Nick Cunningham

The tenth edition of the Rome-based market will take place October 14-18 2024 and across the MIA Digital platform, offering five days of specific programs, featuring dedicated pitching forums, showcases, networking events, conferences, workshops and talks, “aimed at strengthening relationships among industry professionals and promoting new collaboration agreements,” organisers underline.

The DocLab Forum is open to non-fiction artworks, at all production and financing stages, that use emerging media to represent reality, including web experiences, multimedia journalism, digital art, games, audio experiences, immersive experiences (such as VR/AR/MR, social VR and full-dome films), physical installations, live performances, and immersive theatre. Presentations will be November 18 and 19 in Amsterdam.

“This year’s selection can be described as ‘fishing in the river of time,’” says programmer Rada Šešić. “This method, creatively applied in a large number of chosen films, offers a unique authorial perspective on the passage of time, whether through exceptional archival material or refined cinematic observation.” Two additional feature docs to play Out of Competition.

More than 100 new documentary projects were submitted by leading Nordic makers for the 31st Nordisk Panorama Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries. Between 23-24 September in Malmö, Sweden, twenty-four of these new doc projects and 22 observer+ projects will be pitched and presented to the (approx) 70 decision-makers in attendance. (Pic: 'A Face to be Loved' by Angelica Ruffier)

New docs by such heavyweights as Petra Costa, Amos Gitai, Asif Kapadia, Kevin Macdonald and Errol Morris play in the Out of Competition Non-fiction sidebar, while Wang Bing’s Youth - Homecoming gets the nod for Venezia 81 Competition. Orrizonti Competition hosts the feature docs Wishing On A Star by Péter Kerekes and Mistress Dispeller by Elizabeth Lo. A further nine docs on cinema are selected for Venice Classics.

The Canadian fest will present Elton John: Never Too Late by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish; Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band by Thom Zimny, and Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe by Cosima Spender. Josh Greenbaum’s Will & Harper, which bowed at Sundance 2024, receives its Canadian premiere. The Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 – 15, 2024.

The Sitges-based Euro-Mediterranean Documentary Market is seeking new doc projects-in-development and finished films. “We are looking for European producers and filmmakers that can provide independently produced documentaries, projects engaging in creative risks, advancing issues and presenting points of views not typically seen on television,” organisers write. The 25th MEDIMED runs 17-20 October 2024.

Spanning 15 programme and presenter categories, the list reflects “the best documentary singles and series launched across broadcasters, streamers and online, as well as theatrical releases.” Nominations will be announced September 23. The Awards Ceremony will take place Wednesday 6 November at London’s Roundhouse.

The film won Best Feature Doc at the 13th CMS Lucknow International Children’s Film Festival and Best Feature Football Film at the 40th Sport Movies & TV – Milano International FICTS. Director Jamillah van der Hulst has also just completed the feature doc Where the Kids Have No Name, about homeless kids on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Béjot has been Director of Strategy and Development at Doc Services, a position he has held since January 2020. The market also announced it will set up an Advisory Committee whose members will “bring [their] expertise and networks to fuel ongoing reflections on the market's evolution and enable Sunny Side of the Doc to develop sustainably, always meeting the challenges and needs of the documentary community.”