Nick Cunningham

Fantastique by Marjolijn Prins and produced by Serendiity Films won the Perfect Pitch Award while the 5-part series She They Us - Towards an Equal Future, directed by Zaïde Bil, Heleen Declercq and Sam Peeters and produced by Cassette for timescapes, won the Work in Progress Award. The total value of all the awards at CONNEXT 2023 came to approximately 80,000 euros.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam unveiled the selections in its premiere-only sections Luminous and Frontlight, in addition to titles selected for the live cinema section IDFA on Stage and experimental art section Paradocs. IDFA will once again presents the Contagious & Queer program, curated by Simon(e) van Saarloos, and announces this year’s DocLab theme as Phenomenal Friction.

Sunny Side of the Doc announced October 10 its call for projects for the 4th edition of Global Pitch. The objective of the online event is to bring together the international documentary film community around engaged themes. In 2024 the focus will be on ‘Mapping the Future of our ecosystem and the documentary genre itself.’ 12 projects will be selected and presented February 6-7 2024. The deadline for submissions is November 24.

For its competition sections, the Poland-wide Millennium Docs Against Gravity invites films of over 45 minutes duration. The deadline for submissions is January 8, 2024. In 2023, MDAG presented more than 180 non-fiction films, garnering an audience of more than 140,000 spectators. The 21st edition will take place May 10-19 2024 in cinemas and May 21 - June 3 online.

Olga Lucovnicova updated the professional audience at Antwerp on her doc project about the personal journey she took to the Urals to investigate a tragic family secret - and how everything became overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “My film…is an urgent dialogue between the old and young generations between the past which disappears and the present which carries the scars and makes history repeat itself,” she said.

Kathleen McInnis is both Connext moderator and trainer/mentor to the film teams presenting their new projects and works-in-progress in 2023. “I believe firmly in what I call the Cinematic Trinity, which is filmmaker as artist, audience at the other end, and in the middle the industry as conduit," she explains to BDE of the message she is driving home to the professionals in her charge. "You need all three parts of these to be engaged in the process of visual storytelling."

October 9 sees the presentation to industry of eight new German documentary projects, either completed or as works-in-progress, and therefore poised for international roll-out. One of the projects will be awarded the D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize, which will provide post-production services valued at €10,000.

The Rome-based 5-day market opens its doors October 9, promising a feast of doc activities, at the core of which is the presentation of new Italian and international projects and a celebration of new local output (Italians Doc It Better). Panels will assess the fertile ground for high level collaboration between Italian and European docmakers, while speakers include Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, in conversation with MIA director Gaia Tridente. Marco Spagnoli talks to BDE.

The Flemish CONNEXT showcase, running 9-23 October, offers up 16 newly completed feature docs and two completed doc series, as well as three new projects (two features, one series) & five works-in-progress (3 features, 2 series). All will be presented to the international sales, distribution, finance and festival toppers in attendance both in Antwerp and online.

The Czech doc fest has announced the 14 new European documentary projects that will be presented at the 3rd edition of its Forum, running October 26/27. The event is dedicated to “the new generation of European producers, new formats, innovative trends, and visions for the future.” The festival has also unveiled this year’s pre-screening trailer, made by the legendary Catalan Albert Serra.