Geoffrey Macnab

The statistics are stark. More than 400,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the past 20 years. In his new feature documentary Marching In The Dark (sold by Lightdox and world-premiering at CPH:DOX), Kinshuk Surjan explores the circumstances leading to this tragic loss of life. He also talked to Business Doc Europe on the eve of the Danish docfest.

When Danish filmmakers and photo-journalists Kristoffer Juel Poulsen and Christian Als went to Mongolia to research Neo-Nazi gangs, they encountered the enigmatic Gerel Byamba who resented the creeping Chinese presence in her homeland. She also wanted to stop local women working as prostitutes and was prepared to use violence to achieve her ends. Poulsen tells BDE of her “fierce personality” but also of the fact the camera seemed drawn to her. She had a natural charisma, he says

When Marius the Danish giraffe was “euthanised” in 2014, there was global consternation. But in Max Kestner’s Life and Other Problems, which opens CPH:DOX 2024, the giraffe is just the starting point as Kestner spins off in multiple other directions, discussing everything from biology to physics to the emotional lives of plants and why some humans like impersonating wolves. The Danish director explains more to BDE.

On the eve of CPH:DOX, Artistic Director Niklas Engstrom is philosophical on the role that doc fests can play in a world that seems increasingly broken. “Today, more than ever, the role of film festivals is so important in terms of providing a space for difficult conversations - conversations between people who do not necessarily agree. [It’s about] what art can do, what films can and especially what documentary filmmaking can do because it is so focused on real life.”

Mariana Marín Romero is in Geneva to give a March 11 case study on the impact campaign for the Mexican animated doc Home Is Somewhere Else, which looks at the struggles of young migrants and counts up the human cost when families are torn apart. “I think animation helped us with audiences for them to really listen to the stories,” she explained to BDE before FIFDH doors opened. “When we did the community screenings, we noticed that they worked.”

Since its premiere in Venice last autumn, Andrés Peyrot’s feature documentary God Is A Woman has been feted by critics and audiences alike, and has sparked strong debate about some of the issues it raises. Peyrot was at FIFDH (Geneva) where he showed the film and took part in a panel (March 10 ) on ‘the rights of indigenous peoples: decolonising perspectives and imaginations.” The Swiss-Panamanian director also took time to speak to BDE.

When some Japanese people decide, for whatever reason, to “reset” their lives, they turn to the “night-movers” who help them disappear (as Hartmann and Mori’s feature doc suggests) into thin air. Hartmann describes it as “an emotional human drama film.” It’s not intended as a dry investigative documentary. The director talks of trying to “understand what it means when you run away - but also what it means when you are left behind.”

By day the forest on the eastern border of Poland is blissful and magical for a young family living in their fairytale-like cottage. But at it offers clear evidence of Europe’s terrible humanitarian crisis. “The refugees are hidden in the shelter of the night. We hear their voices coming from the woods. We have this glimpse of a feeling that we can only get at night,” director Lidia Duda tells BDE of her film which world-premieres in Thessaloniki.

It’s a strange detail in history not widely known. The Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, responsible for killing around a quarter of his own people during the period of the Khmer Rouge, spent part of his childhood at the Cambodian royal court. He was brought up there by his foster mother, Chea Samy, a celebrated dancer who had married Pol’s older brother. Director Lansch reveals all to BDE.

Janey Godley, the Glaswegian comedian who is sometimes called the “female equivalent to Billy Connolly,” is the subject of John Archer’s new feature documentary, which closes Glasgow FF. She has had a very tough life, but her response has always been heroic. “My life isn’t defined by child abuse or murder or violence. My life isn’t defined by that just as my life isn’t defined by cancer or comedy. My life is what I make it…I think I just decided I am not going to let anybody beat me,” she tells BDE.