Nick Cunningham

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…

The Best Documentary Feature prize went to Hacking Hate by Simon Klose (Sweden, Denmark, Norway) while the Documentary Feature Best Cinematography and Best Editing Awards went to Ezra Wolfinger for Shelf Life (United States) and Rupert Houseman for Antidote (United Kingdom) respectively. The Albert Maysles Award for Best New Doc went to Debra Aroko and Nicole Gormley for their Searching for Amani (Kenya).

Relentless Memory, a film about indigenous peoples and human rights, world premieres in International Competition. Piropolis, telling the story of a firefighting company fighting simultaneous devastating fires in Chile, has its European premiere. Meanwhile in MeetMarket, A Troop of Bears is presented. The doc project tells the story of the encounter between the son of a disappeared detainee and the man who betrayed him during the Chilean military dictatorship.

In the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, 11-year-old Vrej is, in equal part, philosopher, dreamer and realist. He wants to be a dentist, but is fully aware that he is being prepared for combat, as are all the kids of his age, both and girls. “He was just a child full of wonder, full of dreams, but also very much older [than his years],” says director Hairabedian of her subject. “His personality was what really attracted the lens, and that's what kept us going.”

The documentary pitching has finalized the project selection for its 28th edition, scheduled to take place in Riga 1-6 September 2024. The selection includes 22 projects currently in development and production, as well as four projects at post-production stage within the forum's Coming Soon session.

The Whickers, founded in 2015 and named after the legendary British broadcaster and documentarian Alan Whicker, this year celebrates 10 years of collaboration with Sheffield DocFest. On June 16 the annual £100,000 Film and TV Funding Award will be handed out, as well as a £20,000 development prize. June 15 sees The Whickers and Sheffield DocFest Podcast Awards, valued at £5000 and £2000 respectively. Consultant Art Director Jane Ray explains her organisation’s rationale and modus operandi to BDE.

Back in the 1980s Genesis P-Orridge was described as “too shocking, even for punks,” this coming on the back of his sexually graphic performances at London’s ICA in 1976 together with his equally notorious then-girlfriend Cosey Fanni Tutti. But David Charles Rodrigues’ new doc reveals another side to Genesis. Yes, he was formidable and dangerous, but he was also a genuine intellectual and a philosopher years ahead of his time, as well as a loving dad. “You can live for your art and be this extreme artist and musician and thinker, but also part of your extremeness is living with unconditional love for your family,” the director tells BDE.