Nick Cunningham

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has renewed its demand for Egyptian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release film producer Moataz Abdelwahab. The producer of Egypt’s official 2021 Oscars submission When We’re Born has now been in pre-trial detention for almost two years.

“Our audience will get the chance to explore the music of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Bernstein, Stockhausen and XXXTENTACTION, Sinéad O’Connor and the über-cool feminist metal band from Lebanon, just to mention some of the highlights” comments Niklas Engstrøm, Artistic Director of CPH:DOX (March 23-April 3) of the eighteen new music docs within the festival’s Sound & Vision programme.

This year, CPH:DOX presents a wide-ranging programme dedicated to Science and research, comprising 15 international film titles selected in parallel to the science-related films across all competitions (to be announced March 1). During the docfest, films within the Science programme will be placed into perspective by top researchers, a number of Denmark's leading experts and filmmakers and members of CPH:DOX’s own Youth Team.

The Hague-based human rights festival (running April 8-16 in cinemas across The Netherlands and online) will, within its presentation of 80+ docs and features, showcase urgent films from and about Afghanistan. “We want to give filmmakers who have to work under particularly difficult circumstances the attention and support they need,” says Artistic Director Margje de Koning.

Swedish director Magnus Gertten’s film, also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Award, “exemplifies the necessity of queer history and queer collective memory of World War II while providing long-needed recognition of the forgotten victims and survivors of the Holocaust,” says the jury citation. The TEDDY AWARDS combine a network of over 180 queer film festivals from across the world.

MetFilm Sales has announced the Disney+ deal on Jerry Rothwell’s multi award-winning doc, which celebrated its world premiere in the World Documentary Competition at Sundance 2020 where it won the Audience Award, and subsequently went on to win multiple international awards, including BIFA 2021 for Best Doc.

DOC NYC, the largest doc festival in the US has announced that it is searching for a new Artistic Director, “reshaping the role with an expanded scope to serve the organization’s growing year-round activities as it enters its 13th year.” The festival’s founding Artistic Director Thom Powers will shift into a new position as Director of Special Projects.

77 full-length and short docs will screen in International, Newcomers and >>Film Forward Competition sections, the Open Horizons section of the international program, as well as the Platform and From screen to Screen subsections of the Greek program. Competition sections and the Open Horizons section will be presented both physically and online, while the Platform and From screen to Screen movies will be screened exclusively online.

The London-based sales agent has announced European Film Market sales for two titles on its current slate: Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song by Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine and River by Jennifer Peedom.

This year’s first physical edition of the Inter:Active Symposium, curated and hosted by Mark Atkin, who is also the Head of Studies of CPH:LAB and curator of CPH:DOX’s Inter:Active Exhibition, will use the occasion to introduce the projects developed by CPH:LAB to consider the cultural landscape into which these works will emerge.