Nick Cunningham

MIA International Audiovisual Market (Rome, October 9-13) has put out the call for applications for this year’s Doc Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum. The Market is committed to providing exposure to documentary projects in development. The event’s international selection committee selects up to 15 projects “with high artistic standing and distribution potential.” The deadline for applications is 5pm CET, July 7.

After baring his soul (and that of his partner Devorah Baum) in the warm and funny New York-based 2022 doc Husband (2022), Josh Appignanesi embarks upon an altogether different journey in My Extinction, one from indifference to full-on engagement as he turns his mind to the looming threat of climate change. The film world-premieres June 29 in London. Appignanesi bares even more of his soul to Business Doc Europe.

Over four days, the market attracted 2,000+ participants from 64 different countries, 1,000 companies, 90 exhibitors and 300 international decision-makers including major global broadcasters, streamers, foundations, sales agents, funders and museums. "Sunny Side of the Doc is asserting its unique status as the international market place for all forms of storytelling and documentary,” said Director of Strategy Mathieu Béjot.

The German project Fatma Said – Reviving a Forgotten Treasure (Ralf Pleger) picked up the Best Pitch Award Arts & Culture category June 21 at Sunny Side of the Doc. “This is a project we want to see on screens because it tells a story that bridges the gap between the past and present, classical and contemporary cultures, and the Arabic and Western worlds,” said the jury.

The Australian producer/director team of Rob Innes and Josef Gatti presented their visually absorbing feature project Phenomena during Sunny Side. It is a work that finds beauty in the fusion of art and science “This project began at a time in my life where I was feeling disconnected and unsure of where I fit in the world,” director Gatti told the Industry audience. “And so I turned to the natural world in search of meaning, and I was completely moved.”

The French project Science's Forgotten People (Laurence Thiriat) and the Irish project This is a Quiet Love (Garry Keane) win in the Science and Global Issues categories respectively. Magali Serre’s Right-wing Extremism: The New Terrorist Threat was handed the Impact Social Club Award.

In Garry Keane’s intimate feature doc project, we meet four Deaf couples who tell their personal stories about how love blossomed, in the process weaving a rich tapestry of Deaf experience over a period of 70 years. “With your support we want to reach broad audiences who are fascinated to dive into this unknown world,” Irish producer Anne Heffernan told the Sunny Side audience.

Produced by Good to Know (Paris), Science’s Forgotten People is a 20 x 5-minute animated doc series that tells the amazing stories of scientists who, despite their brilliance, their brains and their groundbreaking discoveries, were not recognized by their peers. Many of these scientists were, inevitably, women. The Sunny Side pitch was made with the assistance of Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the discoverer of the pulsar.

Archive is in the frame at Sunny Side 2023 with two Industry sessions Wednesday June 21. The first session introduces three new sector organisations that have launched in France, Germany and Spain over the past 12 months, while the second session is set to address archives and innovation. Both are moderated by archive producer & copyright clearance specialist Elizabeth Klinck. “There's a real need for archive producers, people who understand the process artistically, financially and logistically,” she tells BDE.

Polish Docs PRO returns to Sunny Side in 2023 with a delegation of 5 producers representing nine projects. These include profiles of two giants of Polish cinema, the controversial Roman Polański and the maverick Andrzej Wajda, and four projects from production company Kijora. “Polish producers are very professional and well prepared for the international co-productions, which makes them very good partners," underlines KFF Sales & Promotion MD Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła.