Business Doc Europe

It may read like the plot of Local Hero, the classic 1980s British/Scottish movie in which a US oil magnate, played by a benevolent Burt Lancaster, changes his mind about developing a swathe of the beautiful Scottish coastline, after flying in to see it first-hand. But back in the 1960s and 70s, the folk of Whiddy Island and Bantry, in the extreme south-west of Ireland, had an altogether different experience when the oil barons came, one that was to end in tragedy. Irish director Adrian McCarthy discusses his new film Whiddy, world-premiering November 12 in New York, with BDE.

Dutch doyenne Mijke de Jong followed Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema with her camera for “nearly a year” to make The Mayor: Halsema & Amsterdam (which receives its world premiere in IDFA before its broadcast in the Netherlands on NTR on December 27). “We are more or less from the same generation. We were both politically active in the 1990s,” says the director. “I was involved in the squatter movement while she was working within the political system as a member of the Parliament.”

Overseeing her second IDFA at the helm, Isabel Arrate Fernandez discusses the festival offer in 2026, underlining the truly global dimension of the programme. “The world has become a much more open place,” she tells BDE. “Filmmaking is happening in many more places. Films are stepping out of their own national context and are reaching platforms like ours, so the spread of films that reach us is much bigger and is also much more diverse, so that leads to a different selection - different options, different interests, different triggers.”

White Tiger Column records the experiences of raw young resistance recruits in Myanmar, some of whom may never have held a weapon before, as they undergo a 45-day crash course training programme before being sent to the front line. The bitterness of some of the recruits is also palpable. Their loved ones have often been killed and tortured by the junta and many are thirsting for revenge. “I am saddened and my heart breaks every time I hear things that the military government has done to people,” co-director Bryan Dickie tells BDE.

Three professionals from Switzerland will be taking part in IDFAcademy, the intensive and interactive training program for emerging documentary filmmakers and producers, running November 12 to 15 2026 in Amsterdam’s De Balie, for many still the spiritual home of IDFA. Swiss doccers Celina Escher, Elisa Baccolo and Ben Donateo answer questions posed by Business Doc Europe.

In his new feature Between Revolutions (a world premiere in Amsterdam) Belgian director Ruben Desiere follows a group of Berlin-based queer activists using performance to voice opposition both to the violence in Gaza and intimidatory police tactics in Germany. Core to the film are activists Kasz Wlaszczyk and Nomi Sladko. “Kasz and Nomi themselves play the roles of Jack and Leila in the film,” Desiere tells BDE. “Five other people that we found together play other roles. They form this theatre group. Outside of the theatre rehearsals, they play scenes related to the book, their activism and the repression.”

The awards were handed out in London on November 10 during a ceremony hosted by comedian Nish Kumar and attended by leading filmmakers, producers and executives from Britain and around the world. The BBC picked up four awards, with Netflix winning three awards, and Channel 4 and Sky Documentaries both winning two awards. ITV, National Geographic, Olympics.com and S4C each won in one category.

Chile is set for a busy IDFA with the international premiere of Carmen Castillo’s We Are Still Alive in Signed section, two films in Best of Fests, a further two projects in Forum and a targeted programme of industry events. “The fact that IDFA, one of the world’s most significant documentary film events, is once again recognising and celebrating Chilean filmmaking by including a wide range of films, projects and perspectives from our country in its programme, reaffirms the richness of Chilean documentary cinema,” says Diego Pino Anguita, Executive Director of the Chilean Documentary Corporation.

Marking its 40th anniversary, the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) has revealed its theme and first guest announcements for the milestone edition. One of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier industry events for documentary and factual storytelling, AIDC will return to Sydney for the first time in more than 30 years in 2027, made possible by a new Principal Partnership with the NSW Government through Screen NSW.

Artist Dragana Jurišić’s debut feature doc premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and is produced by Ireland's Invisible Thread Films in co-production with Croatia's Restart, whose documentary Fiume o morte! by Igor Bezinović won the European Film Award for Best European Documentary in 2026. The Taskovski Films slate also includes IDFA 2025 winner Past Future Continuous and The Netherlands' official Oscar submission Paikar, among others.

Organisers of Cinéma du réel's ParisDOC Works-in-Progress programme have invited submissions for the next edition, running 24-25 March 2027. ParisDOC Works-in-Progress actively supports the distribution, promotion and placement of feature documentaries by linking, at a key stage of the production process, project holders (filmmakers and producers) to industry professionals, organisers underline.

Mexican-Salvadoran filmmaker Tatiana Huezo will be the Guest of Honour at IDFA 2026, which takes place from November 12 to 22. IDFA will present a Retrospective of Huezo’s work, alongside a personal Top 10 film selection. "Huezo's cinema is rooted in close observation and shaped by a highly attentive visual and sonic language—allowing memories and experience to surface through atmosphere and deeply personal stories,” the festival writes.