Davide Abbatescianni

On 26 June, Sunny Side of the Doc hosted a panel focusing on documentary and factual programming funding titled "Show us the Money! " The talk, moderated by The Bridge Managing Director Amanda Groom, sought to explore some of the more successful examples of innovative new financial structures and commercial models that are already working for documentary and factual producers.

After snagging the Best Pitch award in the Global Issues section of this year’s Sunny Side of the Doc (24-27 June), Business Doc Europe spoke to Renaud Lavergne, Factstory producer of Inside Gaza, helmed by Hélène Lam Trong and the Agence France Press (AFP) Gaza team. Lavergne and his crew embarked on the project after the events of October 7.

BDE takes a closer look at one of the buzziest projects pitched in the Science section of Sunny Side of the Doc 2024 as seasoned producer Massimo Arvat unpacks the core themes and features of his new project Unconventional Gardeners, helmed by Alessandro Bernard and Paolo Ceretto. The feature is being produced by Italy’s Zenit Arti Audiovisive and Germany’s Dirk Manthey Film with backing from Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the Piemonte Doc Film Fund and the Trentino Film Commission.

At Sunny Side of the Doc 2024, Business Doc Europe caught up with Frankie Fenton, director of the feature-length project How to Stop a War. Fenton’s latest effort will be pitched in the History strand of the French industry event on June 27. During our chat, Fenton touched on the project’s inception, its visual look and style and the timely themes it tackles.

Business Doc Europe speaks to Clara Vuillermoz, producer at Paris-based outfit Solent Production about François-Xavier Destors’ bold feature-length doc project Edgar Hilsenrath – The Masturbator, which showcases June 25. “At La Rochelle, we expect to put the project on the map for securing co-producers, broadcasters and a sales agent,” says Vuillermoz.

On May 21, Cannes’ Marché du Film hosted a talk titled “Fighting for the Commons in a Time of Critical Destabilisation.” The event saw the participation of director-producer Raoul Peck and Dominic Asmall Willsdon, IDA’s Executive Director. In particular, Peck zoomed in on his Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (showcased in the Special Screenings strand), and on advocacy, capitalism and how doc production has changed over the last 30 years, among other topics.

At Marché du Film, BDE spoke to May Odeh of the Palestinian Film Institute (PFI). The body is visiting the Croisette on the occasion of the May 19 Palestine Showcase, where the focus is placed on four new non-fiction projects. “It aims to spotlight the talent, creativity, and diversity within the Palestinian filmmaking community, providing a platform for Palestinian filmmakers to share their stories and perspectives with an international audience,” underlines Odeh of the Cannes event.

Crowned the most promising European project at last year’s Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival, Pepa Lubojacki’s debut project If Pigeons Turned to Gold zooms in on four family members, including Lubojacki’s own brother and cousins, unhoused for over a decade and struggling with addiction. The work-in-progress, produced by Wanda Kaprálová for CLAW AV with Guča Films, was presented both in Prague and last month at CPH:DOX.

Fifteen years after her “first film” fell apart, US director Zia Anger has made My First Film, a deeply personal take on the experience, as told through her alter ego Vita (played by Odessa Young). “Rather than making a documentary or a hybrid, my intention was to make something that is fictional but based on a true story. As the making of the film went on, it felt more and more the unravelling of the story was just as important as the story itself,” she tells BDE.

Traversing the majestic Andean Highlands, the Atacama Desert and the Coastal Cliffs, the documentary Unwelcomed unveils the harsh reality of the migration crisis in Latin America and northern Chile’s radicalisation. The pic, set to premiere in 2025 and directed by Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez and Amilcar Infante, was one of the WIP projects presented at CPH:DOX 2024.