Nick Cunningham

Flemish production company Panenka’s 6-part series promises to lift the lid on the highly secretive workings within the higher echelons of the Catholic Church. “Despite our skeptical attitude, we knew that if we wanted to hear the voices of high-ranking clerics then we needed to adopt an open yet firm attitude, otherwise they would never talk,” series co-writer Jo Badisco explains to Business Doc Europe.

Pavel Jančárek’s feature doc, which follows the last years of former Czech President Václav Havel, will open Ji.hlava IDFF on October 24. The festival also announced that Béla Tarr will receive the Contribution to World Cinema Award during the festival’s closing night festivities on October 27. The revered Hungarian will furthermore give a masterclass during the festival.

Fest director Miguel Ribeiro talks to Business Doc Europe about the upcoming edition of Doclisboa which presents 250 films from 42 countries, including 35 world premieres and 39 Portuguese films. “We see documentary as a way to employ the tools of cinema to take us on a quest of discovery. And for this, you need to have freedom for production, and freedom to think, to question and to reflect.” The festival opens October 19 with Wang Bing's Man in Black and closes with Leonor Teles’ Baan.

IDFA announced October 18 that A Picture to Remember by Olga Chernykh will open the festival in 2023, an unveiled the selections for the Envision and International Competitions, the entire IDFA DocLab program and the nominations for all cross-section awards. The official selection of more than 250 titles is now complete. The 36th edition of IDFA takes place in Amsterdam from November 8 to 19.

DOK Leipzig came to a close 15 October with organisers calculating that the event attracted a total of 45,500 attendees. “The cinemas were packed,” commented Festival director Christoph Terhechte. “Although the week was overshadowed by the recent massacres, expulsions and bombings in Israel and Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, many of our attendees used the festival as an opportunity to exchange views on those issues and current events.”

The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) toppers talked to Business Doc Europe about the effectiveness of CONNEXT and about the need for an increase in core investment in the documentary sector. Yes, Flemish doccers may be “punching above their weight” in delivering great content despite low funding levels, “but that's the kind of argument we don't use towards politicians, because then they say you have enough money,” VAF CEO Koen van Bockstal insists.

The newly formed Documentary Film Council has published an open letter to the UK screen industries warning of “very serious challenges” facing the doc sector. The DFC asks for industry-wide support to determine “a clear strategic agenda for this sector, with a clear set of priorities held in common,” adding how the organisation’s establishment was “based on the recognition that independent documentary in the UK faces an existential threat and that there is urgent need for coordinated, long-term interventions.”

Not every film about three generations of an Antwerp family can boast artistic cameos (at least in photo form) by the likes of Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger and Edith Piaf. But this is no ordinary family. Flemish director Aldine Reinink presents an intimate and moving portrait of the Antwerp-based photographic Selleslags dynasty, at the heart of which is Herman (father to Jan and son of Rik) whose pictures have chronicled more vividly than most the golden era of late 20th Century pop culture.

The cinematic diary draws upon Swiss-Canadian Peter Mettler’s own memories and family relationships as it looks at life cycles and the way the world is constantly changing. One Hundred Four won German Doc Competition while the Audience Jury awarded The Mother of All Lies. The Silver Dove for best feature-length doc by an up-and-coming director, was awarded to Hovhannes Ishkhanyan for Beauty and the Lawyer.

The 5-day Rome market closed October 13 having welcomed over 2600 participants from 66 countries, a 10% increase on 2022. “What made this edition unique, rich and wide-ranging in terms of content and curatorial research, were the new and interesting projects that represented the complex audiovisual ecosystem, enhancing the different requirements of all the players in the industry and anticipating the themes and spaces of the future," said Gaia Tridente, MIA Director.