Helen Fripp

“Are you sure about this, who’s going to want to watch a film about leftovers and creepy crawlies? It’s gross!” Producers Julien Adam (Capa Presse) and Sally Blake (Films a Cinq) invited the professional audience at Sunny Side into the loamy world of the compost bin during the pitch for their new doc project, Compost, The Hidden Treasure of our Waste, directed by Guilhem Touzery.

One of the Seven Wonders of the World is revisited using latest technology, with a promise to unravel the final secrets of the iconic Lighthouse of Alexandria. Gedeon Programmes’ The Lighthouse of Alexandria Decoded, directed by Laurence Thiriat, will be, producer Coraline Roch suggests, “a cinematic journey that will captivate global audiences and let them witness the reverse of the Wonder thought lost forever.”

In the ‘Meet NHK’ session at Sunny Side of the Doc, Shin Yasuda, Head of International Co-productions and Acquisitions at NHK, presented a selection of current and future projects and, together with members of his team, highlighted his company’s acquisition and international co-production opportunities. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) celebrates is 100th anniversary in 2025.

Produced by Elijah Stevens, Humboldt USA interweaves the stories of people in three ‘Humboldt’ place names (in Nevada, Chicago, and California) who are taking unique steps toward tackling environmental concerns in their communities. “These oft-disparate narratives raise the question: in the face of ecological collapse and increasing virtualization of nature, what does it mean to be an environmentalist in America today?” Stevens posits to BDE.

“This film is stitched to my heart and soul. There is blood in it – family - and roots that go back decades, tangled with the lives of the communities who welcomed us not as filmmakers, but as kin,” director Alejandro Valbuena (Curare Films, Canada/Columbia) tells BDE ahead of his rough-cut presentation of The Wind’s Thirst at DocsBarcelona Industry.

Homesick explores the personal journey of a Korean adoptee raised in a troubled Danish household. Tanja Inwol deploys visuals, imagination and considering writing skills to revisit her memories and peel back the intricate layers of transnational adoption. “Tanja and I have worked closely together since the beginning of her career, and our long-standing creative collaboration is one of the project’s key strengths,” producer Rikke Tambo Andersen tells BDE.

“Perhaps it was a final journey. A desire to remember the bond and love between a father and a son, just as despair was beginning to take hold,” producer Carlo Alpeggiani suggests the motivation behind Giacomo Boeri’s new film, about his father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. That said, it is his father’s quirky approach to life that helps the director tell the story of Alzheimer’s from both sides, Alpeggiani adds to BDE.

If you’ve ever wanted to run away to the circus (who hasn’t?), Always Far Away will be a must-see, offering us deep insights into life in the big top within today’s changing world, as seen through the eyes of three young brothers born into the community. “The youngest generation of circus acts face a new challenge: how to adapt the circus to this new era,” says producer Richard Šimeček of Svjetski Films.

At MDAG Industry Days, BDE caught up with Aliona Kachkan of Ukrainian production company TABOR ahead of her presentation of new project, Missing in Action. “Although the film is rooted in the context of war, the theme of disappearance extends far beyond it,” she says. “It touches on the broader, universal experience of absence, unresolved grief, and the human need for closure, whether caused by migration, political repression, social injustice, or natural disasters.”

Dubbed ‘Britain’s most glamourous spy,’ and an inspiration for the character of James Bond, Polish-born Countess Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek is the subject of director Sylwia Rosak’s new documentary to be presented during this week’s MDAG Industry Days. “It’s a powerful exploration of how we construct and forget our heroes — especially women who live beyond the limits of what is socially acceptable,” producer Justyna Kluczewska tells BDE.