Nick Cunningham

Final beneficiaries of the IDFA DocLab Creative COVID Response Support scheme will receive €2500 each “to pursue the necessary adaptations of their work.” The new media powerhouse also set a submission deadline of July 1 for IDFA 2021.

Aana, the new doc project from Swedish production outfit Film and Tell was pitched this week at Visions du Réel Industry. The film, which will complete in 2023, tells the intimate story of a young woman trying to live a normal life in spite of the late effects of the harsh cancer treatment she went through as a child.

Swiss director/producer Charlie Petersmann and producer Stephanie Argerich (mnemosyn films) presented their work-in-progress about the innate lyricism and cultural diversity of the local construction industry. The film follows ‘the lives of men who came from elsewhere to build the Switzerland of tomorrow,’ say the filmmakers.

'Sheltered' is a paean to our love for our furry four-legged friends. Set in the Amsterdam Animal Shelter, it is also an indictment of the human species' frequent propensity towards cruelty. Dutch director Saskia Gubbels explains all.

Advocacy bodies ICFR, Freemuse, ARC and PEN America issue joint statement April 16 demanding the immediate release of artists from the filmmaking community, recently arrested in Myanmar, including director Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi and actors Ye Tike, Paing Takhon, Phway Phway and Ko Ye Dike.

There are few documentaries either as oddball or as deliciously engaging as the Oscar-nominated The Mole Agent, directed by Chilean Maite Alberdi. As co-producer Denis Vaslin of Dutch production house Volya Films explains, as soon as he encountered the director’s work over ten years ago, he knew she was a talent worth investing in.

Of course, Turkish siblings Zeynep and Mahmut are not ‘terrible’ at all. They’re smart, articulate and ambitious, but denied at each turn by religious and societal conservatism. Brother Ahmet, who returned to the family house after a 20-year absence, chronicles their lives as they seek independence and/or emancipation. He explains more to BDE.

The film, described as “a deep dive into two scientists’ quest to communicate with humpback whales and unravel the mystery of why they sing,” will premiere globally Friday, June 25 on Apple TV+.

Visions du Réel will open its doors to the general public from Thursday 22 April to festival end on April 25. Over four days, the Festival will hold around 50 public screenings, showcasing films from the International, Burning Lights, National and Grand Angle Competitions.

Participants at Ji.hlava IDFF’s EMERGING PRODUCERS 2021 platform will brainstorm the opportunities thrown up in a post-Covid world in a public online discussion April 16. Meanwhile, the fest calls for ‘US Docs in the Spotlight’ projects and Central/Eastern Europe projects for Docu Talents from the East @Sarajevo FF.