Nick Cunningham

The 2024 Beldocs program hosts 103 films, among which are 13 world, one European, 59 regional and 24 Serbian premieres. Ten films screen in International Competition while a dozen are selected for Serbian Comp. Twenty-three developing projects at different phases of production are selected for Beldocs Industry. The 17th edition of Beldocs opened May 22 with Dragan Jovićević’s Warm Film.

The Christchurch-based Oscar-qualifying docfest announces a “stunning and provocative” line-up of 43 features, 23 shorts and 28 immersive projects. The festival runs 19-30 June before decamping to Wellington and Auckland 3-14 July. The programme will then be shared virtually across New Zealand 15-31 July.

The winners of the Docs-in-Progress Awards were unveiled during a ceremony at the end of this year's Doc Day (May 21). Top cash prizes went to Only on Earth by Robin Petré (IEFTA Doc-in-Progress Award, €10,000), to Aliyá, Yeridá by Rafael Guendelman (Al Jazeera Documentary Award, Co-pro deal with minimum €15,000 contribution), and to Chilean The Stationary Traveller (Rise and Shine Award, €3,000).

Four new projects developed at the CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator were pitched May 20 at Cannes Docs. CIRCLE is described as “a unique training initiative designed for women and non-binary writers, directors, and producers from all-over the world, offering a safe space for consultation, collaboration, sharing ideas and improving skills.” Opening the sessions producer and Programme Director Biljana Tutorov described the workshop as “a work of solidarity,” and a “circle of trust.”

The Dutch filmmaker and Chair of the 10-member fund that aims to address inequities in representation across current international funding systems, talks to BDE ahead of her ‘Soapbox’ key-note at Cannes Docs May 21. After a 3-year pilot, Fund members, which include the likes of the Netherlands Film Fund, Screen Ireland, VAF and Telefilm Canada, are set to sign a new 2-year agreement through to 2026.

In her 40-minute doc, Elena López Riera talks to mature women from Southern Spain, some as old as 103, about their experience of love (or otherwise), marriage and sex. All the time López Riera acknowledges that she will never be one of the numerous brides we see on screen culled from archive, nor will she be part of the “inheritance” process of child-rearing. The film is dedicated to her mother, with whom she has hitherto never been able to talk intimately, and whose image as a young bride herself we see continuously on screen.

Chile will be participating for the fourth time at Cannes Docs when four projects at advanced stage and covering themes such as the migration crisis, diversity and climate change, will be presented. Meanwhile, a wider delegation of Chilean doc producers will attend the Marché du Film to promote and present their talent and content to the global documentary community.

In 2024 Switzerland is the Country of Honour at the Cannes Marché, and celebrated at a series of events organised with Swiss Films in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR. At Cannes Docs May 19 Swiss Films will further present, together with Visions du Réel, four Docs-in-Progress to the Cannes professional audience. BDE spoke to the producers of the new works.

Cuba and Alaska are two female paramedics working on the frontline in the war against Russia. Serving in the Ukrainian army is obligatory for men, but not for women. These paramedics are therefore volunteers, determined to serve best their country. “This film is about the experience of war from a female perspective, how to be a woman during the full-scale invasion in Ukraine,” says producer Olha Beskhmelnytsina of 2Brave Productions ahead of the May 18 pitch at Cannes Docs.

Frontline is one of two Ukrainian projects being pitched at Cannes Docs 2024 on May 18. It is directed by Alisa Kovalenko who, after the full-scale Russian invasion, went to fight on the Eastern front, leaving her four-year-old son behind. “I felt that I cannot make cinema [anymore], and I didn't see any sense in it. I died for myself as a director,” she tells BDE. “But while I was on the frontline, I also felt that it's important to save memories for my son because I didn't know when or if I will see him again.”