Nick Cunningham

Field of Vision is hosting late April 2023 its Digital Security Clinic for Documentary Filmmakers, in partnership with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. This is the third iteration of the clinic, designed to provide essential pro-bono resources to documentary filmmakers. The Digital Security Clinic will cover high-priority concerns documentary filmmakers have voiced, as well as the strategies necessary to make the best overall risk assessments.

Twelve projects have been selected for the first Progress Pitching Session, organised as part of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Industry. The films will be presented to an international group of pitching experts on 12 May during the 20th edition of the Polish documentary festival. The pitch moderator will be Frank Piasecki Poulsen.

Emilie Bujès, head of the Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel, outlines the appeal of an event that does more than most to extend the boundaries of documentary. The festival presents 163 films in 2023, and special guests include international luminaries Lucrecia Martel and Alice Rohrwacher, and Swiss director Jean-Stéphane Bron. “It’s more ‘visions’ than ‘réel’ in terms of what we are interested in,” Bujès tells BDE. “It’s more people looking at something, rather than the something itself.”

Poland’s largest film festival will be held May 12-21 in cinemas across 8 Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Lublin) and online from May 23 to June 4. The theme of this year's edition is "Don’t be indifferent," a reference to the famous speech of Polish historian and journalist Marian Turski, and also “an expression of the values that have accompanied the festival since its inception,” say organisers.

While the cases of Mina Keshavarz and Firouzeh Khosravani may now be officially closed by Irani authorities and their passports returned to them, there are many more creatives who remain behind bars, are on bail or are under constant threat, writes the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk. These include such directors as Jafar Panahi and Mohamed Rasoulof, and actress Taraneh Alidoosti.

The films, directed by Wang Bing and Kaouther Ben Hania, are joined in Cannes by Occupied City by Brit auteur Steve McQueen; Wim Wenders' Le bruit du temps, Anselm Kiefer; and Kleber Menndonça's Retratos Fantasmas, all of which are selected for Special Screenings. Wang Bing’s Man in Black is also selected for this section. In Un Certain Regard is The Mother of All Lies by Asmae Elmoudir. The 76th Cannes FF runs May 16-27.

Applicants from Central and Eastern Europe have two days to get their short doc submissions in for the Millenium Docs Against Gravity Short Pitch Program (Warsaw, Poland, May 14 2023). Five short documentary film projects at rough cut stage will be pitched to sales agents, distributors, and festival and TV representatives.

The ninth edition of the MIA International Audiovisual Market (Rome) will run 9-13 October 2023. In 2022 the event registered over 2400 participants from 60 countries, which represented a 20%+ increase on 2021 figures. “MIA is a destination for the global audiovisual ecosystem, conceived as a curated market, a physical and digital space for animation, documentary, drama and film professionals,” write organisers.

Also known at the British Documentary Awards, the Grierson Awards commemorate the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson (1898 – 1972), famous for Drifters and Night Mail, and the man widely regarded as the father of documentary. The deadline for entries is June 1. Nominations will be announced 19 September. The awards ceremony will be held in London on November 9.

The Prague-based rough-cut training workshop has announced the final selection of documentaries for 2023. All eight films are directed (or co-directed) by women. “I believe we brought up fresh and diverse perspectives and that this year’s selection carries many important messages of the contemporary world,” says dok.incubator CEO Andrea Prenghyova.