Nick Cunningham

The Palestine Film Institute (PFI) announced this week the launch of the Palestine Film Fund (PFF), a funding initiative dedicated to “supporting Palestinian filmmakers across the globe in creating authentic narratives and reclaiming control over their own images and stories.” Grants ranging from €5,000 to €15,000 will be awarded to short or feature films at various stages of development and production regardless of their place of residence or nationality working in challenging circumstances globally.

This week, MIA (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo) unveiled new partnerships and programmes for its 11th edition, to be held in Rome, October 6 to 10 2025. Core to proceedings was a discussion on Scenari Transalpini - an initiative of Institut Français Italia in partnership with MIA, Villa Medici and Cinecittà. Documentary and non-fiction at MIA revolve around the Doc Co-production Market & Pitching Forum (deadline for submissions June 19) and the Italians Doc It Better programme.

Raindance Film Festival announced May 20 that this year’s Netflix Documentary Talent Fund films will premiere in Official Selection. The documentary shorts will each be eligible to be considered for Raindance’s Oscar®-qualifying ‘Best Documentary Short’ jury award. The films will premiere on June 26, the closing night of the 33rd Raindance Film Festival.

At the close of Cannes Docs 2025, section chief Pierre-Alexis Chevit hosted the Docs-in-Progress Awards Ceremony during which this year’s winners were announced. Over the past days, eightshowcases of docs-in-progress from around the world were presented, forming a total of 32 new creative documentary projects. The IEFTA Award went to Asphalt by Hamza Hamideh [Palestine Showcase] while the Al Jazeera Documentary Award went to Everybody to Kenmure Street by Felipe Bustos Sierra [Scotland Showcase]. All awards…

The winners of the Doc Alliance Award 2025 were announced May 20 during the Doc Day Lunch, held at the Marché du Film in Cannes. The Doc Alliance Award for Best Feature Film (€5,000), was presented to The Shards (Georgia/Germany) by Masha Chernaya. The Doc Alliance Award for Best Short Film, valued at €3,000 went to We Had Fun Yesterday (Belgium) by Marion Guillard.

At the close of Cannes Docs 2025, section chief Pierre-Alexis Chevit hosted the Docs-in-Progress Awards Ceremony during which this year’s winners were announced. Over the past days, eightshowcases of docs-in-progress from around the world were presented, forming a total of 32 new creative documentary projects. The IEFTA Award went to Asphalt by Hamza Hamideh [Palestine Showcase] while the Al Jazeera Documentary Award went to Everybody to Kenmure Street by Felipe Bustos Sierra [Scotland Showcase]. All awards…

Dutch immersive doyenne Corine Meijers (Studio Biarritz) talks to Business Doc Europe about her Cannes selection Lacuna, which she produced together with fellow Dutch Ilya Kok of Copper Views Film Productions. In the VR, the elderly Sonja has no memory of the moment that saved her life - the separation from her parents in 1943 - but the discovery of three silver napkin determines the directors to prompt her more about her past…

Etienne Huver, prize-winning investigative journalist, director and producer for Slug News, presented his upcoming feature documentary about Julian Assange, the world’s most famous whistleblower. “Since his release, especially with everything happening now in [Trump’s] America, there's a sense that Assange has become yesterday’s news, irrelevant to all the challenges the world is facing today. In fact, it's only now with the advantage of hindsight that the relevance of the case has become apparent,” Huver told the professional audience in Barcelona.

Each year since 2005, Sarajevo Film Festival and Ji.hlava IDFF have organised the Docu Talents from the East presentation of the region's “most remarkable” documentary projects. This year’s presentation of 7 projects will take place August 17 during Cinelink Industry Days. Directors and producers of the selected projects will be granted industry accreditations to the Sarajevo FF and two nights of accommodation. The deadline for submission of projects is May 31.

Eliza Petkova won the The VIKTORIA DOK.international Main Competition for Silent Observers. The VIKTORIA DOK.deutsch winner was named as Wir Erben by Simon Baumann. The VIKTORIA DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency prize went to Rashid, l’enfant de Sinjar by Jasna Krajinovic. A total of 64,200 euros in prize money was awarded. All winners…