Nick Cunningham

Buyers turn to David France’s How to Survive a Pandemic, which world premiered at the recent Thessaloniki Doc Fest, and Jennifer Peedom’s River, produced by Stranger Than Fiction in association with Arrow Pictures and commissioned by Australian broadcaster ABC and the BBC, described as a retelling of the history both of rivers and human civilisation. The two films are screening at this year’s CPH:DOX.

The new director of the Sarajevo Film Festival Jovan Marjanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the winner of last year's Grand Prix Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi) and Beatrice Fiorentino, General Delegate of Venice Critics’ Week, will deliberate over the 16 International Feature Comp selections before handing over the Grand Jury Prize and Special Jury Award, worth CHF 20,000 and CHF 10,000 respectively. Read on for all section juries and prizes.

Producer Bjarte Mørner Tveit (The Mole) and director Tonje Hessen Schei (iHuman) have joined director/producer Tommy Gulliksen at Oslo Pictures to spearhead ‘major investment’ in the company’s non-fiction slate. “These are two people I have admired and respected for years. They have world-class ideas, experience and skills that I am really looking forward to experiencing up close,” says Gulliksen.

In International Competition A House Made of Splinters by Simon Lereng Wilmont picks up The Golden Alexander Award (plus €12,000 cash prize) while The Special Jury Award (€5,000 cash prize) was awarded to Young Plato by Declan McGrath & Neasa Ní Chianáin. In Newcomers Competition, The Golden Alexander “Dimitri Eipides” Award (€10,000 cash prize) was given to Golden Land by Inka Achté. All winners…

Filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has been “excluded” from the Ukrainian Film Academy, as revealed in a statement published March 18. “We appeal to the world community with a request not to position Serhiy Loznytsa [Loznitsa] as a representative of the Ukrainian cultural sphere,” the Academy wrote. Loznitsa replied in a Facebook post March 19, “I am and will always be a Ukrainian filmmaker.” Full statements follow.

Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont opened up to Thessaloniki audiences yesterday after the International Competition screening of Sundance winner A House Made of Splinters, about a small group of strong-willed social workers on the Ukraine front line working tirelessly to create a magical refuge for kids. “I fight as much as I can, and with their stories, I give them a voice, which no one else will do,” Wilmont underlined of the film’s young subjects.

Pitching Forum and Work-in-Progress prizes were handed out during the Agora Docs award ceremony March 17. “We had more than 350 film professionals attending the Agora, both physically and online. I think this is the best proof that the industry is ready to be back in business, if it ever stopped,” said Elise Jalladeau, general director of the festival.

In solidarity with the country and its filmmakers, CPH:DOX has added 3 further Ukrainian films to this year’s programme, which now numbers seven films in total. “We have chosen to expand our programme and give more space to some of the many brave Ukrainian filmmakers who in recent years have created strong and important films with the conflict as a backdrop,” says Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm.

The 27th edition of Brazil’s leading doc fest will be presented in hybrid format March 31 to April 10, screening 77 titles from 34 countries free of charge. Mark Cousins’ The Story of Looking and The Story of Film: A New Generation will open the festival, while Alex Pritz’s The Territory will close. Winning films in Brazilian, International Feature/Medium-length and Short Film Competitions will automatically qualify for next year’s Oscar® long-list.

€5000 award given to Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai) for the original score written for Marc Wiese’s This Stolen Country of Mine. In 2022 the festival will also shine the spotlight on the ‘diverse realities of Spain’ across six films in its Sol Y Sombra programme, as well as address both trauma and notions of identity in the ‘Franco’s Long Shadow’ retrospective.