Geoffrey Macnab

London-based sales outfit Film Republic has confirmed that Netherlands distribution of IDFA opening film Nothing But The Sun by Arami Ullón is to be handled by Cinema Delicatessen, who came on board last week. Meanwhile, Cineworx will be releasing the film in Switzerland.

Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the team behind Sundance hit The Truffle Hunters, have revealed further details of their new production company Beautiful Stories. The new outfit, which will make fiction as well as documentary, will be based out of the US and Sweden.

The pandemic has thrown up new challenges for the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF) which, in September, announced it was backing a record number of new projects in the latest IBF Classic selection.

When a class that Todd Chandler was teaching in NY showed no surprise at news of yet another mass shooting, his interest was piqued, and he began to dig deeper into the industry of military-style safety provision in US schools. His subsequent Bulletproof is selected for Ji.hlava Constellations and Leipzig Audience Award.

The rain is filling the gutters. The streets are empty of humans, but stray cats and dogs are scavenging for food. So are flocks of pigeons. This is the St Petersburg during lockdown shown in Russian director Tatiana Chistova’s Bless You!, world premiering at DOK Leipzig.

Have you heard the one about the two London cabbies? According to popular cliché, taxi drivers in the UK capital are garrulous, colourful characters who love a good natter with their customers. Max Colson's short doc shows them in a different light.

Hannah Jayanti describes her 'Truth or Consequences' as a “speculative documentary.” That’s to say, a film set in the near future in a world subtly different to the one we know. In the America Jayanti shows, citizens are beginning to leave earth as commercial space travel takes off.

Ada Ushpiz’s 'Children' has its world premiere in DOK Leipzig having already received huge praise from the festival’s director, Christoph Terhechte, who called it “heart-breaking.” In the film, sold by Cinephil, Israeli director Ushpiz follows kids in Palestine who’ve been drawn into the insurgency against the occupying Israeli forces.

Four films from Ket & Doc, the bold new programme for kids’ documentaries initiated by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) in 2018, have been chosen for the Kids DOK section at DOK Leipzig - a strong endorsement of the success of the venture.

Marc Isaacs’ feature The Filmmaker’s House, which world premieres October 17 at Sheffield Doc Fest, is labelled as “documentary.” Some doc purists, though, may be startled by the director’s freewheeling approach toward a project which was indeed shot in his own house. Business Doc Europe spoke to the director back in June 2020.