Interviews

The genocide in Namibia between 1904 and 1908 is still regarded in Germany with scant interest. German tourists still visit Namibia in huge numbers but few know about the dark shared history between the countries. The new feature doc Sorry for the Genocide, world-premiering June 3 at Doxumentale and co-directed by Theodora Shandé, Matteo Sant'Unione, Lisa Ossenbrink and Elmarie Kapunda, gives a long overdue platform to descendants of those who died. Shandé talks to BDE.

In her short film Hidden, Polish director Monika Kotecka examines the emotions of fear and anxiety, using archive culled from the Educational Film Studio in Łódź, and the application both of polyphonic voices and a soundscape derived from bodily sounds, such as breathing and heartbeat. Severe anxiety, we are told, affects 4.4% of the world’s population. “I didn't want to make an autobiographical film,” Kotecka tells Business Doc Europe. “But of course my own experiences were, let's say, an important starting point.”

Polish filmmaker Paweł Łoziński speaks to Business Doc Europe before the presentation of the inaugural Marcel Łoziński International Documentary Award, devised by Kraków Film Festival and the Polish Documentary Film Directors Guild in honour of his late, great father. Paweł is Marcel’s son, and sat on the jury which will hand the new prize June 3 to Cuban filmmaker David Bim for his debut effort To the West in Zapata. “It is a documentary about the power of love, something essential that allows the protagonists to endure the hardships of their lives,” says Paweł of Bim’s film.

Roni Aboulafia’s thrilling feature documentary chronicles the attempts to extract 167 Afghans from the country after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. “It was an intensely life-changing experience for all of us,” the director tells BDE of the Herculean task. “It’s hard to grasp fully in the moment, but one simple act of sisterhood grew into something enormous and unimaginable. It was beyond what I thought I could handle… At the same time, it was empowering. I learned we are capable of far more than we think.”

Poland’s vibrant documentary sector, and that of Ukraine, will once more be in the frame at KFF Industry, the professional arm of Krakow FF, with attention again focussed on the Docs to Start and Docs to Go presentations of 21 new and ambitious projects. “It seems only natural that, since Ukrainian filmmakers have been cut off from opportunities for artistic and professional development, we should help if we are in a position to do so,” Industry boss Katarzyna Wilk tells BDE of KFF’s solidarity with neighbouring Ukraine.

Brazilian Eliza Capai’s delightful feature documentary engages the talents of a group of young girls, living in one of the poorest parts of Brazil, to examine the business of…well, being young girls (as well as some other big topics, such as death and religion and their future lives). Despite their poverty, such is director Capai’s confidence in her protagonists, who operate as de facto co-creators of her film, we could be watching any kids from any city in the world, and from any socio-economic background. “We were in this fluidity of creation,” Capai delightedly tells BDE.

In the Synthetic Sincerity lab, researchers are looking to inject authenticity into AI characters, using characters from director Marc Isaacs’ own documentaries to do so. In return, they allow him to film the process. In his own playful way, Isaacs is asking some very challenging questions about our evolving relationship with AI, and where reality begins and ends. That said, the documentary may be hi-tech in concept, but decidedly low in budget. “I made this film for £8,000. There is something about the independence that gives you,” Isaacs tells Business Doc Europe.

The 66th edition of Krakow Film Festival opens May 31 with Marc Isaacs’ Synthetic Sincerity, ahead of seven days of frenetic doc activity, both for public and Industry. During the festival, one of the oldest events within the international calendar dedicated to doc (and animation), audiences have the opportunity to watch around 200 films from across the planet, with documentaries competing in International and National Competitions. Festival director Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła and Artistic Director Anita Piotrowska talk to Business Doc Europe.

The third edition of Doxumentale, Berlin’s celebration of all things documentary, kicks off May 27, running through to June 7. “Positive stories are still happening despite the despair of our world,” Artistic Director Anna Ramskogler-Witt tells Business Doc Europe before doors open on the 2026 roll-out. “And I think we need them as an inspiration…I think we are trying to offer insights and spaces for conversations, and inviting exchange. And whoever wants to join is very welcome."

As Millennium Docs Against Gravity (MDAG) looks back on another record-breaking edition, festival head Artur Liebhart argues that documentary cinema’s challenges remain unchanged — but so do its opportunities. Running May 8–17 across Warsaw and seven other Polish cities before continuing online until June 2, this year’s edition unfolded against a familiar backdrop of industry concern: shrinking financing, cautious platforms and an increasingly competitive documentary landscape. Yet if anxiety was in the air, so too was a determination to keep building international bridges. BDE reports.