Nick Cunningham

Before doors closed on the 23rd edition of FIFDH, co-director Laura Longobardi reflected to BDE on how both the festival and Impact Days are changing the narrative in terms of doc and advocacy. “In a way we've been ‘teaching’ the NGOs through the seven years of Impact Days,” she tells BDE. “This is a film that you can use for your campaign. This is a film that you can use with your stakeholders. This is a film that you can bring to the political institutions to show what's really happening, and at the same [use] for a change of law, a change of structure.”

The Thessaloniki award makes the film eligible for the documentary category of the 2026 Academy Awards. The Silver Alexander in International Competition went to Free Leonard Peltier directed by Short Bull and David France, while Weronika Mliczewska’s Child of Dust, which follows a Vietnamese man search for his father - a former U.S. soldier - received a Special Mention. The Golden Alexander in Newcomers Competition was awarded to How to Build a Library, directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King. All awards…

Swiss Focus was a new Impact Days initiative launched for this year’s edition - a space for connection and dialogue between Swiss impact stakeholders of all language regions, international Impact Days guests and Swiss filmmakers. The Impact campaigns of four projects were pitched, with the inaugural Swiss Focus Award (CHF 2,500, approx. €2,600) going to the project Nathalie by Tamara Milosevic. Report follows…

The 23rd edition of the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) has wrapped “with resounding success,” selling out the majority of its screenings and drawing more than 31,000 attendees. Twelve films were awarded at the end of the 10-day event during which numerous experts gathered “to dissect current affairs, move beyond shock, and celebrate collective action.”

In Colombia, a nation which suffers profound racial and socio-economic disparities, a Black woman (Francia Márquez) from a rural background challenges the status quo by launching a presidential campaign. “The impact campaign inspired by Igualada aims to create a paradigm shift, ensuring that many more 'igualadas' continue breaking barriers,” producer Juan Yepes tells Business Doc Europe.

In Front of Us paints a deeply moving portrait of two women’s fight for accountability in a conflict the world has chosen to ignore, revealing both the strength and limits of international law. That war is between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been raging since 2020. “While the film highlights Armenian cases, its broader message is clear: Accountability for war crimes is a global imperative that transcends borders and politics,” Armenian producer Mariam Davtyan (Bars Media) tells BDE.

World-premiering in CPH:DOX HUMAN:RIGHTS Competition, The Lions by the River Tigris demonstrates how cultural heritage is the invisible casualty of any war. ISIS left the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in ruins after liberation. Today, a fisherman, a musician and a collector struggle to preserve what remains of the city's soul. The film is produced by Thorvald Nilsen of Indie Film Bergen (Norway).

The initiative was announced March 12 during the Agora of the 27th Thessaloniki Doc Fest. "Doc Together" aims to explore how displaced or exiled professionals can access funding, resources and industry support in their current locations or in their countries of origin if they are excluded from national funding opportunities or unable to receive support.

The Agora of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival handed out its Docs-in-Progress and Pitching Forum awards March 12. The main awards in Docs-in-Progress went to Magma (France, Algeria), Home Court (Greece, Netherlands, France, Bulgaria) and Tower, Sun and the Seven of Wands (Georgia), while the Hungarian Highways of Hope won the main IEFTA Award (€10,000) for Best Documentary in Development. All awards…

The Board of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) has appointed Karla Puttemans as its new managing director. A long-time staffer at VAF, she previously led the Dutch-language division of the authors’ association SACD/SCAM, which later evolved into De Auteurs, and headed the audiovisual department at the authors’ rights organization SABAM. Puttemans takes over from current director Koen Van Bockstal, who is stepping down earlier than expected due to health reasons, VAF wrote in a statement released March 11.