Davide Abbatescianni

Since its launch in 2010, dok.incubator’s core mission has been to transform good docs into exceptional docs. Run by a small team of six, the Prague-based programme consists of several rough-cut workshops aiming to strengthen the potential of promising non-fiction projects. “This mission is much more urgent now. As the space for creative documentaries gets narrower, I think we’ve to fight for our audience,” director Andrea Prenghyová tells BDE.

A few days ahead of Italy’s Laceno d’oro, Business Doc Europe caught up with Aldo Spiniello, the Avellino-based festival’s Head of Programming. The event, running this year from December 3-10, is one of Italy’s main winter festivals and has emerged over the years as an unmissable cinematic gathering screening fiction and non-fiction works tackling urgent socio-political themes.

Ahead of this year’s Torino Film Festival (November 24-December 2), one of Italy’s largest cinematic gatherings, BDE caught up with festival programmer Giulio Sangiorgio to talk through the event’s raison d’être, this year’s rich selection of documentary features and the current state of non-fiction production in Italy. “We aimed to include films exploring boundaries with fiction, video art and experimental cinema. In other words, we pick films able to come up with new modes of filmmaking.”

The Guest of Honour this year was Chinese auteur Wang Bing. In Amsterdam the  director was celebrated with a dedicated retrospective showcasing six of his films, including Youth (Spring), Man in Black and Mrs. Fang, a Top 10 programme and a one-on-one conversation with Orwa Nyrabia that zoomed in on his career and body of work.

Business Doc Europe spoke to Zenit producer Massimo Arvat, the delegate in charge of internationalization for Doc/It, the Italian association of doc filmmakers and producers made up of 170 members, and active since 1999. During our chat, Arvat touched on this year’s slate of projects, the main industry activities and the current state of the country’s non-fiction landscape.

Paris-based The Party Film Sales is specialised in repping both fiction and documentary films worldwide. “We’re proud to present almost all our main documentaries of the year, among which some are still in the race for Academy Awards,” the firm’s co-head of International Sales Estelle De Araujo told Business Doc Europe at IDFA 2023.

Italian producer Edoardo Fracchia explains his collaboration with Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri on her dynamic debut feature doc Amor. “We had a deal: to find a compromise between her experimental, short-orientated mode of filmmaking and my experience on working on more popular, mainstream features. [The idea was] to create an intelligible project, which could attract financing but still be ambitious.”

Elvis Sabin Ngaibino talks to Business Doc Europe about his new film, which concerns living with the stigma of AIDS within the Central African Republic. “The AIDS virus has wreaked too much havoc in Africa and it continues to do so. Among all the continents, Africa has paid the heaviest price. Therefore, I think it’s vital to present [this film] in my country and at African festivals,” Ngaibino explains.

Kathryn Bonnici, Head of Acquisitions and Development at Paris-based sales agent Java Films, discussed the documentary slate she is presenting to buyers at IDFA. “We really focus on current affairs and geo-politic investigations and have developed long standing relationships with many leading producers specialising in these areas,” she told Business Doc Europe.

On 13 October, the final day of MIA 2023, MIA Head of Doc Marco Spagnoli moderated hosted a panel that revolved around the reception of theatrical documentaries at the Italian box office and their untapped potential. In 2022, theatrical documentaries generated €6.6 million in box office revenues and recorded 995,000 admissions, the professional audience heard.