Nick Cunningham

Alys Tomlinson and Cécile Embleton’s highly cinematic documentary feature concerns a charismatic former heroin addict who has lived in an Orthodox monastery in Belarus for 20 years. The Short Film Award went to Rehab Nazzal for her documentary Vibrations from Gaza, about the resilience of deaf Palestinian children in Gaza as they live with Israel’s military attacks.

The Kyiv festival’s Documentary Competition, first held in 2020, includes ten international titles, including Adelina Borets’ Flowers of Ukraine and Ride the Line by Ihor Volochii, about two men who cycle along 1,500 km front line in Ukraine through liberated villages and towns. The Molodist Kyiv International FF runs October 26 to November 3.

Over 2800 audiovisual professionals took part in the tenth edition of the Market, marking a 10% increase in attendance over 2023. “Thanks to its strong identity and credibility, MIA has now earned an important place in the agendas of international operators. It is a unique curatorial market, a strategic player in the co-production market and a fundamental engine for the financing, distribution and circulation of works and talents,” commented Gaia Tridente, MIA Director.

15 new European documentary projects will be presented at the 4th edition of New Visions Forum on October 30-31, held as part of the 28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. The Forum will feature projects in development as well as in production and post-production, and will include documentary features, series, hybrid, experimental, and shorts. Ji.hlava IDFF runs October 25 to November 3.

In telling the story of ex-soldier and PTSD sufferer Kenny and his partner Kerry, who was sexually abused when she was a small girl, Scottish director Amy Hardie’s new documentary illustrates the power of therapy in overcoming severe trauma. “For me, it was very moving when Kerry said ‘I realise that suffering is not a given. I realise that anxiety doesn't have to be a lifelong condition. I realise that you can change feelings with thought,’” Hardie tells BDE.

Morrison is an executive producer and media consultant with a distinguished career in documentaries and factual programme-making and a long-term commitment to diversity and talent development. Previously CEO and Creative Director at the independent production company, Nevision, where she won BAFTA, RTS and Grierson Awards, Morrison was a trustee of BAFTA for seven years and the second woman to be its Chair.

€577,000 in support given to five doc features and one doc series in FFF’s latest funding round. Recipients include Fruitcakes – The Dawn of Drag by Vesa Kuosmanen, which was recently pitched at Finnish Film Affair and the the minority co-pro series Out Love (Sweden/Finland) by Hannah Reinikainen and Lia Hietala. Total FFF support granted in October amounted to €704,000.

IDFA Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia announced October 15 the 13 films in International Competition this year at the Amsterdam-based docfest, one of which, About a Hero by Piotr Winiewicz, will open the festival on November 14. Nyrabia also announced the selections in its Envision, Luminous, Frontlight, and IDFA DocLab sections. “The diversity of artistic tendencies is staggering. The program introduces some of the most beautiful works of recent years, including a few instant classics,” he said. “It is a program that defends documentary cinema better than ever before.”

In Fauna, a Catalan shepherd grazes his flock in the woods beside a hi-tech lab that engages in animal testing, all during the time of Corona. Initially the film was going to focus on the lab’s work in finding an antidote to the virus, but its window looked out onto blissful and bucolic nature. “I told myself, if I find a story outside in these woods, this is going to be the film…and then I found the shepherd,” the director tells BDE.

Impact came to Berlin October 15 with the Good Media Pitch during which activist docmakers met non-profit organizations, foundations, civil society organisations, research institutes, policymakers, brands, and media representatives to address “today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.” Six Impact campaigns were pitched on projects a diverse series of subjects. Each project was either completed or in late post-production.