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The event offers a wide range of industry activities accessible and available both on site in Belgrade and. 65+ industry professionals - sales agents, distributors, programmers, VOD platforms, TV broadcasters etc - from more than 30 countries will join the hybrid industry event, attending industry panels/talks, pitching sessions, one-to-one meetings and matchmaking/networking sessions.

Selected for the IBF Europe – Distribution track, the French-Niger-German feature co-production directed by Aicha Macky will receive a grant of €30,000 for distribution in France, Niger, Switzerland, and Denmark. Also, final submissions date of 15 September for Docs for Sale.

The Beldocs IDFF (9-16 September Belgrade, Serbia) will comprise 100+ documentaries and VR/AR content. The fest will once again screen selected films at several open-air locations, as well as returning to indoor screening venues. The majority of films will also be available online through the beldocs.rs website. ‘Faith and Branko’ to open the festival.

The event celebrates its 10th anniversary in Helsinki and online 22-24 September 2021 with a showcase of 9 Finnish docs either in development or in production and 9 completed docs (plus a fiction programme). In total, 29% of the projects (across docs and fiction) are directorial feature debuts, and over 50% have been directed by women or non-binary people.

With a theme of ‘challenge’, the fourth edition of the Al Jazeera Balkans International Documentary Film Festival (AJB DOC) will be held online and in Sarajevo 10-14 September. Twenty-three docs in selection across 4 sections, 11 in Competition. Three key prizes to be awarded.

Discussion to address the crisis now underway in Afghanistan with special attention to the current situation of filmmakers and Afghan artists in general. Moderated by journalist Giuliano Battiston, panellists to include Afghan filmmakers Sahraa Karimi and Sarah Mani, IFFR’s Vanja Kaludjercic, Orwa Nyrabia (IDFA) and EFA’s Mike Downey and Matthijs Wouter Knol.

Imminent September 1 deadline for DocCeleratorPitch development program running September 27-29, while DocCeleratorRoughCut online editing and distribution workshop (October 27-28) has deadline of September 30.

Leading Swiss doc fest announces first deadline of November 8 both for films of all lengths (finished as of October 2021) as well as Industry projects ready for submission. Second deadline: 17 December. Call for entries opens September 2. The 53rd Visions du Réel runs 7-17 April 2022.

“Within a couple of days of the [August 19] press articles being published, we had been silently locked out of our email accounts and all traces of our presence at the festival - names, photos, information about our work - were scrubbed from the website,” they claim. “What is the future of the artistic programme at Sheffield DocFest? How does it fit into the new vision of the board?” they further ask.

Fifteen docs selected. Nominations will be made public on 9 November 2021 following the votes of 4,000 European Film Academy members. EFA also presents a new VOD platform for its members, which has been developed as part of a 18-month digital transformation programme. The European Film Awards ceremony will be held December 11 in Berlin.