Cannes 23

A few days after the Russian invasion last year, Polish filmmaker Maciek Hamela began driving into Ukraine to pick up civilians and bring them to the Polish border. The footage he shot of his many journeys is brought together in his new documentary, selected for Cannes ACID and Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Poland). “We were trying to concentrate on the human stories and not to be splashing the screen with fear and war,” the director tells BDE. “This is not a typical film shot in the trenches…”

When, in November 2022, the great British artist and agitator Banksy stenciled his artworks onto ruined buildings across Ukraine, little did he know that these beautiful, melancholy works would be instrumental to a major new (and quite brilliant) immersive installation world-premiering at Cannes 2023. Or maybe he did, such is the MO of the art world’s most elusive Pimpernel. Directors Artem Ivanenko, Alex Topaller & Daniel Shapiro discuss their Murals with BDE.

The Irish doc-making duo talk about I Hate Christmas, sold by Autlook, which tells the stories of folk who don’t necessarily find those few days in late December to be the most wonderful time of the year. Wardrop and Freedman are also on the lookout for new doc projects from Ireland and beyond - and have the resources to kick start them, they tell BDE.  

It’s just over a decade since London-based Indian director Dheeraj Akolkar made his Liv and Ingmar (2012), about the personal and creative relationship between Norwegian star Liv Ullmann and the revered Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman. His new film Liv Ullmann - A Road Less Travelled, screens this week in Cannes Classics. “I’ve had the privilege and gift of seeing the person behind the persona,” Akolkar says of his subject.

Mirjam Wiekenkamp of Amsterdam-based Noise Film and TV talked to the Cannes Docs professional audience May 22 about the business of repping European docs, as well as the complex work performed by publicists across both old and new media.

How to keep mind and body intact when surrounded by intense emotional and psychological pressures is at the compassionate heart of On The Edge which follows liaison psychiatrist Dr Jamal Abdel Kader and his colleagues as they offer care and support to patients from the emergency room to the intensive care unit.

The Scandi showcase of four docs-in-progress is designed for decision makers looking for new titles, in particular festival programmers and sales agents. In the main, projects are looking for post-production funding or general gap financing, and are sometimes still open to co-production opportunities. The lead countries on the four projects are Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The projects’ producers talk to BDE.

Originally founded by Greg Rubidge in 2009, Toronto-based Syndicado is an increasingly prominent player in the documentary sales world. Aleksandar Govedarica co-founded the company’s world sales arm, which he runs out of Europe, in 2016. “I really love cinema, that is why I am in the business,” Govedarica tells BDE. “When people ask me how do we acquire films, I think it really comes down to instinct.”

With their documentary Occupied City, director Steve McQueen and screenwriter Bianca Stigter have made their own contribution to the sacred tradition of Holocaust remembrance. Strikingly, in a film that tells of the city’s occupation by the Nazis 80 years ago, yet one which eschews 2WW archive, relying instead on contemporary images and measured voiceover, it is the hometown of Amsterdam itself that ‘never forgets.’

The films, directed by Wang Bing and Kaouther Ben Hania, are joined in Cannes by Occupied City by Brit auteur Steve McQueen; Wim Wenders' Le bruit du temps, Anselm Kiefer; and Kleber Menndonça's Retratos Fantasmas, all of which are selected for Special Screenings. Wang Bing’s Man in Black is also selected for this section. In Un Certain Regard is The Mother of All Lies by Asmae Elmoudir. The 76th Cannes FF runs May 16-27.