News

The Echoes of the 28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival begin this week in Bucharest. The Echoes programme will feature the award-winning films from last year's Ji.hlava IDFF which will be screened at the Czech Centre in Bucharest. Documentaries from the Ji.hlava’s 28th edition will also be screened in Belgium, Serbia, Slovakia, and the USA.

European Film Promotion (EFP) and CPH:DOX announced March 4 the launch of EUROPE! On Demand, a new initiative designed to boost the visibility of European documentaries in the North American market. The online showcase, jointly curated by EFP and the programming team at CPH:DOX, presents a hand-picked selection of seven outstanding European documentaries and world premieres from this year's line-up to U.S. buyers and distributors.

Running March 13-19, East Doc Platform is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform for Central and East European documentaries. Every year, organisers look to connect CEE filmmakers and decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers - from around the world. The 13th edition will take place during the One World human rights film festival.

This year Czech human rights fest One World will offer, in addition to 41 films across 4 competition sections, seven non-competitive categories, with films within the themed sections of Family Webs, Female Gaze, Male Beings, Ecosystems, Searching for Freedom, and Community Boundaries. This year, the regional focus is on Slovakia in the Slovak Journey section. Fiction films with human rights themes also feature in the thematic sections. One World will run March 12 to April 27 across 57 Czech cities.

No Other Land, directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, held March 2 in LA. “We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people,” said co-director Adra on receiving the award. The Best Short Doc Academy Award went to The Only Girl in the Orchestra by Molly O’Brien, a Netflix film about the double bassist Orin O’Brien, the director’s aunt.

VdR Industry, the professional arm of Swiss docfest Visions du Réel (April 4-13), announced Feb 28 that it will welcome six country delegations in 2025, and unveiled the juries within its VdR–Industry, Eurimages Co-Production Development and visions sud est sections. Four new awards will be handed out this year, bringing the total prize pot to CHF 80,000 (EUR 85,500). VdR Industry runs April 6-9.

Hailing from 28 countries worldwide, the 40 producers will develop their documentary projects and their careers over the coming eight months within groups led by Jean-Laurent Csinidis (Les Films de Force Majeure), Heino Deckert (Ma.ja.de) and Gema Juarez Allen (Gema Films). Three sessions will be held during 2025 in Biella (Italy, March), Ljubljana (Slovenia, June) and Cork (Ireland, October).

Crickmar will lead the expansion of Lightdox’s distribution reach and impact in the UK and Ireland. With over a decade of experience as a film programmer, consultant, and industry manager, he has worked with festivals such as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Docs Ireland, FIPADOC and Africa in Motion. Lightdox recently an-nounced the UK & Ireland theatrical release of Oksana Karpovych’s award-winning documen-tary Intercepted.

Varejão will give a masterclass in Nyon and will present a retrospective of her films. A filmmaker “deeply attuned to the sensitive world,” Cláudia Varejão has directed 4 feature-length films and 7 shorts, all of which share a strong feminist perspective, tackling themes such as emancipation, personal relationships, intimacy and everyday life. “Her strikingly coherent filmography is filled with moments of great sensitivity, combined with the precision of a photographer's eye,” says Émilie Bujès, VdR Artistic Director.

More than 200 new films representing different stories from across the globe: a record number of 94 world premieres, 23 international premieres and 8 European premieres are featured in this year's festival. Running from March 19-30, CPH:DOX introduces a new thematic section in 2025, focusing on human rights and the rules-based international order - Right Here, Right Now.