Nick Cunningham

The Czech Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival has announced three major retrospectives for its 25th edition, running 26-31 October. They will cover the Romanian experimental scene 1968–1989, the anthropological documentary films of Slovak-Czech ethnographer/filmmaker Karol Plicka, and the cinematic representation of ‘roots’ in experimental film.

First pitched at CPH:FORUM, Johan Grimonprez’s feature doc project fuses the promise of African decolonization in the 1960s, the rise of the US civil rights movement and the State Department’s mobilization of ‘jazz ambassadors’ for propaganda purposes. New partners on board from France, Netherlands and Sweden with much broadcast and sales interest, the producers say.

Olga Lucovnicova’s doc feature debut will involve a journey to another planet. At least that’s what she thought Russia was when growing up as a small girl in neighbouring Moldova, and where her father lived, who she imagined would one day visit her as a cosmonaut. But Olga’s return has the most serious of undertows, to try and understand why her beautiful grandmother decided to take her own life more than 30 years ago.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has unveiled 65 titles for its non-competitive Best of Fests, Masters, and Paradocs sections. The 34th edition of IDFA takes place from November 17 to 28 in Amsterdam. The festival underlines its choice of both “transcendent masterpieces” and “buzzy audience films” and claims that Paradocs offers up its “tightest selection seen in years.”

Philippe Niclaes’ new doc is both about the process of ageing and the disappearance of the corner shop or convenience store, just like the one he grew up in as a kid, and to which he returns to film his mother as she eyes up her future years. As the logline says, the film is both about social isolation and the disappearance of a generation of shops. But as the director explains to Business Doc Europe, it also a story of hope and deep affection.

“It should be said, making a traditional documentary that sketches an overview of this versatile artist - active in various media for more than 70 years - has never been my intention,” Flemish filmmaker Brecht Debackere tells BDE of his Chris Marker feature doc project. “The starting point was always: how can we make an audience get to know someone who has practically no biographical information available, no archive material?”

Commencing October 4 and running through October 15, the Flemish showcase this year offers up 26 feature and four doc series titles to the online industry, who are granted round the clock access to new project pitches, presentations of works in progress, and screenings. Business Doc Europe previews the documentary and non-fiction fare on offer.

The large domicile in Antwerp is, like many others, packed with images and memories from over the years. But not every dwelling can boast house guests in the form of the Beatles, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix. In her latest documentary Aldine Reinink profiles three generations of one photographic family, renowned snapper of the stars Herman Selleslags, his father Rik and his son, and amanuensis, Jan.

The event is looking for creative feature-length docs, factual series and non-fiction transmedia projects from the CEE region that are in development, production and post-production. 11th East Doc Platform to run March 26 - April 1, 2022 in Prague during the One World IHRDFF. Deadline for submission: November 19, 2021.

Swedish producer Antonio Russo Merenda issues rebuttal to New York Times article which states that many of the traumatized women in the award-winning feature documentary Sabaya said they never agreed to be in the film. The film portrays the rescue of Yazidi women, abducted by ISIS for exploitation as sex slaves, from the al-Hol Camp in Syria.