News

The festival’s co-production and co-financing market will be presented in person in 2022, with all selected project teams slated to physically attend the event in Amsterdam. 22 projects are selected for the market’s flagship Forum Pitch, 6 projects for the annual Rough Cut Presentations, 12 for Producers Connection, and 20 interactive and XR projects for the two-day IDFA DocLab Forum.

Dedicated to the art and business of documentary storytelling and located at NYC’s Cinépolis Chelsea, the event will feature 120+ speakers including Ethan Hawke, Dawn Porter, Nanfu Wang, Shaunak Sen, Rebecca Hunt and Alex Pritz and others. “Attendees will once again leave PRO freshly equipped with new resources, connections and inspiration,” says DOC NYC’s Malikkah Rollins.

The Grierson Trust has compiled a list of must-see documentaries as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. These “genre-defining documentaries chart the history and development of the genre from the 70s to the present day, forming an exciting selection of work which every factual film lover should see,” writes the organisation, which is partnering with BBC iPlayer to screen 20 of the films.

The 2nd edition of the Forum, running October 27-28, will 16 feature projects in development, production and post-production. The selected projects include diverse genres and audiovisual formats – such as fiction films with documentary aspects, hybrid, cinema expanded, experimental and short films. New awards in 2022.

Running 10-24 October both online and in-person, CONNEXT, an initiative of Flanders Image, the audiovisual export agency for Flanders and Brussels, will present 26 new and upcoming Flemish and Brussels-initiated documentary features and works-in-progress (both features and series, including VR) to the international sales, distribution, finance and festival professionals in attendance.

Mad About The Boy – The Noël Coward Story, to be directed by Barnaby Thompson, will chronicle the life and career of the famed playwright, director and flamboyant wit, and will be released in 2023, the 50th anniversary of Coward’s death. International star Adam Lambert will sing the iconic theme song.

A veteran of the international documentary business, Rishøj Jensen starts his role with immediate effect. Since 2011, he has been working as a producer and outreach manager for Swedish outfit Auto Images, involved in several successful non-fiction features such as Nelly & Nadine, recently crowned Best Nordic Doc at Nordisk Panorama. In 2019, he launched the documentary training and consulting firm Paradiddle Pictures.

Films by Sasha Kulak, Sofía Brockenshire, Mila Turajlić and Nikolaus Geyrhalter are selected for International Competition. Major new docs in German Competition include works by Heinz Emigholz, Katharina Pethke and Brenda Akele Jorde. Competing for the Golden and Silver Doves this year are 74 films, 48 of which are being screened in Leipzig as international or world premieres.

Doc'n Roll Film Festival (27 Oct-13 Nov) returns to big screens nationwide this autumn for its 9th London edition as well as a 13-city UK-wide tour that offers a programme of premiere music documentaries. “An experience-led festival, Doc’n Roll brings its events to life with live Q&As with directors and musicians, special DJ sets, afterparties and post-screening gigs,” write organisers.

The acquisition will see Brilliant take on the dual role of Head of MetFilm Distribution and MetFilm Sales. MetFilm Distribution will aim to release six to eight titles per year, starting with the heffield DocFest Audience Award-winning doc A Bunch of Amateurs directed by Kim Hopkins, which is set for a November rollout in UK cinemas.