Interviews

Leading Russian outfit Metrafilms is getting back into the documentary groove with an espionage thriller as embroiled and complex as anything found in dramatised spy movies.

The ‘fest’ has been taken out of the festival and all the hard work isn’t bringing the expected dividends. “Our real merchandise are emotions, and these are best shared,” First Hand Films boss Esther van Messel tells BDE.

Tel Aviv-based doc sales outfit Cinephil is partnering with French production giant Gedeon Media Group and ARTE on major new TV project, The Ark Of The Covenant (working title). Cannes label Flee also on the company's Cannes slate.

Vienna-based documentary powerhouse Autlook is tweaking its strategy in response to the challenges presented by the Covid pandemic. (Photo by Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock)

One of the first docs made during the pandemic, London-based Sasha Joelle Achilli was not prepared for what she witnessed when she returned to Italy to shoot Italy’s Frontline: A Doctor’s Diary for PBS/BBC in early 2020.

This was set to be the first Cannes outing for Ukrainian Docudays UA and promo body Ukrainian Institute. Instead, the showcase of new Ukrainian doc projects in post-production goes ahead online during Cannes Docs 2020.

Swedish docmaker Magnus Gertten tells a gripping story of waiting, hoping and familial devotion…and betrayal. He explains all to Business Doc Europe.

Italian director Alessandro Cattaneo addresses our all too human relationship with, and attitude to, animals in his feature-length documentary, selected for Hot Docs.

Polish Daniel Stopa conducts a very personal investigation into the business of love and matrimony in his latest documentary project, currently in post-production and produced by Staroń Film.

Wolski’s immersion into the Secret Service archives of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance packs a considerable political punch, and delivers on an aesthetic level too. The director explains all to BDE.