Nick Cunningham

The Geneva-based professional programme, focused on delivering maximum documentary impact, has chosen 16 projects from 21 countries for its next edition running March 10-12 2024. “We truly believe in the power of collaboration to change hearts and minds for human rights,” write organisers. Impact Days is the Industry arm of FIFDH – International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights Geneva which runs March 8-17.

The Ugandan filmmakers discuss their acclaimed doc together with Bobi Wine himself and Kenyan director Judy Kibinge. Running in the country’s 2021 presidential elections, Wine uses his music to denounce the dictatorial regime and support his life’s mission to defend the oppressed and the voiceless people of Uganda. In this fight, he must also take on the country’s police and military.

At the heart of Elisa Gambino’s multi award-winning short documentary is the unbreakable bond between Jessa and her young teen brother Jary whom the rest of her family rejected from birth due to his facial disfigurement. Despite living in poverty with two children of her own, she sets out to arrange the corrective surgery that will transform his life. “It was a profound honour to direct this film and share Jessa’s masterclass in unconditional love,” says director Gambino.

In Pulitzer Prize-winning Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol, Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and much more. The director discusses his film with Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont.

Released in the US by Kino Lorber and with ticket sales in Germany even exceeding those in its country of origin, Suzanne Raes’ Dutch feature documentary sets out to answer a fundamental question about Johannes Vermeer, arguably The Netherlands’ greatest artistic export. Among all the fakes, copies and false attributions, what makes a true Vermeer masterpiece? BDE puts director Raes in the frame.

Estonian Anna Hints’ Sundance-winning documentary about the secrets and intimacies shared within the sacred smoke sauna received Europe’s top doc prize December 9 in Berlin. The other nominees were Apolonia, Apolonia by Lea Glob, Four Daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania, Motherland by Hanna Badziaka & Alexander Mihalkovich and On The Adamant by Nicolas Philibert.

Sunny Side of the Doc celebrates its 35th anniversary from 24 to 27 June in La Rochelle (France). “In celebration of this milestone, Sunny Side of the doc is inviting the international community to think about the future of our ecosystem, about the future of the documentary genre itself, to attempt to map it together,” write organisers. The deadline for submissions noon CET on March 14 2024.

Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams brings Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s New York Times bestseller to the screen with Stamped from the Beginning. Published in 2016, Dr. Kendi’s National Book Award winner chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. The director discusses his film with British producer/director Joanna Natasegara.

Twenty docs are selected for Sundance’s World Cinema and US Documentary Competitions, while non-fiction features prominently in Next, Premieres and Episodic. “Curation is Sundance’s secret sauce and we’re energized by the range of films, stories and artists we’ve watched and selected from around the world,” comments Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming.

The prolific US director discusses his new documentary with Oscar-winning James Marsh (2008, Man On Fire). American Symphony explores a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste, chronicling his career in music (including his 11 nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards) and the struggles that his wife, best-selling author Suleika Jaouad, faces with cancer. “To see these two amazing individuals navigate these highs and lows of life was incredible,” says Heineman.