News

During a highly moving interview on Doc Day of Cannes Docs, Sepideh Farsi discussed her documentary, selected for Cannes ACID. The film consists of cell phone conversations with the smiling Fatma Hassona (Fatem), a young photographer who is documenting the war in Northern Gaza. As has been widely reported, Fatem was killed the day after the announcement of the Cannes selection by a targeted missile on her home. “It's strange that we never met physically,” said an emotional Sepideh. “She would be here, and we know why she's not.”

Ahead of the second edition of Dokumentale (Berlin, 12-22 June), Artistic Director Anna Ramskogler-Witt will host a debate titled ‘Truth Under Fire: Documentary Filmmaking Between Risk, Ethics, and Innovation’ at the Berlin-based re.publica 25 audiovisual festival. The three panellists attending on May 27 are directors Franz Böhm, Havana Marking and Friedrich Moser. Ramskogler-Witt previews the event with Business Doc Europe.

Ana Alice de Morais, Artistic Co-Director at RIDM, the Montreal International Documentary Festival, and Marc Gauthier, Executive Director, reflected to BDE on their 2025 Cannes Docs experience. “This was our sixth Docs In Progress [in Cannes] in seven years,” Gauthier said of what is now becoming almost an annual event. “Cannes Docs has really managed to create a home for creative documentary…it’s a special thing in this global madness.”

Déni Oumar Pitsaev’s feature doc Imago was awarded May 21 the French Touch prize of the Critics Week jury. In the film, when director Déni inherits a small patch of land in the wild, beautiful valley of Pankissi, he sees a chance to finally build the house in the trees that he's dreamed of since he was a boy. But nothing in the rugged Caucasus is ever simple…

The Palestine Film Institute (PFI) announced this week the launch of the Palestine Film Fund (PFF), a funding initiative dedicated to “supporting Palestinian filmmakers across the globe in creating authentic narratives and reclaiming control over their own images and stories.” Grants ranging from €5,000 to €15,000 will be awarded to short or feature films at various stages of development and production regardless of their place of residence or nationality working in challenging circumstances globally.

On Wednesday, May 21, a sunlit stretch of the Plage du CNC transformed into a hub for cinematic memory and innovation. During this year’s Cannes Film Festival, an extraordinary presentation unveiled a ground-breaking educational initiative: a platform giving film students open access to 54 hours of rushes from Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse, 2000), offering them the rare opportunity to edit this material in alignment with their own directorial visions.

On 20 May, in front of a live audience gathered on the Main Stage of Cannes, filmmaker Viv Li described her experiences as a first-time documentary director. “I’m honoured to represent the voices of first-time filmmakers at Cannes,” she said, before launching into a keynote that felt less like a formal talk and more like an audacious one-woman performance — in equal parts confession, stand-up and manifesto.

In an industry saturated with submissions and shifting audience behaviours, selecting documentaries for 'non-doc specific' film festivals remains an intricate craft — a fact that emerged during the May 20 'Real Talk panel organised for this year’s Cannes Docs. The conversation featured insights from Pamela Biénzobas (Locarno Film Festival), Paul Grandsard (Festival de Cannes), Michael Stütz (Berlinale), and Ania Trzebiatowska (Sundance Film Festival), under the moderation of Eric Hynes, Director of Film Curation and Programming at the Jacob Burns.

This week, MIA (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo) unveiled new partnerships and programmes for its 11th edition, to be held in Rome, October 6 to 10 2025. Core to proceedings was a discussion on Scenari Transalpini - an initiative of Institut Français Italia in partnership with MIA, Villa Medici and Cinecittà. Documentary and non-fiction at MIA revolve around the Doc Co-production Market & Pitching Forum (deadline for submissions June 19) and the Italians Doc It Better programme.

Raindance Film Festival announced May 20 that this year’s Netflix Documentary Talent Fund films will premiere in Official Selection. The documentary shorts will each be eligible to be considered for Raindance’s Oscar®-qualifying ‘Best Documentary Short’ jury award. The films will premiere on June 26, the closing night of the 33rd Raindance Film Festival.