Nick Cunningham

…or how boring diplomacy can change the world, reads the logline of Arthur Franck’s satirical take on the famous 1975 conference that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet empire. They’re all there: Gerald Ford, Leonid Brezhnev, Finnish PM Urho Kekkonen…and Henry Kissinger. “He was a superstar,” director Franck tells BDE of the spider within the conference web. “Maybe actually a really bad guy, but he's still very fascinating, very magnetic in a way. I feel very attracted to his behaviour and his charm, even 50 years removed.”

In her intimate and highly moving feature doc My Dear Théo, world premiering March 23, Ukrainian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko documents her thoughts from the frontline in a series of letters and messages to her 5-year old son, who is living in safety in France. “I think we are the last idealists in this world, that we have this strong sense of justice, a responsibility for our country, to protect our country and to fight for freedom,” Kovalenko tells Business Doc Europe.

“I think what distinguishes CPH:DOX is that we have a curatorial line in both our festival and Industry activities that, to me at least, strikes a balance between very artistic documentary but also very popular and accessible documentary,” CPH:DOX Industry Head Mara Gourd-Mercado tells BDE on the eve of her professional programme. “And I think that that balance is something that guides us through everything that we do.”

The main prize, the East Doc Platform Award 2025 for the best project in development/production, was granted to the Polish project Inner Landscapes, the feature film debut of Zofia Sawicka. The inaugural Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award 2025, worth €50.000, went to the Romanian project NEAR LIGHT - Second Lives of Murderers, while the Czech Television Award was handed to the Ukrainian project Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole. All awards follow…

The Hague-based Movies That Matter human rights festival opens March 21 with the screening of Dutch filmmaker Daan Veldhuizen’s The Promise, selected for the Oscar-qualifying Grand Jury Documentary Competition. “We get very high-end international films that have their world premieres at Movies That Matter - high-end films that have a huge impact,” Artistic Director Margje de Koning tells BDE. The festival runs March 21-29.

Adele Kohout will take over the direction and management of DOK.fest München as of October 2025. She replaces Daniel Sponsel, who is leaving the festival at the end of the upcoming edition (7 to 25 May 2025) to become president of the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF). From October, Maya Reichert, who currently heads DOK.education, the educational platform of DOK.fest München, will take over from Kohout as Deputy Managing Director and Deputy Director of DOK.fest München.

London-based Dogwoof, Toronto-based production company Visitor Media, New York’s Rolling Stone Films, CBC (Canada's national public broadcaster) and filmmakers Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna’s Mexico City-based production company La Corriente del Golfo have joined forces in the development of the docuseries Snow King: From Olympian to Narco.

Swiss composer Mirjam Skal was announced March 18 as the winner of the German Documentary Film Music Award 2025 for her music for the film VRACHT, directed by Max Carlo Kohal. The award is donated by the Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung and is endowed with 5,000 euros. The winning film will be shown at the 40th DOK.fest Munich (7-18 May 2025).

Running April 3 to 13 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the festival will showcase 85 productions from 30 countries. Ritas by Oswaldo Santana, will open the festival April 2 in São Paulo while the Rio de Janeiro opening will feature Viva Marília, by Zelito Viana, on April 3. The festival will also present retrospectives of Vladimir Carvalho and Humphrey Jennings.

The board of Apordoc has appointed Hélder Beja as the new Director of Doclisboa as part of a renewed structure that now includes Boris Nelepo as Co-Head of Programming, with Cíntia Gil continuing in the role of Associate Programmer. Beja is an arts journalist, editor, and screenwriter who co-founded and directed the Macau Literary Festival for seven editions (2012–2018), and has been one of the organisers of the biennial Asia Pacific Writers & Translators conference since 2019.