Nick Cunningham

For the second year the 3-part Ex Oriente Series programme, dedicated to developing and supporting innovative docuseries projects from Central and Eastern Europe, kicks off at Sunny Side of the Doc. Six projects are selected. The programme continues in October 2024 at DOK Leipzig and in March 2025 at the East Doc Platform in Prague. The lead tutor is Ruth Reid, who is joined by Chris Westendorp, Catherine Chevassu, Malin Hüber, and Samuel Joyce.

ShareDoc founder Anne Marie Borsboom talks to Business Doc Europe about her QR code initiative that enables immediate financial engagement by audiences as soon as the credits roll. “We exist to amplify the social impact of documentaries for the protagonists/charities involved in the project,” she says. “We believe in guiding the audience towards immediate action while bridging the gap between the documentary industry and documentary lovers.”

The new Sunny Side of the Doc award bears the name of the Java Films founder, who passed away in 2023 and “who always loved coming to La Rochelle.” The €3,000 prize will be awarded to a project in the Global Issues or New Voices pitch that "best engages with the humanitarian issues of today or inspires us to make a difference."

“The migration crisis, feminism in Latin America, ancient cultures and political conspiracies” are the themes explored in the Chilean projects presented at La Rochelle this year. The project Unwelcomed by Amilcar Infante and Sebastián González is selected for the Impact Campaigns Pitch section. Meanwhile, María Wood Producciones and Cábala Films attend with some their latest projects, with both seeking co-production and sales.

Nine Polish projects will be presented at Sunny Side of the Doc 2024 by some of the country’s leading doc production houses, including Silver Frame, Kijora Film, Smart Films, AP Mañana and Short Docs Media. The delegation arrives under the aegis of Polish Docs Pro, led by Barbara Orlicz‐Szczypuła, Director of KFF Sales & Promotion and Katarzyna Wilk, Head of Polish Docs.

Sundance winners Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard announced June 20 the imminent completion (July 2024) of their hybrid feature The Extraordinary Miss Flower, which tells the remarkable story of producer Zoe Flower's mother Geraldine and the discovery of a suitcase of letters from the 60s and 70s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio to record a new album. The directors describe their work as “part film, part theatre, part fever dream with strong documentary elements.”

Yance Ford’s new feature doc Power, screening on Netflix, looks at the origins of police power in the US and asks why American citizens have allowed cops to hold so much sway over their lives for so long. “I've been thinking about police since that moment in Strong Island [winner of the 2017 Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award] when there were detectives in my parents' house explaining to them why the young man who shot and killed my brother wasn't going to be charged with a crime,” he tells producer Joslyn Barnes. Click on video in link.

“What makes us really unique is that we are the only pure market dedicated just to documentary,” underlines Sunny Side’s Mathieu Béjot ahead of the event’s 35th roll-out, the core of which is the presentation of 42 new projects across seven themed strands. “Part of our mission also is to make sure that there's renewal in the industry, and that you don't hear the same pitches from the same companies.” Sunny Side of the Doc 2024 runs June 24-27 in La Rochelle, France.

The 3-day Industry programme of the Belfast-based Docs Ireland festival kicks off June 20 with an ongoing objective to support the production of non-fiction across the whole island of Ireland. “We really just want to support, nurture and foster the island of Ireland’s industry, particularly its emerging filmmakers,” Industry Head Roisín Geraghty tells BDE of her event.

Grand Jury Award for International Competition goes to At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking by Maja Novaković. The Grand Jury Award for the International First Feature Competition is won by The Boy and the Suit of Lights by Inma de Reyes. The Tim Hetherington Award was picked up by No Other Land by Basel Adri, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Soar, Hamdan Ballal (Palestine, Norway, 2024). All festival and Industry awards…