Davide Abbatescianni

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.

At IDFA 2022, Amsterdam’s Royal Theatre Carré hosted a 90-minute conversation with Golden Lion, Academy Award-winning director Laura Poitras (Flag Wars, Citizenfour, The Oath, My Country My Country, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), moderated by IDFA’s artistic director, Orwa Nyrabia.

Icelandic director Rut Sigurðardóttir tells BDE about her feature doc debut Skuld and her overall approach to non-fiction filmmaking. “I always believed that I wanted to tell other people’s stories...but very soon I realised that, of course, I’m always telling my own personal story, exploring my personal identity and role in this crazy world. [It’s] so obvious when you think about it... my covert narcissism disguised as altruism!”

Business Doc Europe caught up with Hadar Porubanova, managing director of the sales and distribution firm Ruth Films. “We were offered an unprecedented number of films this year, and only a few of them could make it to the Ruth Films’ catalogue. We try to keep things intimate, while picking subjects that are less covered by mainstream cinema,” she underlined.

Antipode’s IDFA slate will feature two lead titles, Humaira Bilkis’ Things I Could Never Tell My Mother (Best of Fests) and Kirill Nenashev’s Doc for Sales film Ice Under His Feet. Originally based in Moscow, Antipode relocated to Israel following the unfolding of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company’s Anisa Kazakova explained that the sales outlet’s catalogue also includes several protest films.

A raft of new documentaries, spearheaded by Susanne Regina Meures’ Girl Gang (one of five feature docs recently nominated for a European Film Award) and Jorgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed’s Music for Black Pigeons, form Berlin-based sales agency Rise and Shine’s Docs for Sale line-up, ready to spark the interest of buyers and distributors at this year’s IDFA.