Business Doc Europe

As doors open on CPH:DOX 2026, Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm opens up to BDE on the offer for 2026, the new human rights strand, and the importance of acknowledging the festival’s establishing ethos. “CPH:DOX has always been known for being brave when it comes to the curatorial approach, being curious and trying to explore the boundaries of documentary, and I think that is still a core value,” he underlines.

Dutch-Japanese filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus discusses the mutual roots of obsession between her and a shooter who killed 8 Asian women within Atlanta massage parlours. “One reason why I wanted to make this film was, of course, that I wanted to show the world as a form of manifestation that me as a person, but also me as a representative of Asian women, can be more than just this submissive woman that I've been for a very large part of my life,” she says.

Pieter-Jan De Pue’s dramatic new documentary Mariinka (sold by Films Boutique and opening CPH:DOX) is the culmination of a full decade of work and has evolved greatly over that period, with one of the featured Zolotko brothers fighting for Russia while another fights for Ukraine. What’s more, the Ukrainian city of Mariinka has been turned into “a land full of rubble…there is nothing that stands there,” De Pue laments to Business Doc Europe.

In James Dawson’s new feature doc, selected for Thessaloniki Doc Fest International Competition, two Devon farmers work their farms in radically different ways. One is hugely into conservation, while the other opts for heavy industrial processes. And they’re both called Derek. Ask director Dawson where he stands on the core dilemma his film addresses and he answers without hesitation. “We produce this abundance of food, which is brilliant, but at the same time, we've destroyed biodiversity and nature along the way," he tells BDE.

Set to world-premiere in the International Competition of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Soap Fever explores how the American daytime series The Bold and the Beautiful became an unlikely cultural lifeline in Finland during the severe economic downturn of the early 1990s. “It was this total collision of a miserable societal atmosphere and these glamorous American stars who suddenly appeared in the middle of it,” director Inka Achté explains the unexpected appeal of the US soap.

Elisabeth Rasmussen’s rigorous sophomore documentary follows micrometeorite enthusiast and former jazz musician Jon Larsen who claims to have located real stardust here on Earth, despite extreme scepticism from the scientific establishment. “I want the film to reach people who might be inspired or comforted,” Rasmussen explains her intentions to BDE. “It’s about feeling connected – to each other and to the stars.”

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.

The Polish filmmaker/producer team of Elwira Niewiera and Maciej Kubicki made a powerful impact pitch March 10 for their feature doc project Women and War, which explores the psychological toll of war through the personal journeys of four women – Julia, Lena, Iryna, and Olena – who have survived the horrors of Russia’s war against Ukraine. “What I have learned from them is that the war doesn't end when the war is over,” she told the professional audience in Geneva. “It stays in their minds, in their bodies, and in their everyday lives.”

The next time you scoop out the delicious flesh of an avocado, think again of its provenance. In Mexico, where half the world’s avocados are produced every year, the cartels are muscling in on this lucrative business, tearing down forests to create illegal avocado farms, and killing the environmentalists who stand in their way. “Organized crime…has muscled into the supply chain, extorting growers, razing forests for illicit orchards, and diverting water sources,” Ivonne J Serna explains the dilemma at the heart of her and Selim Benzeghia’s new feature doc.

An elementary school in northern Italy where all the pupils are children of migrants lies at the heart of The Last Class, a new creative documentary by Italian filmmaker Michele Fornasero (SmoKings) currently in late production. The project, pitched at this year’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, is produced by Epica Film and Indyca and is seeking co-production partners, financiers, broadcasters and sales agents as it moves towards completion. BDE reports.

Gaza Sunbirds follows Ala’a, a young Gazan cycling champion whose life changes forever after he’s shot by an Israeli sniper. Determined to rebuild, he sets his sights on the Paralympics, inspiring others to join him. Director Flavia Cappellini has followed Ala’a and his team for more than 8 years. “What makes the film important is precisely this long perspective,” Flemish producer Kristian Van der Heyden tells BDE. “We see Gaza before the war, the escalation towards October 7, and the consequences that continue to shape the lives of our protagonists today.”