Nick Cunningham

Producer and programmer Paula Astorga was unveiled October 29 as the new director of Doclisboa International Film Festival. Astorga directed Mexico’s National Cinematheque from 2010 to 2014, where she was in charge of its ‘complete renovation.’ Former director Miguel Ribeiro, who has worked at Lisboa for 11 years in various capacities, leaves to coordinate and program the cultural space Casa do Comum.

The Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: Europe & U.S. Docs Awards (ten in total) were handed out 27 October as doors closed on this year’s Industry event. Additionally, the festival announced the creation of the Ji.hlava/JB Films co-production project. Next year, up to €110,000 will be distributed to creative documentaries from the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

Czech producer/director/festival chief Veronika Janatková talked to Business Doc Europe after she was presented as one of Ji.hlava’s Emerging Producers of 2023. “I believe that through film one can perceive and consider society differently, and pay attention to those that are not in power. Film can be the fuel for action,” she underlines.

If you’re Estonian, then it’s a great time to be a docmaker, as evidenced by the ongoing acclaim for Anna Hints’ Smoke, Sauna, Sisterhood. Another top Estonian is Liis Nimik, whose Sundial (which she also directed) was selected for the Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe programme in April 2023 and who, this week, has been enjoying the attentions of the international doc community as one of this year’s Emerging Producer cohort this year.

In French director Clément Deneux’s project, the renowned Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase explores self-acceptance through a bicycle trip love story. “The real-time animated piece that maximizes the medium's potential, offering viewers full freedom of movement and a sense of story participation in a documentary about a feature film that was never produced,” the jury said.

The new short film, directed by Dutch filmmakers Jefta Varwijk and Jaap van Heusden, focuses on paramedic Louis who recounts a series of horrific and traumatic events experienced in the line of duty over the course of 23 years. It is a film that demonstrates more graphically than most how, once seen, some things just cannot be unseen. “These are images that are etched into their retinas or etched into their souls,” Varwijk tells Business Doc Europe.

Ji.hlava Industry (Oct 25-29) is gearing up for another four days of pitching, networking and deal-making as 1300 professionals descend upon on the historic Czech town. “We want to be the melting pot for people from across the whole of Europe - north, south, east and west,” says Jarmila Outratová, Head of Industry. Not to mention the cohort of US producers who once again will present their new doc projects during the Ji.hlava’s New Visions Forum.

With 357 films across 7 competitive and 11 non-competitive sections, the Ji.hlava programme is particularly intense in 2023, chock full of doc from emerging and established makers alike, and presented to a highly cinephile Czech audience. “We don't think that daring and personal films ignore audiences. Quite the opposite. Documentary film has long been the most diverse and vibrant part of the audiovisual landscape, and interest in it continues to grow,” says festival director Marek Hovorka.

UK-based international sales outfit Impronta Films announced October 23 its global rights acquisition of Ehsan Khoshbakht's feature doc Celluloid Underground. Produced by Mary Bell and Adam Dawtrey for Bofa, with funding from the National Lottery via Screen Scotland and the BFI Doc Society Fund, the film world-premiered at London FF earlier this month. The international premiere will be at Morelia IFF on October 24.

The winners of Doclisboa’s Arché and Nebulae pitch awards were announced October 22. For its ninth edition, Arché gathered film projects from 10 countries around the globe, including Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. The eight Nebulae Award competitors were all produced or co-produced in Finland, the guest country for this edition.