Davide Abbatescianni

The recent EFM Baltic Doc Rough Cut Showcase promoted new non-fiction feature projects nearing completion. Lithuanian Arturas Jevdokimovas’ new doc project promises to portray the full life cycle of a Christmas tree, beginning with the picking of a pine cone in the Georgian mountains and planting in Denmark, until its inevitable death in a waste container. BDE reports.

EFM hosted a panel this week titled “A New Reality: Decolonising the Post-Soviet Screen.” The debate, moderated by MEDICI’s Tamara Tatishvili and goEast Film Festival director Heleen Gerritsen, also saw the participation of German Films MD Simone Baumann, Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries’ project manager Zane Balčus, Tajik director Anisa Sabiri, Lithuanian filmmaker and activist Romas Zabarauskas and Kyiv Critics’ Week’s co-curator Daria Badior.

EFM’s Baltic Doc Rough Cut Showcase promoted new doc feature projects nearing completion. Stanislavs Tokalovs’ project forms a portrait of Latvia’s Russian-speaking community, following three women from his own family – his grandma, who came to Latvia from Russia in 1955 at the age of 93; his mother, a former university lecturer, and his sister, who is starting her adult life by trying to break away from her family.

This year’s European Film Market focused on the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. One of the industry initiatives, the Baltic Doc Rough Cut Showcase, promotes new non-fiction feature projects nearing completion. The Estonian project Kelly - Someone Else’s Dreams was initially planned as a sports documentary revolving around the record-breaking freestyle skier before it turned into a much darker story…

The brand-new, four-part high-end documentary series Juan Carlos was presented February 20 as part of the EFM’s Up Next: Germany, a showcase of the country’s most interesting upcoming series projects. Produced by Emmy-nominated producer Christian Beetz (Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion, controlled by Munich-based conglomerate Leonine Studios), the series promises to explore the rise and fall of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I.

This was the core question and title of an EFM panel held at the Event Hall of Berlin’s Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation on February 18. The talk, hosted by the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) and moderated by Brigid O’Shea, saw the participation of IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia and IDA’s Director of Artist Programmes Abbey Sun.

February 17 saw the launch at EFM of the Belarusian Independent Film Academy (BIFA) to give voice to independent artists from Belarus working in the film industry. Co-founder Volia Chajkouskaya explained that the need to found BIFA was clear following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, and how “a period of unprecedented mass repression” and “rigged elections” in Belarus convinced the country’s independent filmmakers to “reunite” and “to oppose any form of state collaboration.”

What are the main artistic and financial benefits to international documentary makers when engaging with their French counterparts? What kind of rules are in place to apply for funding? These were the main questions tackled during a panel organised by Biarritz docfest FIPADOC in collaboration with Unifrance. The talk was held on 25 January and moderated by CNC rep Agnès Tricot.

Last week’s FIPADOC panel on the co-production possibilities offered up by the Baltic countries was split into two parts: the first focusing on a French-Estonian co-pro case study, whilst the second invited the contributions of three heads of acquisitions working for some of the region’s public broadcasters – Erko Lyytinen, of Finland’s YLE; Junita Budvytiene of Lithuanian LRT, and Zane Valeniece of Latvia’s LTV.

Last week, IDFA hosted a conversation with Indian film director and producer Nishtha Jain, moderated by Pamela Cohn. Jain was also world-premiering her latest doc, The Golden Thread, at the Amsterdam docfest. The picture is set in India and focuses on the mill workers’ fight for a minimum monthly wage (equivalent to 250 USD) and their laborious work, which has hardly changed since the times of the industrial revolution.