Nick Cunningham

The title says it all on Pieter Van Eecke’s new project. “There is no Plan B. There is no Planet B,” he explained to Business Doc Europe of his film about two teenage kids, Bo and Lina, who take up the fight against climate change. “I think the urgency with which we should act now is incredibly high. And I think it's also my task as a filmmaker.”

Aldine Reinink talks to Business Doc Europe about her new film, a profile of renowned Belgian photographer Herman Selleslags, whose vast Antwerp house teems with the ghosts of 20th Century pop culture, as captured by his camera. But the multiplicity of images also conceals two psychologically complex father-son relationships which have defined life in the Selleslags household, the director reveals.

The Nebulae project follows the journey of indigenous filmmaker Sueli Maxakali and her sister Maisa to Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil), in search of their father, the shaman Luis Kaiowá, from whom they were separated as children during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Co-director Roberto Romero discusses the project with Business Doc Europe.

At the Lisbon awards ceremony held October 13, Clara Jost’s ‘Lettre à Eric Pauwels - ou a Florista e o Cônsul’ picked up the DAFilms awards, valued at €5000 in kind. The DAE Talent Encouragement Award was handed to Beyond Landscape by Etienne de France while te Pitch the Doc Award, given to a project from the guest country France, went to Under the Volcano by Sara Rastegar and Simone Pozzi.

Flemish producer Kristian Van der Heyden, who is also part of the Ji.hlava Emerging Producers programme in 2022, came to Antwerp to present his project about modern day slavery. “This is not about history. It is about an island in Indonesia where an overlooked traditional culture has kept alive this element of slavery for centuries until today,” he told the professional audience.

Sixteen titles from 15 countries have been selected for Opus Bonum International Competition of the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF. Eight films will be screened in their world premiere, seven in international premiere and one will have its European premiere at Ji.hlava. The festival also unveils the 5-strong Opus Bonum jury. $10,000 prize for Best World Doc.

The Board of the Finnish Film Foundation has granted a total of €295,000 in support to six new documentaries, two of which (‘Children of the Lowest Heaven’ and ‘Varado’) are minority co-productions. In total, €3,352,500 euros was granted to six feature films and six documentaries in the latest funding round. One of the films, ‘In the Ballpark of Finland’ by Arto Halonen, was recently pitched at the Finnish Film Affair.

Five Golden Doves and four Silver Doves to be awarded by the juries of the International Competitions, the German Competitions and the Competition for the Audience Award. The three juries, each comprised of distinguished professionals from the world of film and the arts, along with an audience jury, will be in charge of awarding the prizes. 

Key findings within the eye-opening report reveal rising costs and inevitable corner-cutting, but greater spend on editing. Fallout from Brexit is increasingly perceived as an issue, even from respondents outside the UK, while the threat of COVID-19 to future doc careers shows a considerable drop. Doccers have fallen out of love with online pitching and the report reveals increasing frustration with funding application processes.

“We, the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk, hereby declare our full and heartfelt solidarity with all those in Iran who stand up for their basic human rights and the freedom of expression,” the organisation writes in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death and the wave of public protests of the past weeks.