Nick Cunningham

The Portuguese doc fest celebrates the past two decades with a special edition and opening/closing sessions held simultaneously in the cities of Lisbon and Porto. The festival closes October 15 with a screening of Love Lights by Acácio de Almeida and Marie Carré, described as “a declaration of love to photography and cinema.”

In Husband, world-premiering at Edinburgh, successful academic Devorah has accepted an invitation to go to New York and give a series of talks on ‘feelings’, and to promote her new book on the same subject. Husband Josh, an equally successful but somewhat self-obsessed filmmaker, has agreed to look after the kids and offer loving support. And while he’s at it, why not make a film about the whole process? What could possibly go wrong? The loving couple tell Business Doc Europe.

Docu Talent of the East awards were handed out August 16 in Sarajevo to the Ukrainian project Dad’s Lullaby and Romanian Between Revolutions. Ji.hlava IDFF also presented the results of this year’s East West Index – an exclusive survey among key European doc film festivals, which focuses on figures representing individual regions. Furthermore, the Czech doc fest announced the 17 Emerging Producers for 2023, plus the guest country of Qatar.

For four years director Dvořáková has followed Marie Tomanova, the Czech-born darling of the New York photography scene, and her partner (both in life and work) Thomas Beachdel, an academic and curator. Produced by Prague-based Evolution Films, the film has HBO Europe on board as a co-producer. Dvořáková talks to Business Doc Europe ahead of the presentation of her project in Sarajevo.

Olha Tsybulska’s debut documentary couldn't be more poignant, comprising a collective portrait of Ukrainians at war. In the film, the director engages in conversation with friends and family, with each interviewee (and the director herself) seeking ways to navigate the new reality of life during wartime. On the eve of Sarajevo 2022 Tsybulska discussed the work with Business Doc Europe.

Slovak filmmaker Diana Fabiánová’s latest feature doc project ventures into the taboo area of infidelity within a marriage, albeit consensual and designed to shore up the union rather than dismantle it. The film is described as “an intimate probe into society, partnerships, their dark places, and our innermost selves.” The director explains to Business Doc Europe the background to the documentary.

Migrant workers from North Macedonia may have profited greatly from their recruitment by the US to work in military bases across Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades. But building vast palaces and driving high-end cars will never erase the trauma of war that they still suffer from. Director Anabela Angelovska, German by birth but the daughter of a North Macedonian father, explains her film, selected for Documentary Competition, to BDE.

Of the 433 submitted films, 64 have this year been selected to compete for the awards in the festival’s five competition categories, including Best Nordic Documentary with an award valued at €11,000. The festival runs 22–27 September Malmö, Sweden. “This year’s documentary programme tackles some of the most urgent topics of our time – climate crisis, corruption, war, violation of human rights and women’s rights,” say programmers.

The fest presents 22 films in Doc Competition (eight world, three international premieres) and myriad doc projects across the professional CineLink programme. “Our program celebrates the richness of documentary forms: from the exciting cinéma-vérité styles where the camera is a ‘fly on the wall’ to the poetic, intimate diary documentaries and complex narratives that celebrate the creative use of archival footage,” says Sarajevo’s doc programmer Rada Šešić.

The annual presentation of docs-in-post from Central and Eastern Europe will take place August 15 during Sarajevo FF. This year nine docs covering a range of geographically diverse topics are up for grabs. “It is surprising that a region often associated primarily with rural films from poor regions can geographically encompass literally the entire world: from Tokyo and Iran to Europe, New York and Salvador,” says Ji.hlava director Marek Hovorka.