Nick Cunningham

New Industry Head Alice Burgin fills in Business Doc Europe on the 2024 professional programme running April 14-17. “A luxury of VdR Industry is that we have such a niche cinema that we are nurturing,” she says. “To actually be able to use your market as a platform to find these projects, but also to tailor buyers or financiers to that content, I think that is one fundamental thing we can do.”

Additionally, HBO Max, ARTE, RAI, POV and Al-Jazeera are among the funders that will participate in the Barcelona market, which will take place 6 to 10 May. "DocsBarcelona Industry wants to be a space for critical debate, safe and with an eye on the future. More than ever, we need creators and producers to bring new perspectives and contribute to the critical and artistic spirit through film," says Head of Industry, Èric Motjer.

Fourteen documentaries have been selected for the International Documentary Competition of the 64th Krakow Film Festival, including two productions from Poland. “Events you hear about in media, yet recounted from the personal perspectives of their heroines and heroes. Stories from places seldom ventured into and a fresh look on what seemed thoroughly familiar,” underlines the festival, which runs May 26 to June 2.

The 8-month dok.incubator rough-cut workshop has announced its final selection of documentary projects to be developed during 2024. “From circumstances that turn life upside down and clashes of different worlds to one's healing journey – the variety of topics to be unfolded at this year’s workshop creates a powerful and touching mosaic of today,” write organisers.

Every year Visions du Réel organises masterclasses, meetings and debates that are open to the general public and professionals alike. In addition to its three 2024 Guests – Jia Zhang-Ke, Alice Diop and John Wilson – the festival will host discussions with renowned filmmakers such as Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Anna Hints, as well as many directors whose films will be screened publicly for the first time, plus film funders from all over the world.

MetFilm Distribution has confirmed they will release David Allen’s Wilding on June 14, in cinemas across the UK and Ireland. The film is based on Isabella Tree's internationally-acclaimed book published by Picador. Tree's book, a Sunday Times bestseller with over 350,000 sales in the UK and worldwide, has been translated into 8 different languages. The doc premiered at the BFI London Film Festival 2023 and later at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

A total of €938,000 has been granted to five documentary features and one doc series by the Finnish Film Foundation in its latest round of funding (March 2024). The total amount of funding was €5,745,000, with additional support granted to nine fiction features and four shorts.

The festival announces the new ICON DOCS award to be given to one of the 40 selected teams pitching their film projects at DOK.forum (May 1-7). Elsewhere, details of Munich’s’s BY+QC DOC CoPro partnership with Montreal’s Forum RIDM, which enables Canadian talent to take part in the all DOK.forum Marketplace activities, are unveiled. Industry Training Talks to examine the role of media libraries and the transformative effect of AI for doc storytelling, among other themes to be explored.

The 3-module initiative of the Balkan Documentary Centre run in collaboration with One World Romania, has unveiled the slate of doc film projects and podcasts for its inaugural edition. The program kicks off in Bucharest (One World Romania, April 2024, project development), continues with an online session (pitch honing) and culminates at Sofia Documental in September 2024 where the projects will be pitched to professionals.

The Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and Czech entrepreneur have Jan Barta joined forces to support “outstanding auteur filmmaking” from Central and Eastern Europe by launching the Ji.hlava/JB Films support scheme. The financial support will come in the form of co-production contributions to film projects. Around 3–4 documentary and hybrid films in production or post-production will be supported. One project can receive up to €40,000. Deadline for applications is April 30.