Davide Abbatescianni

Presented this week at Rome’s MIA Market (6–10 October), The Eighth Day is a 75-minute feature documentary directed by Sabrina Varani and produced by Tv2000. Set during the Catholic Jubilee Year of 2025, the protagonists of this story are the homeless men and women living on the margins. “The relationship nurtured with the protagonists profoundly changed [Varani’s] perspective, allowing the director to see them not as figures on the margins, but as the center of a ceaseless galaxy of ordinary human activity,” comments Tv2000 exec Anna De Simone.

At a time when historical narratives are increasingly contested, the October 7 MIA panel “What’s the Future of History” gathered broadcasters and commissioning editors to reflect on the place of factual history programming in today’s fractured media landscape. Moderated by Krishan Arora, UK producer and consultant at Mixing Media, the session featured Laurent Filliung (ARTE GEIE), Elisabeth Hagstedt (Histoire TV), Caroline Haidacher (ORF), Sergiy Nadzelskyy (Suspilne, Ukraine), Proinsias Ní Ghrainne (TG4), and Mikael Österby (SVT International).

At this year’s MIA Market, Warsaw-based production powerhouse Madants is pitching The Lawyer, a feature documentary that explores one of the most unbelievable – yet entirely true – stories to come out of Kenya in recent years, that of a top lawyer who had forged his credentials, and taught himself law via YouTube and episodes of Boston Legal. “Our goal is to make The Lawyer a story that resonates far beyond Kenya — a reflection on how ambition, opportunity, and moral boundaries intertwine in today’s world,” says producer Kinga Tasarek of Warsaw-based Madants.

An Italian philanthropist, an enigmatic painting signed ‘P. Gauguin,’ and a decades-long battle for truth: Reflections of Gauguin unfolds like a cinematic thriller set against the labyrinthine world of art authentication. Directed by Heidi Richert and penned together with Carlos Marroquín, the Finnish documentary is being pitched this week at Rome’s MIA Market by Helsinki-based firm Pig and Horse Oy.

For the Caribbean island of Curaçao, baseball is more than just a game — it’s an identity, a lifeline, and a dream. In Baseball Island, an upcoming documentary helmed by Lyangelo Vasquez and pitched at MIA 2025, the national passion for baseball becomes a vivid lens through which to explore the island’s collective spirit, postcolonial legacy, and sense of belonging. “It tells a heart-warming story about a devoted community determined to win the prestigious Little League world championship in the US,” says Dutch producer Thomas den Drijver.

The upcoming edition of Rome’s MIA (6–10 October) is set to reinforce its role as a key meeting point for the non-fiction industry. Speaking to Business Doc Europe, MIA’s Head of Doc & Factual and Deputy Director, Marco Spagnoli, and Head of the Doc Co-Production Market, Ben Pace, outlined an event focused on coproduction and internationalisation, fostering connections that bring documentary and factual stories to global audiences.

On Wednesday, May 21, a sunlit stretch of the Plage du CNC transformed into a hub for cinematic memory and innovation. During this year’s Cannes Film Festival, an extraordinary presentation unveiled a ground-breaking educational initiative: a platform giving film students open access to 54 hours of rushes from Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse, 2000), offering them the rare opportunity to edit this material in alignment with their own directorial visions.

On 20 May, in front of a live audience gathered on the Main Stage of Cannes, filmmaker Viv Li described her experiences as a first-time documentary director. “I’m honoured to represent the voices of first-time filmmakers at Cannes,” she said, before launching into a keynote that felt less like a formal talk and more like an audacious one-woman performance — in equal parts confession, stand-up and manifesto.

In an industry saturated with submissions and shifting audience behaviours, selecting documentaries for 'non-doc specific' film festivals remains an intricate craft — a fact that emerged during the May 20 'Real Talk panel organised for this year’s Cannes Docs. The conversation featured insights from Pamela Biénzobas (Locarno Film Festival), Paul Grandsard (Festival de Cannes), Michael Stütz (Berlinale), and Ania Trzebiatowska (Sundance Film Festival), under the moderation of Eric Hynes, Director of Film Curation and Programming at the Jacob Burns.

On March 25, Wolf Moon, a captivating project by Robin Petré, was unveiled at the CPH:DOX Forum. Moderated by Tabitha Jackson, the presentation offered an exciting glimpse into a film that promises to take audiences on an immersive journey deep into the landscapes of the night, exploring the evolving relationship between humans and animals in the age of the Anthropocene.