Nick Cunningham

The Finnish industry delegation features five producers, “each with a unique vision and a slate of projects ready to captivate global audiences.” Additionally, the Finnish Film Fund has just invested 656,000 euros in production support; and at the Jussi Film Awards (March 21), the feature doc Once Upon a Time in a Forest won The Nordisk Film Award, worth 20,000 euros, as well as Documentary of the Year and Cinematography of the Year Awards.

The Polish doc industry is enjoying a busy CPH:DOX with the co-pros My Dear Théo and The Ground Beneath Our Feet in DOX:AWARD and NORDIC:DOX respectively. Words We Never Say, the new project by Agnieszka Zwiefka is selected for Forum, while a delegation of five female producers will also attend CPH:INDUSTRY. “This is very gratifying because it proves that the goal we set ourselves when we started Polish Docs has been achieved,” says Head of Polish Docs PRO Katarzyna Wilk. “Producers and filmmakers from Poland are becoming more and more aware of their strong position in the international industry.”

…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).