“There are so many documentaries this year in Cannes,” Pierre-Alexis Chevit enthuses of the plethora of doc selections in 2021, before musing, “maybe in some way it’s a bit of a sign that what we’re trying to do from within, pushing the documentary agenda at Cannes Docs, might actually be having have some kind of influence. Or maybe it’s just the documentary boom in general, but, yeah, there are certainly lots of documentaries.”
Chevit’s hybrid Cannes Docs event runs 6-15 July, with onsite core dates of 8-13 July. Its culmination is Doc Day on July 13.
“It’s happening, which just a few weeks ago would have seemed crazy,” says Chevit. “So that’s a huge satisfaction. Of course there’s less industry attendance than usual, but that’s perfectly normal. We still have a really nice attendance from many countries in terms of industry… I think, well, we’re just happy to be reunited.”
He adds: “I think that the networking will actually be good and more efficient as well.”
Eight partner organisations will each present four docs-in-progress during Cannes Docs, once online to the global audience and again onsite within the Riviera 2 projection room. New partners in 2021 are Sheffield Doc Fest and the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh, which will be presenting a South Asia showcase. Another partner organisation, Chiledoc, presented Maite Alberdi’s Academy Award-nominated The Mole Agent as a doc-in-progress at Cannes Docs in 2019. “That’s nice, considering the relative success of the film,” notes Chevit.
July 8 sees the second presentation of high-quality international documentary projects by key festivals and organizations (such as DMZ, Visions du Réel etc) to potential co-producers and funding or creative partners. The event also presents projects that have received Cannes Docs awards at different events over the past months.
Cannes Docs also presents a selection of 11 featured exhibitors, three of which (Autlook, Dogwoof and Cinephil) are attending onsite. “Cinephil still has Flee in its line-up was last year had a Cannes label, and is one of the major films that is still on the festival circuit,” says Chevit.
Doc Day on July 13 comprises a smorgasbord of debates and analysis, ranging from the effectiveness of docs-only cinema to a conversation with Ezra Edelman, the president of the 2021 L’Oeil d’or awards (as well as Academy award-winning director for O.J.: Made in America) to the necessity for impact, as explained by Flore Vasseur, whose campaigning doc Bigger Than Us, about the fight against plastic pollution in Indonesia, is a Special Screening at Cannes 2021.
Also core to Doc Day is the Circle Women Doc Accelerator debate titled ‘Women Doc Filmmakers in the A-List Film Festival Circle,’ and includes Salomé Jashi (Taming the Garden, 2021), editor Yaël Bitton (Invisible Demons, by Rahul Jain, Special Screening in Cannes 2021), as well as producer Paula Vaccaro (Sumercé, 2019). The session will be moderated by Biljana Tutorov, Program Director of Circle Women Doc Accelerator.
During lunch on Doc Day, the winners of the 2021 Doc Alliance Awards (feature and short docs) will be announced.
Other highlights of the Cannes Docs programme include the DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) Lonely Docs Club Networking session on the evening of July 7, as well as a Frederick Wiseman masterclass on the same day.
In the July 8 ‘How To Fight For Your Vision’ session, directors/cinematographers and Brown Girls Doc Mafia members Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi, Sundance 2021) and Emilia Mello (No Kings, True/False 2021) will discuss how to stay true to their cinematic ‘labours of love’.
And on July 14, director/producer/editor Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, 2020) will “bear witness to the critical role of the archive in the consideration, investigation, and recovery of public and private histories.”
As exciting as a hybrid Cannes will be this year, having fewer guests in person may well pay greater dividends, Chevit argues. “What we’ll be losing in terms of volume of delegates we’ll probably be winning in terms of quality time together and the quality of the meetings.”
“Just being able to properly spend a bit more time together, running a bit less from one meeting to the other, my feeling right now is that we’re going to be benefitting in terms of the quality of the connections, meetings, relationships throughout the days of the festival and the market, and yeah, just being together on the Croisette will be special,” Chevit concludes.
