Nick Cunningham

The 2023 Agora has unveiled a program of events “grabbing the pulse of the documentary genre in all its versions and forms.” These include fourteen new projects selected for Forum, while 15 documentaries that went through past Agora developmental programs are in this year’s Festival lineup. More than 200 guests from 40 countries will attend the hybrid edition of Agora and the TiDF25.

Marking the 20th anniversary of CPH:DOX, this year’s CPH:FORUM line-up presents “a curated slate of nuanced films, reflecting on the past and future of the non-fiction genre, and the world at large.” New projects from Ljubomir Stefanov, Jessica Kingdon, Finlay Pretsell, Ousmane Samassekou, Mila Turajlić, Tonislav Hristov, Iryna Tsilyk and Brett Story, among many others.

The new award for best feature-length animated film will be made during the next edition (8-15 Oct). In doing so, festival director Christoph Terhechte is “fulfilling his intention of giving greater prominence to feature-length animated films.” Though announced in 2020, the introduction of a distinct competition for feature-length animated films had to be postponed repeatedly due to the pandemic.

The award comes with a cash prize of €3,000 plus two full passes for Sunny Side of the Doc 2023. “We are delighted that the jury picked an ambitious topical project from Kenya.” says Mathieu Béjot, Director of Strategy and Development at Sunny Side. “It is important to hear stories coming from the Global South which is particularly affected by Climate Change.”

A total of 32 world, international and European film premieres take part in the International, Newcomers and >>Film Forward competition sections. The International Competition Golden Alexander winner secures a place in the Oscars’ shortlist. “Featuring an impressive number of premieres, the competition sections of the 25th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival make a pledge to offer you the experiences of a lifetime,” write organisers.

The B2B Doc - Baltic to Black Sea Doc Network will thrash out ways to effect change for docmakers (and the industry infrastructures that serve them) within the war-torn and turbulent countries of central and eastern Europe, most notably Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. The closed conference takes place 7-8 February in Tallinn, Estonia. B2B Doc’s Alex Shiriaieff and Malcolm Dixelius explain the conference’s urgency to BDE.

Themed ‘Future at Our Fingertips’ and running March 20-24 the CPH:DOX conference will look to “collectively envision the future of the industry, discover and unlock the currently available resources, possible solutions, and transformative potential of the industry of tomorrow.” Contributors this year include the likes of Veronika Châtelain (Open Society Foundation), Anadil Hossain (UNHCR) and filmmakers Asif Kapadia, Maite Alberdi and Jessica Kingdon.

B2B Doc, in collaboration with the Institute of Documentary Film and with the support of the International Visegrad Fund, has put out a call for Ukrainian documentary projects to take part in the B2B Doc-arranged workshop and pitch sessions (24-28 March), aimed at industry professionals from the Visegrad countries, and held during East Doc Platform (Prague). Submissions close February 28, 2023.

The Impact Days Industry programme of FIFDH (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights) will this year run 12-14 March. “Through targeted partnerships, its ambition is to use the power of documentary film as a tool for concrete social and policy change,” write organisers. The 21st FIFDH takes place 10-19 March in Geneva.

The traditional presentation of the Ji.hlava festival selection will commence with Czech Joy 2022 competition winner Kapr Code as part of the Festival Cinema de Ville. The official opening of ‘Echoes’ will take place in the seat of the European Parliament on February 7 with the screening of Pongo Calling. Further Echoes of 26th Ji.hlava IDFF are planned to take place over the following months in Bucharest, Paris, New York, and Bratislava.