”

Ahead of the 15th Finnish Film Affair, running September 23 to 25, Head of Industry Lydia Taylerson answers questions posed by Business Doc Europe. During the event, eight documentary feature projects will be pitched to the professionals in attendance. “In all honesty, I think Finland's unique selling point is the lack of hierarchy within the film industry here,” Taylerson says. “Anyone who attends Finnish Film Affair also feels that. You can be a producer just starting out in your career, and over morning coffee be chatting with senior programmers of Tribeca or SXSW.”

Oscar-winning US director Alex Gibney talks to Business Doc Europe ahead of the September 30 UK release of Knife, about the shocking onstage attack on Salman Rushdie in New York in 2022. “He comes out of all of this learning all sorts of life lessons and not being mired in bitterness, resentment and hate,” Gibney observes of Rushdie. “He was certainly haunted and debilitated mentally by the attack, and he had to get that strength back. The only way he knew to do it was to push through.”

The industry programme of Nordisk Panorama kicks off in earnest this weekend, heralding 5 days of intense pitching, deal-making, networking and debate in the Swedish city of Malmö. The Forum runs 20-22 September, while the market kicks off September 18. As healthy as the Nordic doc industries are, NP’s Lea Maria Strandbæk Sørensen underlines to BDE how its professionals must look beyond their regional partners to ply their trade. “No-one is served by being self-sustained within the bubble, never looking out, and never collaborating with anyone else," she stresses.

Afsaneh Salari’s new feature documentary Tehran, Under the Skin scrapes away at a side of Iranian life you won’t see in many other documentaries, namely the booming world of cosmetic surgery. Thousands of Iranian women every year are heading to surgeries to get noses sculpted, stomachs tucked, breasts lifted or skin tightened. The film, sold by CAT&Docs, has its world premiere in TIFF Lightbox this weekend. Director Salari talks to BDE.

Leading film and executive producer Michael Ryan and BAFTA-nominated producer Farah Abushwesha join Irish Film & TV UK as the organisation celebrates 15 years of championing Irish screen talent in the UK. “IFTUK is dedicated to developing and encouraging new talent, as well as promoting established Irish talent, and having such eminent experts as patrons from all areas of the global film & tv business will help us to achieve this,” comments IFTUK Chair, Carey Fitzgerald.

The €3000 prize went to director Anna Antsalo and producer Venla Hellstedt for their feature project about a man (Olli) who, in the borderlands of Finland, attempts to preserve the natural dark nights, as light pollution an severely affect our physical and mental wellbeing. “The filmmaker's connection to her character and his passion shows us a world that is very unique and at the same time universal,” the jury commented.

Odd Slice Films has sold French rights to Tom Adjibi’s debut feature This is Not a French Film to DFF (Decolonial Film Festival), following the film’s Grand Prix in the National Competition at the Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF). For DFF, the acquisition marks the organisation’s first wide theatrical release. “This is Not a French Film embodies what we strive for with the DFF: making political discussions accessible through creative cinema,” says Sam Leter, founder of DFF.

DOK Leipzig has announced the full DOK Industry programme for the 69th edition of the festival edition running 26 October – 1 November. This year, the DOK Industry Programme offers “a vibrant mix of formats and activities that engage with key industry topics, foster creative exchange, and provide filmmakers with a space to showcase their work and build lasting connections within the international community,” the festival writes.

The Brazilian It’s All True documentary festival has put out the call for submissions for its next edition running April 8-18 2027. Submissions close on November 30 2026. Winners of the Brazilian and International Feature/Medium-length and Short Film categories automatically qualify for Academy Award nomination consideration in the Best Feature and Best Short Doc categories.

The anniversary edition will present outstanding new films from the Czech Republic and around the world, an extensive section entitled Films That Changed the World, and a retrospective of renowned Vietnamese-American filmmaker and film theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha. The Inspiration Forum will welcome British archaeologist David Wengrow as well as Iranian-Australian architect and Forensic Architecture member Samaneh Moafi. The 30th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place from October 23 to November 1, 2026.