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Pavel Jančárek’s feature doc, which follows the last years of former Czech President Václav Havel, will open Ji.hlava IDFF on October 24. The festival also announced that Béla Tarr will receive the Contribution to World Cinema Award during the festival’s closing night festivities on October 27. The revered Hungarian will furthermore give a masterclass during the festival.

IDFA announced October 18 that A Picture to Remember by Olga Chernykh will open the festival in 2023, an unveiled the selections for the Envision and International Competitions, the entire IDFA DocLab program and the nominations for all cross-section awards. The official selection of more than 250 titles is now complete. The 36th edition of IDFA takes place in Amsterdam from November 8 to 19.

DOK Leipzig came to a close 15 October with organisers calculating that the event attracted a total of 45,500 attendees. “The cinemas were packed,” commented Festival director Christoph Terhechte. “Although the week was overshadowed by the recent massacres, expulsions and bombings in Israel and Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, many of our attendees used the festival as an opportunity to exchange views on those issues and current events.”

The newly formed Documentary Film Council has published an open letter to the UK screen industries warning of “very serious challenges” facing the doc sector. The DFC asks for industry-wide support to determine “a clear strategic agenda for this sector, with a clear set of priorities held in common,” adding how the organisation’s establishment was “based on the recognition that independent documentary in the UK faces an existential threat and that there is urgent need for coordinated, long-term interventions.”

The cinematic diary draws upon Swiss-Canadian Peter Mettler’s own memories and family relationships as it looks at life cycles and the way the world is constantly changing. One Hundred Four won German Doc Competition while the Audience Jury awarded The Mother of All Lies. The Silver Dove for best feature-length doc by an up-and-coming director, was awarded to Hovhannes Ishkhanyan for Beauty and the Lawyer.

On 13 October, the final day of MIA 2023, MIA Head of Doc Marco Spagnoli moderated hosted a panel that revolved around the reception of theatrical documentaries at the Italian box office and their untapped potential. In 2022, theatrical documentaries generated €6.6 million in box office revenues and recorded 995,000 admissions, the professional audience heard.

The 5-day Rome market closed October 13 having welcomed over 2600 participants from 66 countries, a 10% increase on 2022. “What made this edition unique, rich and wide-ranging in terms of content and curatorial research, were the new and interesting projects that represented the complex audiovisual ecosystem, enhancing the different requirements of all the players in the industry and anticipating the themes and spaces of the future," said Gaia Tridente, MIA Director.

Eight teams will join the co-production training workshop series for documentary projects from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The series kicks off in Tbilisi, Georgia in November 2023, moves to Chisinau, Moldova in January 2024 before culminating at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in March 2024.

The festival, running November 8-26 will open with Clair Titley’s “jaw-dropping” The Contestant and will close with Sam Pollard and Llewellyn Smith’s South to Black Power, about New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow and his provocative writing. The fest includes International, US, Metropolis and Kaleidoscope competitions, plus themed sidebar programmes.

This year, the Ji.hlava IDFF offers up 357 films in both competitive and non-competitive sections, of which 115 will be world premieres, 22 international premieres and 17 European premieres. "Ji.hlava is a place that brings forth striking images from around the world, connecting the community of filmmakers and viewers," says festival director Marek Hovorka. Ji.hlava IDFF runs October 24-29.