Nick Cunningham

Over four days, the La Rochelle market hosted 2100 participants from 68 countries, over 1000 companies, 90 exhibitors, and 250 international decision-makers including major broadcasters, streamers, foundations, distributors, financiers, and museums from across the world. Award Winners from seven pitch sessions were announced plus numerous other cash and in-kind prizes.

The Czech doc fest reminds the international doc sector of its June 30 deadline, and unveils this year’s visual concept, that of islands, as authored again by the award-winning book graphic designer and illustrator Juraj Horváth. Ji.hlava will also present a major retrospective of directors Vit Klusák and Filip Remunda and their leading Czech production company Hypermarket Film. More news…

The award-winning documentary filmmaker Nicole Horanyi will head Zentropa’s new film initiative Zentropa Documentary, which aims to develop and produce documentary content in all formats, the company announced June 24. “I will collaborate with directors who dare to take a stand, push the boundaries of the genre, and tell stories with great originality,” she comments.

CIRCLE, the training programme and “safe space” for women and gender expansive filmmakers, has unveiled its cohort for the seventh edition of its flagship programme Women Doc Accelerator. Ten filmmakers and their projects have been chosen from 117 submissions by the selection committee of writer and producer Suzy Gillet, programmer and project manager Babette Dieu, producer Kesmat El Sayed, film scholar Jelena Mišeljić, and director/producer Rok Biček.

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.”