Geoffrey Macnab

Mumbai-based Deepti Gupta’s Shut Up Sona (sold internationally by Brighton-based Espesso Media) has provoked howls of fury in India, the director tells Business Doc Europe.

Dynamic Dutch production outfit and its LA offshoot SubLA have revealed details of their latest ventures.

As the documentary community struggles with the financial challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown, London and New York based non-profit Doc Society is reporting a huge number of applications to its new Documentary Impact Producer Relief Fund.

Marc Isaacs’ new feature The Filmmakers’ House 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.

Speaking to Business Doc Europe, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, director of Our Daily Bread and Homo Sapiens and one of the heavyweight auteurs of European documentary, has revealed details of his new corona-virus themed feature doc, The Standstill (sold by Autlook).

Leading French docs sales agent Anaïs Clanet has given details of her new venture, Reservoir Docs, which is being launched during the Cannes Marché.

Leading Russian outfit Metrafilms is getting back into the documentary groove with an espionage thriller as embroiled and complex as anything found in dramatised spy movies.

The ‘fest’ has been taken out of the festival and all the hard work isn’t bringing the expected dividends. “Our real merchandise are emotions, and these are best shared,” First Hand Films boss Esther van Messel tells BDE.

Tel Aviv-based doc sales outfit Cinephil is partnering with French production giant Gedeon Media Group and ARTE on major new TV project, The Ark Of The Covenant (working title). Cannes label Flee also on the company's Cannes slate.

Vienna-based documentary powerhouse Autlook is tweaking its strategy in response to the challenges presented by the Covid pandemic. (Photo by Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock)