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Directors Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot discuss their Oscar nominated short film The Last Repair Shop with two-time Academy Award winning film composer Hans Zimmer. Produced by Breakwater Studios, the film concerns a Los Angeles downtown warehouse where a handful of devoted craftspeople keep over 80,000 student instruments in good repair.

84 world, 32 international and 9 European prems feature at CPH:DOX 2024, whose film programme is this year presented in cinemas across Copenhagen and 42 Danish municipalities. Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm says: “In a world increasingly marked by polarization, we must be willing to challenge our own established truths and engage in meaningful dialogues with those holding different opinions and perspectives.” The 21st edition of CPH:DOX runs March 13-24.

CPH:LAB is CPH:DOX’s talent development programme aimed at fostering innovative documentary filmmaking and projects engaging with young audiences. The 2024 cohort of will present their work at the INTER:ACTIVE SYMPOSIUM, which this year will feature a series of presentations under the theme 'Who owns the narrative?'. Participants will explore the evolving creative landscape, challenge dominant narratives, and discuss the future of storytelling.

This year, the European Film Awards ceremony will be held for the first time in Switzerland. The 37th edition of Europe’s leading awards event will be presented Saturday, 7 December 2024 at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL Luzern). A varied support programme of screenings, debates and events will be held throughout the year in Switzerland which will take visitors on “a journey of discovery through Swiss and European filmmaking.”

It’s a special year for Italy, the Country in Focus at Berlinale 2024. Business Doc Europe reached out to Massimo Arvat, of Doc/it, Italy’s National Association of Docmakers, to discuss the non-fiction-related initiatives in place, the titles present in the official selection and most importantly, the current state of Italian documentary and Doc/it’s move towards greater internationalisation.

"This is not about us. This is about the people of Ukraine... the story of Mariupol is a symbol of everything that has happened, a symbol of struggle, a symbol of faith," said Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov on receiving the award. He ended by declaring, "Let's keep fighting.” In the film, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a team of journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war’s atrocities.

Business Doc Europe spoke to Irena Taskovski, CEO and founder of Taskovski Films, a sales and production outfit based in London and one of the leading players in the field of non-fiction. Ahead of the bustling days of the European Film Market (EFM), Taskovski zoomed in on her firm’s slate and shared valuable market insights.

Oasis, the latest feature film from the Mapa Fílmico de un País (MAFI) collective, will have its world premiere on February 19 in Forum. Also making its world debut is the hybrid LGBTIQ+ themed short film Towards the Sun, Far from the Center, directed by Luciana Merino and Pascal Viveros and produced by Javiera Pineda. The Chilean doc sector will be represented at EFM by CinemaChile and Chiledoc.

BDE spoke to Stefan Kloos, veteran doc producer (Last Men in Aleppo, Holy Cow, Hi, A.I.) and head of Rise & Shine. Founded in 2007, the German sales agency has gradually emerged as one of the leading industry players marketing and selling high-quality documentary films to broadcasters and local distributors around the world. During our chat, Kloos zoomed in on the two main titles of his company’s line-up and shared his take on the current state of the non-fiction market.

The Emmy-nominated North American filmmaker will reveal the secrets behind his “unique, captivating vision” and his HBO-backed show How To With John Wilson. "It is a pleasure to welcome to Barcelona one of the documentary directors with a more humane and empathetic approach to the mundane, with such a capacity to appreciate the details of life and to relish what we can only see when we actively look”, says Èric Motjer, Head of DocsBarcelona Industry, which runs May 6-10.