Nick Cunningham

“Bringing together visionary filmmakers from over 20 African countries and the diaspora, from Morocco to Madagascar, Sierra Leone to Senegal, Film Africa is an unparalleled showcase of contemporary African cinema, highlighting the diverse narratives and innovative spirit thriving across the continent today,” write organisers. The festival runs 25 Oct - 3 Nov during Black History Month.

The 67th edition will present a total of 209 films and XR works from 55 countries. “The films bear witness to a diverse and complex world. Many of them point out alternatives to the status quo. They give hope. They do not deny the looming destruction of our natural resources; instead they are dedicated to examining what we want to preserve,” says festival director Christoph Terhechte.

The 12th DOXS RUHR Film Festival (Germany) and the DK4 Alliance is inviting film professionals to an October 28 Think Tank on documentaries for young audiences. “What kind of docs should we be making that not only engage young audiences but also provide them with a view of the world beyond their own?” organisers ask. “How can we better support the creation of documentaries for young people? What needs to change, and in which direction(s) can we evolve and collaborate?”

Exiled Iranian director Farahnaz Sharifi talks to Business Doc Europe about her film which tells a parallel history of Iran since the 1979 revolution, culled from personal archives. “At a time when power structures strive to narrate history in ways that hide important and popular segments, it becomes all the more crucial to share personal details and micro-narratives,” says Farahnaz. Sold by CAT&Docs, My Stolen Planet is long-listed for Best Documentary, European Film Awards, 2024.

The programme offers more than three hundred films and includes a revealing retrospective of Swiss filmmaker Anne Marie Miéville and a showcase of award-winning Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang. The festival will be attended by director Kirsten Johnson, the author of this year's Ji.hlava festival trailer, and directors Roberto Minervini, Albert Serra and Andrei Ujică. The 28th IDFF Ji.hlava will take place on October 25 – Nov 3.

The tenth MIA (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, 14-18 October) offers up 15 new International projects in the Doc Co-Production Pitching Forum as well as ten ‘Italians Doc it Better’ projects which are either complete or in post-production. The Rome market also presents a series of debates, talks and keynotes on a range of doc-related matters. These include a session with Oscar-winning Odessa Rae, the producer responsible for Navalny and Hollywoodgate. MIA’s doc maestro Marco Spagnoli fills in BDE on what to expect.

Nora Philippe talks to Business Doc Europe both about the Paris-based initiative which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024, and the need for independent producers to undergo top-level professional training. “You don't survive in the business if you're not trained. If you don't have the necessary skills, if you don't have a network, then you will die. It's a very hard business. You need to have a bit of insanity to do this job, but you also need to be really rational and connected,” she says.

CPH:DOX, EAVE and IMS (International Media Support) announced October 9 participants within the CHANGE programme which seeks to “empower” documentary film projects from the European Eastern Partnership countries. For the 2024/2025 line-up, eight teams from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine will join the co-production training workshop series.

The 2024 jury for the International Competition Documentary Film consists of Maria Bonsanti, Sylvaine Dampierre, Eric Hynes, Avi Mograbi, and Akram Zaatari. The five jury members will present Golden Doves to both the Best Feature Documentary and the Best Short Documentary. Silver Doves will be awarded to the best feature-length documentary and the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director.

Dutch visual artist Barbara Visser discusses her hybrid documentary that questions Marcel Duchamp’s authorship over what some claim to be the 20th Century’s most important piece of modern art. Instead, the artwork ‘Fountain’ may well have been the work of a maverick Dadaist baroness. “The art world needs turmoil and criticism and rearrangement, and so that was really the trigger,” says the director of her subject.