Nick Cunningham

This year’s selection is dominated by women filmmakers across all formats, including the Forum Pitch, Producer Connection, Rough Cut Presentations, and IDFA DocLab Forum. “It is a varied selection in terms of both theme and style, made by talented newcomers and established makers who together represent a colorful palette of voices,” says Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry.

October 10 sees the launch of a new European doc fest and Industry programme that has Impact at its root. The Berlin-based Dokumentale offers a programme of 47 dynamic and very diverse docs as well as an Industry programme that will encourage the formation of “purpose-driven partnerships that have the potential to bring about real change.” Festival founders Vivian Schröder & Anna Ramskogler-Witt explain all to BDE.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the co-production and co-financing market “continues to be a pivotal platform, welcoming some of the most promising filmmakers and established members of the industry to present a varied slate of documentary projects at different stages of development,” write organisers. The Sitges-based event runs October 17 to 20.

Paris-based French-Palestinian filmmaker Lina Soualem talks to Business Doc Europe about her new film (long-listed for Best Documentary, European Film Awards 2024) that documents four generations of women in her family, one of whom is the internationally renowned actress Hiam Abbass, the director’s mother. “It's as if the women of my family…each represent a piece of history, a piece of time that doesn't exist anymore,” says Soualem.

The former boss of See NL and Director of New Zealand Film Festival joins ahead of the Rotterdam fest’s 2025 edition. Rabarts was formerly Head of EYE International (now SeeNL) where he was responsible for the promotion of Dutch film and film culture worldwide for four years, and Artistic Director of the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam for 12 years. Recently, Rabarts served as Festival Director at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

During the October 1 award ceremony in London, the jury, which included actor/director Tilda Swinton, presented the prize of £20,000 to Grylls who was selected for her “creative audacity and…ambition to explore a new dynamic to [her] practice.” Two other winners were Luna Carmoon, writer/director of Hoard, and Naqqash Khalid, writer/director of In Camera, both fiction projects.

The 22nd edition of the Portuguese docfest will screen 183 films from 55 countries, including 28 world premieres, 19 international premieres and 30 Portuguese films. The International Competition features 12 films from 12 countries and includes five world premieres and six international premieres. The Portuguese Competition presents ten docs of which four are world premieres.

The 2024 DOK Neuland programme presents eleven works from the fields of VR, AR, 360° film, gaming, installation and participatory film. The associated exhibition runs from 29 October to 3 November and is spread across four locations in Leipzig: in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), at the main station, in the Galerie KUB and in the Cinémathèque Leipzig.

Jussi Sandhu’s feature doc project concerns the world’s first higher-education programme for social media, launched in Tampere, Finland. “But I’m No Influencer explores the questions of education export and social media through the eyes of a Filipino immigrant, Mark. But what should we all really learn about Influencing?” asks producer Pasi Hakkio. “It deals with global questions of education and social media. Rarely can such a character-driven story open up themes this big.”

DOK Leipzig has revealed further highlights of the DOK Industry Programme for the 67th festival edition (28 October - 3 November), in addition to the already announced DOK Co-Pro Market Selection, Ex Oriente Film workshop and Generation Ukraine showcase. Other features include DOK Archive Market Screenings and Talks and the DOK Project Presentation Generation Africa 2.0, and more…