Nick Cunningham

Visions du Réel announced September 16 the appointment of Sabine Fayoux Cantillo as its new Head of Industry. Over the past 12 years working in the New York doc sector, she has held various key roles including Associate Director of Program at Chicken & Egg Films. “VdR has been programming some of the boldest, most creative, exciting and artistic documentaries in the field, and I look forward to playing a role in further shaping such a profound legacy,” comments Cantillo.

Canadian docmaker Barry Avrich’s film had been briefly withdrawn from the TIFF programme for “important safety, legal and programming concerns.” In the documentary, which world-premiered in Toronto, Avrich recounts how, following the October 7 Hamas attack, a retired general journeys from Tel Aviv to the Nahal Oz kibbutz to try and rescue his son and family.

The 29th edition of DocsBarcelona will be held May 7 to 17 2026, comprising six competitive sections and offering €20,000 in prizes. “As usual, DocsBarcelona will bring audiences the best of the world's documentary production through a committed and stimulating program focused on contemporary challenges, debates, and conflicts,” write organisers. The deadlines for film submissions are October 31 (early bird) and November 15 (final).

“The selection unfolds as a true journey of world premieres, presenting stories that will come to light at MIA for the very first time,” write organisers of the Forum’s 15 documentary selections. “These are bold stories, capable of engaging with current affairs, memory, and imagination, while crossing genres and continents.” The 11th Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (Rome) runs October 6-10.

When director Min Sook Lee was twelve, her mother, with whom she emigrated from Korea to Canada in the 1970s, committed suicide. But it is only now, in her ninth feature documentary, that Min Sook is able to finally tell her mother’s story. “It's taken me a long time to come close to it,” she tells Business Doc Europe. “Of course, it's something that I wanted to do, but I didn't know how. So many strong emotions and fears, but also a fear that I might not do it right, not do it justice.”

The first edition of NLWave25 will run September 24 to 26 in Utrecht, and will offer a select number of international execs and festival programmers an exclusive first look at the latest cinematic output from the Netherlands. In total, the event will spotlight 44 new and upcoming Dutch feature-length films, documentaries and animation, including early stage projects, works-in-progress and recently completed works. Docmakers in the frame include IDFA winners Luuk Bouwman and Tom Fassaert; Palm Springs/Aspen winner Miriam Guttmann and Louis Hothothot, whose Four Journeys opened IDFA 2021.

The 21st edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market of DOK Leipzig welcomes 35 documentary projects from 34 countries, all of which are seeking new international financing and co-production partners. Women (co)-directors hold a prominent presence in the line-up, comprising 60 percent of the selection, the festival underlines. This year sees a rise in the number of entries, totaling 391 projects. The DOK Co-Pro Market 2025 will take place 27 October and 28 October, with complementary online meetings on 4-5 November.

The Portuguese docfest will open October 16 with the documentary With Hasan in Gaza, by Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari, described as “a road movie that transports us to a territory in resistance.” The festival will close October 26 with Eugène Green’s The Tree of Knowledge, labelled “a fable about a teenager, an ogre, and a dark pact.” The complete programme for the 23rd Doclisboa will be announced September 25.

The acclaimed Portuguese documentary filmmaker is announced as the Guest of Honour at the 38th IDFA, which will take place from November 13 to 23. The festival also announced September 9 the second instalment of its curated program Dead Angle, which focuses this year on 'Institutions'. IDFA further underlined the 'Off the Internet' theme of this year's IDFA DocLab, the festival’s new media section.

For International Pitch, organisers are looking for doc projects in production or post-production around which an impact campaign is being developed. For Swiss Focus Pitch the festival seeks projects whose campaign will be implemented - either in part or entirely - in Switzerland. FIFDH also invites completed films - with a current or ready-to-launch impact campaign - for further assessment, refinement and introduction to partners outsider the doc sector. Submission deadline: September 19.